First Look at the Non-Reference ASUS 4890

http://www.nordichardware.com/news,9076.html

============================================================

Exclusive pictures of ASUS in-house designed HD4890
Written by Jonas K 14 April 2009 22:13

Pretty early on it was clear that ASUS wasn't going to settle for using just the reference design for AMD's newest ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card. Last month we published pictures of what promised to be ASUS highest-end model with the RV770 chip and now we can finally give you more details as well as pictures of the card itself along with the custom cooler that ships with the card. As usual though, we wouldn't stop there, we've also got hold of some juicy information regarding the new graphics card itself...

There have been rumors going around about the voltage regulation circuitry, and true to their tradition, ASUS have been working hard on it, first and foremost using a high-density capacitor which is sure to add to the price, as well as the performance. Placed very near the GPU, it supposedly sports a capacity of up to 1000 (one thousand!) times the one found in regular MLCC and OSCON capacitors. Fujitsu's SuperML capacitor is both more efficient and will supply cleaner voltages of higher quality, according to our source ASUS has been able to reduce power circuitry voltages by a full 20%, dropping from 143mV to 114.

This will certainly help overclocking, where voltages and stability of them are the key for high frequencies.

To keep the whole package cool when doing just that, ASUS has chosen to develop a whole new cooler for the card, a pretty simple design, but sure to make an impression of some sort. A big chunk of copper fitted with six 230mm copper heatpipes are sure to transfer the heat over the entire dissipation area to ensure maximum cooling.

Equipped with two fans, the cooler will keep the graphics card cooled to levels about 10° centigrade lower than the standard cooler fitted to most cards.

Judging by the looks of it, ASUS has improved the HD 4890 reference design significantly and reports of 1GHz+ core frequency with ease have been going around. Exactly how good the yet unnamed turns out when it hits the store shelves remains to be seen, when it happens we'll also get to know at which price point ASUS is gunning for.

============================================================

thoughts?

any idea when this will be released? any idea when other brands will be releasing theirs? what price?