Asus Ares hands on WORLD FIRST
Drool time
Published: 30th June 2010 | Source: ASUS | Price: £1000 |
Picture time
Words cannot describe how difficult it was to resist the urge to be like a kid at Christmas and just rip it all open to get to the goodies. The lengths we go for our loyal readers here at OC3D.
Yes, this is indeed number 001. The box looks fairly normal sized in this photograph. It most certainly isn't.
As befits a graphics card costing more than a big HDTV, this isn't just a standard cardboard box. Not even the otherwise excellent ASUS ROG box. Here we have a proper aluminium combination lock case. No-one is going to pilfer your hard-brought card with this.
The packaging has really had every possible piece of gorgeousness and little touches thrown in its direction. In fact if we opened it and found a Accuracy International AWC we wouldn't be shocked.
Once the case is open, my god. Let's just stand back and admire. Mmm lovely isn't it.
This is the type of professionalism that you'd expect from a product costing a thousand pounds, and yet somehow we're still amazed by how great it all looks. All those times we go on about packaging really giving you a great initial impression of the product are brought to bear here. It looks like a extreme product. And that's a good sign.
Extremely high accuracy is used on the foam cut-outs, everything slipping into place exactly right. Even though you'd have had to purchase this to reach this point we still have a "congratulations on purchasing..." type bit of blurb in the top of the case. Slightly strange given that not many people (in fact nobody) would buy this by accident.
One surprising thing is the inclusion of a ROG mouse. Every little helps. As you can see this is nice looking mouse. It reminds us of a cross between the old OCZ mouse and a Logitech one.
Finally let's get the main event out the box. Make sure you've got a good grip, because all that copper doesn't mean it's light.
Most Recent Comments
were were were
Oh my god gracious me.
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!
That thing is freaking awsome i mean wow wow wow
and you have 2 of them woooop i cant wait for next week
and you have 2 of them woooop i cant wait for next week
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.;-)
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?
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.
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!
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'
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 supercar
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. |
The 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
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
I can do nothing but *droooooooooooooool*
Tom, 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 Happy
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
Oh 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.
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-OOSE
I call it Ace-US just like the guy I deal with does, but HQ and the US I do belive say AS-OOSE
Isn'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 them
Make sure you give those cards a ruddy good pasting before you pass them on. And leave your fingerprints and DNA all over them
what set up you using it on mate? r3e with the 908x?
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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 :P
holy shit
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Originally Posted by name='delusion77'
holy shit
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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?
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!
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!
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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 jokes
and then 1000fps in crysis will be had ha ha ha ha jokes
Aye its been very much a team effort to get to this point, every team member has played their part.
hats off to you tom, you've done it again looking forward to the performance of these bad boys in crossfire
looking forward to the performance of these bad boys in crossfire 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
Best regards
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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 |
Speechless!
For the record I pronounce it Ace-us as well.
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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 true
Oh maybe AUSU will hear me and make my dream come true
That case alone is worth $100.00!!!
I could re-cut it and carry my Walther in it!!!
I could re-cut it and carry my Walther in it!!!
At over 50DBa for sound reported 75cm away, I think I will stick to my Xfired 5850's.
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 I’d definitely think of the ARES as a big gun specially when I fire up CRYSIS and those frame rates blast the screen to bits.
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
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!
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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'
I’d probably die from the shock
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looking forward to the performance specs!
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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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