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Asus ROG Ares II: The Challenger

Asus' ROG Ares II: Four Dual-GPU Graphics Cards, Compared
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A Close Look at the Asus Ares II

Asus didn’t cut any corners designing its Ares II. Marketing was likely responsible for the Greek god of war's name on the card. What we want to know is whether the engineers were able to make good on such a bold moniker. 

The Ares II basically bears the specs of two Asus Matrix Radeon HD 7970 Platinum cards running cooperatively. Its GPUs are GHz Edition chips, but they ship at factory-overclocked frequencies. Normally, you'd find those ASICs running at 1 GHz with a 1,050 MHz boost state. Asus operates them at 1,050 MHz and then boosts to 1.1 GHz. As we've seen from other boards, the boost clocks are active until the card operates under full load for long enough and the temperatures spike, triggering a clock rate reduction.

Each of the two GPUs has 3 GB of memory, totaling the specified 6 GB. The memory operates at an effective 3.3 GT/s. It goes without saying that this is one hot card.

For that reason, Asus decided to use a hybrid cooling solution for its Ares II. A compact closed-loop water cooler draws heat away from each of the GPUs, while an 80 mm fan in the middle of the card helps keep the memory and power circuity cool.

The Ares II sports a total of four DisplayPort and two DVI connectors. Because its cooling solution is largely liquid-based, none of the rear I/O panel space is needed for ventilation (though that 80 mm blower does recirculate heat into your case). This configuration facilitates up to six displays in Eyfinity without needing a multi-stream transport hub. One of the two DVI outputs is dual-link-capable, which you can toggle using a switch next to the CrossFire connector, depending on the resolutions you require.

As with some of the other dual-Tahiti cards we've tested, Asus' Ares II employs a whopping three eight-pin auxiliary power connectors. These should be able to deliver up to 525 W when you count the PCI Express slot's 75 W-output. Don't think the card can come anywhere close to that level of power draw? You might be surprised to learn it even exceeds it by quite a bit, depending on what you're doing. At least 525 W is enough for gaming.

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  • 3 Hide
    acasel , April 2, 2013 10:58 PM
    nice video card.

    hope it doesnt cost a kidney :) 
  • 2 Hide
    Ceee9 , April 2, 2013 11:01 PM
    last picture on the last page seem..., i think it oversize
  • 0 Hide
    UltimateDeep , April 2, 2013 11:13 PM
    I think you can get 2 690s or least 3 680s for the price of an ARES 2. The benchmarkers didn't evaluate Performance per watt, or Performance per dollar and the flipping size and length of each card which is the reason why I still stand by the GTX 690 in this article... For all these cards, all of that personally needs to be taken into consideration.

    I've nothing against the Dual 7970s but just want to let consumers be aware of the pros and cons especially the cards are not for the meek of wallet.
  • 6 Hide
    killerchickens , April 2, 2013 11:17 PM
    So about that FCAT ........... sigh
  • 2 Hide
    slomo4sho , April 3, 2013 1:48 AM
    Wonder if Asus will re-release this card into the US market as the 7990.
  • 1 Hide
    ASHISH65 , April 3, 2013 2:26 AM
    WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • -9 Hide
    dkcomputer , April 3, 2013 2:29 AM
    Classic statement whenever you talk about AMD - "If only the software were better" or "When the software catches up" - how about "If only this component would be relevant when the software its made for exists"
  • -7 Hide
    PadaV4 , April 3, 2013 2:59 AM
    So is the fps for radeon dual cards already divided by 2 or must the reader do it by himself?
  • 3 Hide
    ShadyHamster , April 3, 2013 3:30 AM
    Quote:
    You can't buy it anymore, but we got our hands on one and are adding it to our database of performance data.


    If you live in Australia and have a spare $1900 you can still get your hands on one.
  • 8 Hide
    damianrobertjones , April 3, 2013 3:44 AM
    "the GeForce GTX 690 remains the most elegant high-end card we've ever used."

    I actually had a chance to own a 690 so I went for it and, upon the next reboot, I was greeted by a black screen. Yay. I looked on the web and, as expected, others were suffering with the same issue. An ebay auction later and I'm back to 2x 660s in sli. The moral of the story is: Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it'll work :( 
  • 3 Hide
    Memnarchon , April 3, 2013 3:45 AM
    Why not testing with FCAT? Or any frametime measurement? I think anyone who wants to spend so much money for a GPU would like to know this too.
  • 2 Hide
    eric4277 , April 3, 2013 3:54 AM
    Why did you include 7970 Crossfire and not 680 SLI?
  • 1 Hide
    utroz , April 3, 2013 3:59 AM
    Would have been nice to see the ARES II with the newest drivers as well just to see how much performance has increased since launch...
  • -6 Hide
    Cataclysm_ZA , April 3, 2013 4:57 AM
    No frame latency using FRAPS? Your readers consider it the industry standard now, Tom's, you should be implementing it on all your reviews in future. Even though FCAT is more work, timestamping using FRAPS is still an accurate and reliable measurement.
  • -4 Hide
    Marko Brekic , April 3, 2013 5:35 AM
    A true NV fanboy review...disturbing...
  • 5 Hide
    hero1 , April 3, 2013 5:54 AM
    Nice review. Those cards are awesome. But the Ares II is a beast of them all. ASUS should have made more of them, find a way to cut down on power consumption and market it for $1200. I would have snagged one as it is more than enough for my 2560x1440 Dell. The question is, will the true 7990 made by AMD deliver what ASUS and HIS did but with lower power and heat?
  • -1 Hide
    Onus , April 3, 2013 5:56 AM
    So sorry, but without FCAT measurements all of that work is for nought. I realize this article may have been researched and written before the significance of FCAT was realized, but that makes it an editorial task to not release it until it has been reworked, or even scrap it if it simply is no longer relevant.

    http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-GeForce-GTX-Titan-GeForce-GTX-690-Radeon-HD-7990-HD-7970-Cross-6
  • 3 Hide
    the great randini , April 3, 2013 8:06 AM
    What a cool test, it is surprising how little power the titan uses.
  • 0 Hide
    nforce4max , April 3, 2013 8:23 AM
    Nice card and they should have made more as they would have sold well. The saving grace for this card isn't just the performance but the thermals and acoustics. The price however puts this card far out of reach for all but the 1% D:
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