Asus Ares hands on WORLD FIRST
Introduction
Published: 30th June 2010 | Source: ASUS | Price: £1000 |
Introduction
If you're one of my Youtube subscribers, you'll know what's coming. If not, why not? And anyway, sometimes pictures you can spend an age lusting over beat out a live video.
Today we have a World First again here at OC3D. This time it's the first ever hands on of the ASUS Ares. A card we've all been eagerly anticipating.
So desperately have we been clamouring to get our sweaty mits on this that when it arrived in the office everything stopped.
Of course you're all wondering why, if we have it in our hands, we aren't doing the normal Overclock3D brilliance and getting a review out to you faster than all the rest? Well unfortunately we have ASUS lawyer standing over us wielding a big stick and we're not allowed to let you know any of the juicier details yet. However we know that you all want to see the ins and outs of this as much as we want to show them to you, so let's crack on.
ASUS Ares
What is the Ares then? Even if you've been living under a rock or similar you'll be aware that one of the most popular ways to introduce maximum performance on a single card is to implement a dual-GPU solution. Some of the best cards ever made have been dual GPU, from the 9800GTX2 through the absolutely mighty HD4870X2.
So popular is this method of doing it, and so big is our love for these cards, that ASUS introduced the truly insane MARS a while back. The MARS was a twin GTX285 with huge bells and whistles retailing around a thousand pounds. Understandably with that kind of price-tag it was very much a limited edition. Despite that it sold out amazingly quickly and here at Overclock3D we became the only place in the world to give one away when we had our New Year competition.
The problem is that the GTX285 was a monster card, but for the last generation. What if you wanted to get similar performance and exclusivity, but on the best cards around today? This is a question ASUS asked, and answered in the form of what we have here today, the Ares.
This absolute beast has twin 5870s!!!
Enough flannel. Enough waffle. Let's go and have a look shall we? Kleenex at the ready.
Most Recent Comments
Oh my god gracious me.Quote
WOW. My eyes are poppin' out over here. Now that thing packs some serious heat. Can't wait to see the bench results with those badboys in Crossfire!Quote
That thing is freaking awsome i mean wow wow wow
and you have 2 of them woooop i cant wait for next weekQuote
and you have 2 of them woooop i cant wait for next weekQuote
Ok WOW I cant wait to see what this thing can do! lol. I hope it crushes the 5890 and the Nvidia 480.lol. I Also hope it will run ALOT cooler than both! Man I cant even Imagine what Kinda of powerdraw this thing is gonna have. Thank god i have a 1200wt PSU! lol.;-)Quote
Congratulations on the exclusive, I know how difficult and time consuming they can be. As to the card wow, though its such a shame for most it's going to be installed upside down so that beautiful shroud is going to be effectively invisible. Also it suprises me given the price and the audience its targeted at, why dont Asus have a custom waterblock for it instead of air cooling?Quote
Yay I was right about what that was afterall, eh dude? 
Seriously though, ASUS do love you. They gave you TWO for crying out loud lol. Fingers crossed they let you give one of them away
Cracking job though Tom, I'd be bricking myself stripping down £1000 of hardware to its constituent parts.
Knowing Tom's friends Bitspower, who made one for the MARS, they'll probably do limited editions for ARES as well.Quote
Seriously though, ASUS do love you. They gave you TWO for crying out loud lol. Fingers crossed they let you give one of them away
Cracking job though Tom, I'd be bricking myself stripping down £1000 of hardware to its constituent parts.
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Originally Posted by name='wraithien'
why dont Asus have a custom waterblock for it instead of air cooling?
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drool thats one sexy sexy card and it looks MASSSSIVEEEE!Quote
Lets hope this is not another mars, also WTF guys. How do you get stuff so early?Quote
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Originally Posted by name='douglatins'
Lets hope this is not another mars, also WTF guys. How do you get stuff so early?
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Originally Posted by name='douglatins'
also WTF guys. How do you get stuff so early?
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Hahaha that thing is chuffing ridiculous !
What cracks me up is the heatsink. It looks like something you would find in the nose of a supercarQuote
What cracks me up is the heatsink. It looks like something you would find in the nose of a supercar
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Originally Posted by name='Runebeard'
Knowing Tom's friends Bitspower, who made one for the MARS, they'll probably do limited editions for ARES as well. |
QuoteThe cards look excellent, can't wait to see some numbers on them. You have to love ASUS for doing these cards, even if for the majority of people they are like limited edition 1000hp Lambos... pretty to look at, impossible to ever have.
