ASUS MARS 2 SLI Madness
Introduction and Technical Specifications
Published: 29th December 2011 | Source: ASUS | Price: £2000+ !!!! |
Introduction
Christmas is a time for gluttony. Over indulgence. Having way more than you really should. It's also the season of giving, of unexpected gifts.
So with all this in mind we thought we'd be very giving here at OC3D and bring you something unexpected, that's also extremely indulgent. So much hardware that you will be metaphorically stuffed and promising to never eat again.
Back in September we reviewed the ASUS MARS 2. A graphics card equipped with two full GTX580 chips and costing more than a thousand pounds. Since then we've looked at the Rampage IV Extreme and the latest 2011 Intel CPU, the 3960X. Lots of high-end hardware indeed.
What if you won the lottery and suddenly found yourself flush with cash. You'd surely put the MARS 2 in a 2011 motherboard. Although if you had that kind of money, why not have two and go Quad-SLI? That would be insane performance wouldn't it?
Wonder no more. That's where we come in. Welcome to the insanity that is our festive ASUS MARS 2 SLI review. Grab a plate of nibbles and strap in.
Technical Specifications
In case you've forgotten the monstrous specifications of the MARS 2, here they are in all their eye-opening glory.
| Graphics Engine | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580x2 |
| Bus Standard | PCI Express 2.0 |
| Video Memory | GDDR5 3GB |
| Engine Clock | 782 MHz |
| CUDA Core | 1024 |
| Memory Clock | 4008 MHz ( 1002 MHz GDDR5 ) |
| RAMDAC | 400 MHz |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit x2 |
| Resolution | D-Sub Max Resolution : 2048x1536 DVI Max Resolution : 2560x1600 |
| Interface | D-Sub Output : Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1) DVI Output : Yes x 2 (DVI-I) HDMI Output : Yes x 1 Display Port : Yes x 1 (Regular DP) HDCP Support : Yes |
| Accessories | 1 x Extended SLI cable 2 x Power cable 1 x DVI to D-Sub adaptor |
| Software | ASUS Driver and Utility |
| ASUS Features | DirectCU Series Super Alloy Power |
| Dimensions | 13 " x 6.2 " x 2.5 " Inch |
But we know you're not here to ponder card dimensions and maximum resolutions.
Most Recent Comments
Some massive results from SLI, nothing is coming close to them for a while anyway.
I'm kinda disappointed and impressed at the same time. You would expect mind blowing out the box... I guess no one expects someone to spend £2k + ON GRAPHICS ALONE!!!!
Thanks for the review Tom, I can't see anyone doing the same review for quite some time lol.
Great Review Mate and thanks for doing stuff like this for us we really do enjoy seeing what e-peen can do
If you tell them you will use it in many reviews and show the brand and stuff you will get it probably free or something damn it, but thats one aspect that would easily enrich the reviews of all components.
And maybe year later you can also add measurement of noise/loudness if you feel like it. But damn power consumption is really missing and is easily fixed.
i hope asus makes an ARES II with the new 7970's
Curious if that 1350W Enermax PSU you looked at earlier would have been able to handle the rig, given that it can do 1600W peak and has the power connectors to run both cards.
Regarding the driver issues with SLI, I'm no expert, but would four regular GTX580 boards offer better frame rate and stability?
Great job Tom! Really appreciate the work you put into these builds, along with the video. Will you be sending the cards back to Asus or are they letting you keep them?
i really think its time then, that I can go and work on it , just fot the F@H section...........
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Originally Posted by SnW
Do you never do a Folding test anymore ? aka in regards how much a "new" GPU puts out ! i really think its time then, that I can go and work on it , just fot the F@H section........... |
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO thats why it wasnt done.
You need to stick around a bit more fella youve obviously missed LOADS of 98860 shout outs and folding tests in reviews.
CSS Valid
The MARS 2 is the most powerful graphics card on the planet. So of course we've had to see what would happen if you ran two in SLI.
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