ASUS Ares Review
Test Setup and Overclocking
Published: 7th July 2010 | Source: ASUS | Price: £1199 |
Test Setup and OC
We've got two test setups today. Although very much on the same lines. We have our standard OC3D test rig that utilises a i7-930, and we also have our i7-980X which we reserve for those products that belong in a "money no object" system.
Asus Ares
Another Asus Ares
Corsair Dominator GT @ 1600MHz
ASUS Rampage 3 Extreme
Intel i7 930 @ 3.8GHz
Intel i7 980X @ 4GHz
Corsair AX1200w
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
Noctua NH-D14 with Arctic MX-3
Overclocking
Naturally with this being very much on the leading edge of technology there are a few things that are still just having the final wrinkles ironed out as we go live. So at the time of our review we were unable to overclock in Crossfire mode. However, the single card... oh boy.
This thing is an overclocking behemoth. Coming in at 850MHz out the box it was easy to just keep dragging that slider north and the card almost shrugged. At 1083MHz we finally hit the stability wall. Although even then it was just a couple of tests in Vantage that weren't happy. Everything else ran like a dream. Even the RAM happily took a 100MHz overclock.
We're positive that there is loads yet to come, but a card costing £1200 isn't the kind of thing we want to throw massive volts through when it's not ours. You most certainly could dump some voltage through it too because the cooling isn't an issue. After running Furmark for what felt like forever we still hadn't gone over 70°C and the fan was whisper quiet even then.
The combination of audio-quality copper and a big fan certainly can keep the Ares well under control.
Most Recent Comments
Great review Tom, I thoroughly enjoyed reading through that.
It performs even better than I expected. There's even more headroom for OCing, impressive. Your conclusion hits the nail on the head though, fantastic product, but the price. It's not for everyone, in fact, it's only for a few.
Is this the future of the high end GPU market?
It performs even better than I expected. There's even more headroom for OCing, impressive. Your conclusion hits the nail on the head though, fantastic product, but the price. It's not for everyone, in fact, it's only for a few.
Is this the future of the high end GPU market?
Id say this is Asus own arena atm tbh, the other manu's making Extreme 5970's are weak as its just a stock card with more memory. The original 5970s biggest problem was power delivery and heat, this solves both. How XFX can charge a grand for their card amazes me as its nothing compaired to this.
Ill get off my soap box quick as Im in the mood for bashing!
Ill get off my soap box quick as Im in the mood for bashing!
I have but one thing to say. LOL.
Excellent review, really hope I can get one when I get back from Miami. Please may the GPU Gods keep one on the side for me lol
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
Id say this is Asus own arena atm tbh, the other manu's making Extreme 5970's are weak as its just a stock card with more memory. The original 5970s biggest problem was power delivery and heat, this solves both. How XFX can charge a grand for their card amazes me as its nothing compaired to this.
Ill get off my soap box quick as Im in the mood for bashing! |
• Graphics processor 2 x ATI Radeon HD 5970, 900MHz
• Pipeline 2 x 1,600 stream processors (900MHz), 2 x 32 ROPs
• Memory 2 x 2GB GDDR5, 4.8GHz effective
• Bandwidth 2 x 153.6GB/sec, 256-bit interface
and runs cooler too and has more headroom for overclocking because of its three fan setup and retails in the UK for 969 £ but the positives for the ARES are:
it looks better
great package (suitcase+mouse+card)
its more quiet than the Toxic which is very important to some people
and the most important thing to me personally is that my two GTS 480 in sli scored 30990 in 3D Mark Vantage GPU benchmark compared to ARES (overclocked) which was 30301 and my GTX 480's were running at stock and physx was turned off and bear in mind I only paid 736 £ (2X368)for them but as you know tom I have to put up with the GTX 480 noise and ridicules temperatures.
l have read several reviews today about the ARES from different websites and I think you are the best overclock3d and most honest keep on the good work guys and best of luck to you tom.