Well NEW YEAR is "only" six months away, here's hoping these beasts will be included in you know what normally happens then...
Of course it is theoretically possible that ASUS might do a MARS2. That would be hot, figuratively and literally. They should call that one SATURN
Quote
Well NEW YEAR is "only" six months away, here's hoping these beasts will be included in you know what normally happens then...
Of course it is theoretically possible that ASUS might do a MARS2. That would be hot, figuratively and literally. They should call that one SATURN
QuoteI can do nothing but *droooooooooooooool* Quote
QuoteTom, once again great video. You seem to be growing in confidence on the lens too as last time you were blinking a lot and looking away. So it's great the confidence levels are up.
I just watched the entire video and wrote down some notes so I can ask a couple of questions. Don't worry I am not going to ask anything techy or that would breach the NDA because I've been under a couple of them myself so I know how they are.
So, I shall begin with... Is it heavy? Also when the review does come can you include the weight? I admit that things like that do turn me on Sadly this card is totally out of my league on account of it costing more than my entire rig. Infact, I would hazard a guess and say I have spent less than a grand on both of my rigs
My second question is over the pronounciation of the company name. In the states it was deemed to be Azoos yet you seem to pronounce it Aceuss. What do the company address themselves as when you speak to them and they pick up the phone?
That might seem like a really stupid question but things like that bother me I remember calling the Celeron a Celeeron (in pronouncing it) but others called it the Selleron (as in Celery).
Totally agree about the power cables. That is quite silly really. Although having said that most PSU manus have done away with the eight pin plugs now. Neither of my PSUs have them (750w Hipro and a 750w Delta) so that might be why? either way I agree you would be crazy to feed the power that they need down into those adapters.
Now for some funnier questions..
Do you get to keep them?
And when you got them was it in the park on a bench? were you wearing a grey trench coat and addressed the Asus rep as 'Grey Squirrel'?
Haha, for some reason when I look at the way they are packed it reminds me of Trigger HappyQuote
I just watched the entire video and wrote down some notes so I can ask a couple of questions. Don't worry I am not going to ask anything techy or that would breach the NDA because I've been under a couple of them myself so I know how they are.
So, I shall begin with... Is it heavy? Also when the review does come can you include the weight? I admit that things like that do turn me on
Sadly this card is totally out of my league on account of it costing more than my entire rig. Infact, I would hazard a guess and say I have spent less than a grand on both of my rigs My second question is over the pronounciation of the company name. In the states it was deemed to be Azoos yet you seem to pronounce it Aceuss. What do the company address themselves as when you speak to them and they pick up the phone?
That might seem like a really stupid question but things like that bother me
I remember calling the Celeron a Celeeron (in pronouncing it) but others called it the Selleron (as in Celery).Totally agree about the power cables. That is quite silly really. Although having said that most PSU manus have done away with the eight pin plugs now. Neither of my PSUs have them (750w Hipro and a 750w Delta) so that might be why? either way I agree you would be crazy to feed the power that they need down into those adapters.
Now for some funnier questions..
Do you get to keep them?
And when you got them was it in the park on a bench? were you wearing a grey trench coat and addressed the Asus rep as 'Grey Squirrel'?
Haha, for some reason when I look at the way they are packed it reminds me of Trigger Happy
QuoteOh and also. +50XP to Asus for giving us blightys dibs. Makes a bloody nice change that. Usually we get crapped on with stuff like that.Quote
This type of kit never gets to stay fella, these are the only 2 for the UK press so they will be going on rotation when they leave here.
I call it Ace-US just like the guy I deal with does, but HQ and the US I do belive say AS-OOSEQuote
I call it Ace-US just like the guy I deal with does, but HQ and the US I do belive say AS-OOSE
QuoteIsn't Asus a god or something?
Make sure you give those cards a ruddy good pasting before you pass them on. And leave your fingerprints and DNA all over themQuote
Make sure you give those cards a ruddy good pasting before you pass them on. And leave your fingerprints and DNA all over them
Quotewhat set up you using it on mate? r3e with the 908x?Quote
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Originally Posted by name='thestepster'
what set up you using it on mate? r3e with the 908x?
