Asus Unveils Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II Graphics Card
Asus has finally confirmed it is developing a DirectCU II edition of the R9 290X with a trio of product photographs.
Asus has finally provided a teaser of its upcoming Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II that appears to be comprised of two cooling fans (including a single CoolTech unit), four nickel-plated heat pipes with at least two 10 mm pipes, and a PCB strengthening bracket.
Although the technical specifications are currently unknown, the fact that this is a DirectCU II card and includes Asus' Super Alloy Power Technology makes it almost certain that the graphics card will be factory overclocked.
Since the Asus R9 290X DirectCU II edition is still in development, the information provided in this post is subject to change. We have yet to receive any concrete information about the card's release date or retail pricing.
Very carefully
Very carefully
Nothing really, I don't know the specifics on the changest from DCU to DCU II but they are likely subtle like the changes in the revisions of motherboards.
Also as a side note, I would like to see ASUS's poseidon hybrid coolers on the 290 or 290x. Either Hawaii GPU is fine.
Claiming first could end badly, you have been warned.
Don't...
Bump posts, claim "first!"
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283384-33-read-first
It should drop down temperatures ~20 C, from what I've read somewhere. That means that you should have a better performing (from stock cooling) GPU and also the noise should be quite a bit better than the stock option. This is definitely something that should have been done on day 1, but at least we are now seeing it.
It should drop down temperatures ~20 C, from what I've read somewhere. That means that you should have a better performing (from stock cooling) GPU and also the noise should be quite a bit better than the stock option. This is definitely something that should have been done on day 1, but at least we are now seeing it.
So it's just a standard Asus cooler then?
Just thought I would also point out that there are massive differences between the DirectCU II with regards to it's heatpipes with the extreme version using what ASUS calls SSU Heatpipes and the overall card has a different layout all together.
That and and the fact that it's a very difficult chip to cool.
The DCUII cooler is pretty much the same across all their cards, just made to connect to said card.
And from what I have read, the reason it is not out yet is they are still working on the coolint aspect as this is not cooling as well as they want.
lancelot123, this is the normal time frame for a new GPU. The 280 and lower series were rebrands so the PCB stayed the same thus they had all the coolers designed.
They have to design it and test its capability to make sure its worth the money.
I am sure we will start seeing them trickle out. Asus and Sapphire will probably have the best ones. I am assuming we will see a Tri-X one from Sapphire which looked to cool the 280X even better than the Vapor-X design which was pretty top end for the HD7970.
Until reviews are out I wouldn't count on it if I were you.
Until reviews are out I wouldn't count on it if I were you.
I wouldn't count on it either, but it shouldn't be worse than the stock OEM one that is out. That setup needs to die a horrible death and a bit better quality cooling solution put in it's place. I believe AMD just rushed out the parts to get market share, but I believe they lost out on quite a few purchases, because people want a pretty cool and quiet GPU (at least most people do).