Cheers dude, I dont rate the Saphire or the XFX cards, they were rushed through when they found out Asus had a non reference no holds barred card coming. The other brands are just rebadged reference cards tbh.
The ARES review was completed by both me and Bryan aka VonBlade, we both lost alot of sleep over the weekend while testing the cards, its been a big task to get it all ready including all the vids ect in under a week!
The ARES review was completed by both me and Bryan aka VonBlade, we both lost alot of sleep over the weekend while testing the cards, its been a big task to get it all ready including all the vids ect in under a week!
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
Cheers dude, I dont rate the Saphire or the XFX cards, they were rushed through when they found out Asus had a non reference no holds barred card coming. The other brands are just rebadged reference cards tbh.
The ARES review was completed by both me and Bryan aka VonBlade, we both lost alot of sleep over the weekend while testing the cards, its been a big task to get it all ready including all the vids ect in under a week! |
looking forward to the next 'FIRST' video lol
I think when it comes to 4way crossfire the bottleneck is the CPU the same problem happened when the GTX 480 was tested in 4way SLI it’s just too much cores for the CPU to send data to.
another amazing view mate this thing is totally prolific in price and performance!
You should have really OCd the 5970 to 5870 speeds :-o. And at least got the 900Mhz thats easy for them
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Originally Posted by name='douglatins'
You should have really OCd the 5970 to 5870 speeds :-o. And at least got the 900Mhz thats easy for them
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Is it less ownage? At least close to the stock ares?
Completely destroyed everything in its path.
That card is beast in all departments!
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
The ARES review was completed by both me and Bryan aka VonBlade, we both lost alot of sleep over the weekend while testing the cards, its been a big task to get it all ready including all the vids ect in under a week! |
Kids in a sweetshop I’ve just read a review on a website that I don’t want to name because I don’t trust them which claims this:
The noise levels coming from the card are very high and loud, in idle the card will remain nicely quiet at 36 DBa, barely even hearable really.But once the two GPUs start to really heat up, the fan RPM will rise upwards fast. The card then reaches roughly 52 DBa measured at that 75cm distance. This is a big negative alright as a product of this caliber with this price tag should not require that much brute force fan activity at all. Loud, really loud.
Is this true tom?
The noise levels coming from the card are very high and loud, in idle the card will remain nicely quiet at 36 DBa, barely even hearable really.But once the two GPUs start to really heat up, the fan RPM will rise upwards fast. The card then reaches roughly 52 DBa measured at that 75cm distance. This is a big negative alright as a product of this caliber with this price tag should not require that much brute force fan activity at all. Loud, really loud.
Is this true tom?
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
I’ve just read a review on a website that I don’t want to name because I don’t trust them which claims this:
The noise levels coming from the card are very high and loud, in idle the card will remain nicely quiet at 36 DBa, barely even hearable really.But once the two GPUs start to really heat up, the fan RPM will rise upwards fast. The card then reaches roughly 52 DBa measured at that 75cm distance. This is a big negative alright as a product of this caliber with this price tag should not require that much brute force fan activity at all. Loud, really loud. Is this true tom? |
WTF that is discustingly powerfull,and with Xfire WOW just WOW ;-);-);-);-);-)
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
Watch the video mate...........
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Can someone tell me where i can pick one these up in the USA?
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Originally Posted by name='unknownuser200'
Can someone tell me where i can pick one these up in the USA?
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Wow we actually get something before the USA. I shall rub my eyes in disbelief.
10/10 Asus, love ya
10/10 Asus, love ya
thanks ill look into it
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Originally Posted by name='AlienALX'
Wow we actually get something before the USA. I shall rub my eyes in disbelief.
10/10 Asus, love ya |
love the review. much drooling.
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
ASUS are marketing strong in the EU and that’s because EVGA & BFG have decided to leave EU.
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I'm glad Asus give us priority though. I've always liked their products.
