Asus Formula Series: Aerodynamic Graphics Cards

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I wonder how many FPS a Type-R sticker would add.

Aerodynamic design is a huge part of any racing sport, from motorsport to cycling. But what about in the race to get the quickest refreshing frame rates? Asus is exploring that avenue with its new Formula Series graphics cards, based off of the ATI Radeon HD4890 and HD4770 graphics chips.

Apparently the design isn’t just all for show either, as Asus claims that the F1 car looking design actually serves to offer 7 percent better airflow (we presume that means better than without the shaped shell). The cooler itself has been given a “Micro Surface Treatment Technology” that supposed to improve heat dissipation by 14 percent. The cooling fan itself is also dust proof, which Asus claims to extend the card’s lifespan by 25 percent.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
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28 Comments Comment from the forums
  • accolite
    most retarded design ever.
    Reply
  • m3kt3k
    I think WTF pretty much sums it up.
    Reply
  • m3kt3k
    EDIT:
    UMMMM Dust proof? How much what they are smoking for a 1/4.
    Really it must be awsome.
    Reply
  • jdamon113
    OK, this is a different take, And I would say: yes it will more than likly expand on air flow and lower temps, which means higher clock rates.

    But and there alway is a butt. At What cost? I generaly get a new video card every 18 months and some do every few months. No way are people going to drop over 500 dollars on video cards. The nature of gaming and computer in general is that it changes to often.
    Here is a case where Moores law says it not worth the R&D
    Reply
  • tipoo
    Sweet, now my graphics card will fly bett- oh wait wtf?
    Reply
  • tenor77
    So aside from looking odd, there the problem that the areodynamics is useless on most cases as the airflow is going against the width of the card, not straight down it.
    Reply
  • jerther
    Best thing is that on most computer cases, this new revolutionary design will be hidden on the bottom side, sanwitched with another PCI card.... Who will notice?

    But there are cases where the heatsink goes above. Dell made some I believe? But still, those weren't transparent cases.

    What a lost of research time. The dev team must have been really bored.
    Reply
  • grieve
    It looks like they slapped a mini F1 race car shell on it... Seriously, this thing performs better?
    Reply
  • verenos
    I smell a group pricing package with Need For Speed!
    Reply
  • Nik_I
    whatever advantage this has would surely be cancelled out by the rest of the case's bad aerodynamics
    Reply