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lol o well was worth a try and by the sounds of it your not gonna just try it on just intel :PQuote
holy Quote
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Originally Posted by name='delusion77'
holy
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
I dont want to give too much away but I will be very busy...
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Also BTW, is there a small buzzer/speaker on that card?Quote
Massive pat on the back to you Tom, you've done extremely well to get your hands on not just one, but two of those rare beasts!
I, and I think almost everyone on the forum, await your review with baited breath! What an amazing looking card, and along with the extras it's pretty much a mind-blowing package for any enthusiast. Just a shame it's out most of our price range. That doesn't make me any less excited about it though!Quote
I, and I think almost everyone on the forum, await your review with baited breath! What an amazing looking card, and along with the extras it's pretty much a mind-blowing package for any enthusiast. Just a shame it's out most of our price range. That doesn't make me any less excited about it though!Quote
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Originally Posted by name='alexhull24'
Massive pat on the back to you Tom, you've done extremely well to get your hands on not just one, but two of those rare beasts!
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Originally Posted by name='VonBlade'
Don't forget that this is Overclock3D, and not just Tom.
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i reckon some kind of dueal 980x might be used,or something to kick away the chance of bottle necks
and then 1000fps in crysis will be had ha ha ha ha jokesQuote
and then 1000fps in crysis will be had ha ha ha ha jokesQuote
Aye its been very much a team effort to get to this point, every team member has played their part.Quote
hats off to you tom, you've done it again looking forward to the performance of these bad boys in crossfire Quote
looking forward to the performance of these bad boys in crossfire QuoteHi, I have just joined after viewing your video on the Asus Ares and you really must be thrilled to be the first guys to have these cards and I 'm looking forward to see the test results on the 7th of July, I wish you all the best and hope you will accept me as a new member.
Best regardsQuote
Best regardsQuote
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
Hi, I have just joined after viewing your video on the Asus Ares and you really must be thrilled to be the first guys to have these cards and I 'm looking forward to see the test results on the 7th of July, I wish you all the best and hope you will accept me as a new member.
Best regards |
QuoteSpeechless!Quote
For the record I pronounce it Ace-us as well. Quote
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Originally Posted by name='FragTek'
For the record I pronounce it Ace-us as well.
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ASUS ARES, ASUS MARS the next thing ASUS will do is to overclock the GTX 480 I mean crazy like 950MHz core and put a dual fan cooling system and huge heatsink and a put it in a diplomatic suitcase and add a gaming keyboard and mouse pulls power supply and call it ASUS Venus.
Oh maybe AUSU will hear me and make my dream come trueQuote
Oh maybe AUSU will hear me and make my dream come trueQuote
At over 50DBa for sound reported 75cm away, I think I will stick to my Xfired 5850's.Quote
The case looks like the same case in the Hitman game; I watched the Hitman movie yesterday just to check it out and the case looks exactly the same except for the fact that there is two big guns instead of the ASUS ARES but if I was to buy this baby Id definitely think of the ARES as a big gun specially when I fire up CRYSIS and those frame rates blast the screen to bits.Quote
lol imagine buying an Ares only to find that inside the case was 2 silenced 9mm pistols with the Agency logos and your name LOOOOLQuote
Lol 41 replies in the time it took me to read the review! Safe to say this is one of the best cards you'll ever see! The price is eye-watering, but the proof of ASUS's engineering is the fact that one of these still beats 2 5870's in Crossfire! Awesome work to everyone at OC3D for getting these and to Tom for having the balls to push these cards even further!Quote
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Originally Posted by name='Sunny Sahota'
lol imagine buying an Ares only to find that inside the case was 2 silenced 9mm pistols with the Agency logos and your name LOOOOL
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
Id probably die from the shock
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looking forward to the performance specs!Quote
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Originally Posted by name='Sunny Sahota'
haha hopfully i can get a hold of one as soon as OCUK get them in. fingers crossed eh? lol
looking forward to the performance specs! |
Ahhhhh, looking back on this now is just so fun. It's hold on the GPU power house has come and gone and been taken by the Mars II...Now, hopefully if the 7000series are smashing success, we can see an Ares II 
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