Asus ARES: Is This The One Graphics Card To Rule Them All?

Features
By Don Woligroski
published

Asus' new ARES immediately earns bragging rights as one of the fastest single graphics cards ever created. We put the beast through a gauntlet of tests to measure this product's true power. At the end of the day, we answer whether it's worth four digits.

Power Usage And Temperature Benchmarks

The power benchmark is where we can see the GeForce GTX 480 SLI solution at a disadvantage. It pulls about 220 more watts under load than the ARES. Aside from minimal electricity costs, a GeForce GTX 480 system will require a much beefier power supply than Radeon HD 5870 cards in CrossFire, a Radeon HD 5970, or even the Asus ARES card. The high-end Radeon options seem to use similar power under load, but the ARES and Radeon HD 5970 use less than the cards in CrossFire at idle. 

We measured the temperature of the hottest of the two GPUs on the ARES card and found that it has a high idle temperature. Under load, the ARES cooler keeps things just below the temperature of a reference Radeon HD 5870 card, while the GeForce GTX 480 temperature is quite high.

Here we can see that the ARES can be quite loud, notably louder than a single GeForce GTX 480 reference card under load.

Don Woligroski
126 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Tamz_msc
    I want that briefcase!
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    On the second page, that should be Radeon 5970, not Radeon 5890. There isn't any card on the market as 5890.
    Reply
  • jasonz001
    it actually looks quite small
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    BTW, it would be really cool to see a 5890, for that would give the GTX 480 a run for its money, something it is already not earning! :D
    Reply
  • thedreadfather
    This card is so overkill for most of us, but so awesome. :D
    Reply
  • Maziar
    Great review,
    However i agree with Tom's about that there are better options in terms of price/performance ratio.This card looks good and packs lots of power but i wish that it had a lower price.
    Reply
  • anamaniac
    I was excited, but after reading the article, I'm dissapointed.
    Maybe they set the bar too high when they made the MARS, a $1200 GTX285x2.
    I wish the MARS/ARES came with waterblocks though.

    Sounds like the card needs some better drivers.
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    Well, the card is heavy, power consuming and expensive, but its performance is truly great. BTW, they could have kept the Sapphire Toxic 5970 in the benchmark tests for the sake of immediate comparison. Anyway, this is a great review.
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    Lets see if Southern Islands top offering can take on this monster.
    Reply
  • JOSHSKORN
    Where's the Radeon HD 5970 Crossfire?
    Reply