Asus Unveils Radeon R9 290X DirectCU II Graphics Card

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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.

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Tarun Iyer
58 Comments Comment from the forums
  • patrick47018
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id2kANw_sMU
    Reply
  • How do I win this???
    Reply
  • patrick47018
    12126626 said:
    How do I win this???

    Very carefully
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    That looks like their standard DCU cooler like the ones on my 660Ti's, what's so special about the one on the 290X?
    Reply
  • animalosity
    Woo! First comment! No, but seriously, it's about time partner boards with custom PCB's and cooling designs show up. Maybe now there won't be any over heating issues as with reference designs and the cards will actually run at their intended clock speeds. This will in turn give the 780 TI a good run for its money and in all likeliness, surpass it on some occasions. I am still also anxious to see what Mantle will do for us in BF4 performance wise, and of course if all goes well, then we ought to see more developers jump onboard that bandwagon. I hate to say it, but I think Nvidia has some big shoes to fill. I know that I will start a fanboy war here, but I'm trying to speak objectively. Nvidia has phenomenal cooling designs, great power usage, and overall has always been an edge up performance wise, but I'm not quite certain one can justify an extra $150 for a few frames faster in games when and if these new custom coolers for the Hawaii GPU's live up to their names like that have in past iterations such as DCU II, Windforce, Matrix, Toxic, etc..Good work AMD and ASUS. Keep up the good work!
    Reply
  • patrick47018
    12126634 said:
    That looks like their standard DCU cooler like the ones on my 660Ti's, what's so special about the one on the 290X?

    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.
    Reply
  • animalosity
    Well apparently I can't edit my "first comment"..comment. When I read this article the web page initially showed no comments when clicking on it. I obviously retract my statement.

    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.
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    12126638 said:
    Woo! First comment! No, but seriously, it's about time partner boards with custom PCB's and cooling designs show up. Maybe now there won't be any over heating issues as with reference designs and the cards will actually run at their intended clock speeds. This will in turn give the 780 TI a good run for its money and in all likeliness, surpass it on some occasions. I am still also anxious to see what Mantle will do for us in BF4 performance wise, and of course if all goes well, then we ought to see more developers jump onboard that bandwagon. I hate to say it, but I think Nvidia has some big shoes to fill. I know that I will start a fanboy war here, but I'm trying to speak objectively. Nvidia has phenomenal cooling designs, great power usage, and overall has always been an edge up performance wise, but I'm not quite certain one can justify an extra $150 for a few frames faster in games when and if these new custom coolers for the Hawaii GPU's live up to their names like that have in past iterations such as DCU II, Windforce, Matrix, Toxic, etc..Good work AMD and ASUS. Keep up the good work!

    Claiming first could end badly, you have been warned. :non:

    Don't...

    Bump posts, claim "first!"

    http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/283384-33-read-first

    Reply
  • lunyone
    That looks like their standard DCU cooler like the ones on my 660Ti's, what's so special about the one on the 290X?

    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.
    Reply
  • Mousemonkey
    12127071 said:
    That looks like their standard DCU cooler like the ones on my 660Ti's, what's so special about the one on the 290X?

    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?
    Reply