I was wondering whether the Ares has a unique serial number like the ASUS MARS?
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
I was wondering whether the Ares has a unique serial number like the ASUS MARS?
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OCUK have 5 in stock now.
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
No it doesnt dude, something to do with superstitions in Asia or something
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the number 4 sounds similar to death or in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Believe it or not, about a lot of buildings skip numbering the floor if it has a 4 in it.
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Originally Posted by name='tinytomlogan'
No it doesnt dude, something to do with superstitions in Asia or something
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Originally Posted by name='delusion77'
the number 4 sounds similar to death or in Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Believe it or not, about a lot of buildings skip numbering the floor if it has a 4 in it.
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anyone know what interconnect bridge the ares is using?
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Originally Posted by name='silvermane'
anyone know what interconnect bridge the ares is using?
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should of made myself more clear, trying to find out what interconnect chip are they using to bridge the two 5870 chips together
I would imagine that and the schematics are top secret and any one who does know will be under a pretty harsh NDA*
*Non disclosure agreement.. In other words "If I tell you I will have to kill you"
*Non disclosure agreement.. In other words "If I tell you I will have to kill you"
I'd suppose they are using the same one which is used in all the HD 5970 series, I don't think it would make a difference to the performance, the main thing is the enhanced clocks and better power distribution in addition to excellent cooling solution. by the way it's been a few days now since overclockers have had 5 in stock and no one has bought one yet seems that all the rich guys are sticking with NVIDIA,I remember when the ASUS MARS first came to the UK they disappeared immediately and especially when NVIDIA have now allowed in their new driver the uses of physx with the ATI cards so now you can use the ARES as the main display and NVIDIA card for the physx.
Nvid havnt allowed that, it was a one off error that they removed matey.
really, how could NVIDIA make such a error
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
really, how could NVIDIA make such a error
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Sneaky barstools.
Does any one have this fabled driver per chance? The thought of putting that 8800u along side the 3870x2 has definintely aroused me Mind you, the 8800u is quite probably history.
Does any one have this fabled driver per chance? The thought of putting that 8800u along side the 3870x2 has definintely aroused me
Mind you, the 8800u is quite probably history.Quote:
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Originally Posted by name='AlienALX'
Sneaky barstools.
Does any one have this fabled driver per chance? The thought of putting that 8800u along side the 3870x2 has definintely aroused me Mind you, the 8800u is quite probably history. |
In the last page, score table - do you think 'Price' column is actually appropriate at all to this gpu? That you given it a wrong score is not what I think. Scoring it on price is what i think makes the review look not properly done?
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Originally Posted by name='silenthill'
the 257.15 Beta ForceWare driver set from NVIDIA accidently had the ability for ATI users to again use an NVIDIA card as a second to do PhysX. The whole ordeal created a bit of drama around the web; as soon as it was discovered by NVIDIA they yanked the driver and put another one up that disabled the ability.
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Question !
I got two ARES luckly and having problem with Asus ATI driver.
Getting BlueScreen casued by ati driver...
I wonder how did you test with them?
Anyway Great Review. Good job
I got two ARES luckly and having problem with Asus ATI driver.
Getting BlueScreen casued by ati driver...
I wonder how did you test with them?
Anyway Great Review. Good job
i dont know if you've seen the vid for the review. But he actually mentions its a nightmare to run crossfire with them. And mentions the many BsoD he gets.
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Originally Posted by name='UltimateTK'
Question !
I got two ARES luckly and having problem with Asus ATI driver. Getting BlueScreen casued by ati driver... I wonder how did you test with them? Anyway Great Review. Good job |
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Originally Posted by name='delusion77'
Well the 10.7 drivers are comming out soon, so hopefully that will add stability. make sure to get the drivers and the profiles. And also, invite me over to gawk at them!
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Well I hope they update the ares drivers just as often as catalyst. Are they atleast based of the stock ATI 1s?
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