ASUS MARS 2 SLI Madness

ASUS MARS 2 SLI Madness

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 580×2
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 : 2048×1536
DVI Max Resolution : 2560×1600
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.