Asus Mars 295 Limited Edition Rocks Two GTX 285 GPUs
Asus Mars 295 Limited Edition Rocks Two GTX 285 GPUs
Posted 06/01/2009 at 6:51am
| by Paul Lilly
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You'll have to look to Mars to spy the fastest desktop consumer graphics card in the galaxy, which is the name of the new GPU Asus is showing off at Computex. Instead of two semi-custom GPUs that sit "between" a GTX 260 and 280, the Asus Mars 295 Limited Edition stuffs two higher end GTX 285 chips -- the fastest single GPU in Nvidia's lineup -- into a single package.
All told, the new card boasts all 240 shader processors on each GPU, a full 512-bit GDDR3 memory interface, 32 memory chips for 4GB total (2GB accessible per GPU), and the same core/shader/memory clockspeeds as the GTX 285 (648/1476/2400 MHz). By comparison, a traditional GTX 295 sports 896MB of GDDR3 per GPU on a 448-bit memory bus with core/shader/memory clockspeeds checking in at 576/1242/2000 MHz.
According to TechPowerUp, the funky looking cooler uses the same basic internal construction as the reference design for GTX 295 cards, albeit extending "slightly higher."
No word on price or availability, but Asus did say it would limit the run to 1,000 individually numbered cards.
Image Credit: Vizworld.com
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Neckername
November 12, 2009 at 11:57am
These cards do look impressive, kinda remind me of the GeForce 8800 Ultra cards. If they perfrom as good as they look, that would be awesome (is it just me ore does the cooling sleeve look like the top of a V6). But knowing the GPU market, ATI will most likely respond with a faster card (or at least the distributors will). Also, a Radeon 5870 series X2 card on the way, the GPU market will yet again most likely turn into a battlefield (of GPU releases).
[url]http://www.gameplayersanonymous.com/[/url]
metaLtil60
June 02, 2009 at 4:08pm
If these are as fast as they are saying they are....Dream Machine '09 anyone?...unless AMD pulls a trump card yet again this year...ohhh nivida(burn)
Nipyf2
June 01, 2009 at 12:07pm
Why would you want one of these other than to set a new benchmark record. With $300 you can get 2 4870s put them in crossfire and play every game available at maxed out settings. Asus doesn't need to produce a ton of these because there is really no real neason to buy them because you won't see a performance difference.
Keith E. Whisman
June 01, 2009 at 12:43pm
OK why don't you go and lay down and recover from your high and sober up some and then come back and post something that is actually sane and logical.
Two GTX285s in SLI are faster than Two 4870's in crossfire. That's 2processors that are faster than 4processors.
And just because you don't need or want the fastest available hardware out there does not mean everyone else is crazy for wanting the highest end available. Price be damned.
I'm sorry your just not going to win this one and I'm not alone and I have alot of people here that will back up my statement.
schinkinatror
June 01, 2009 at 11:54am
I think my air conditioner might use less power than those. If I did get them I think I'd have to buy another air conditioner just to keep'em cool
Keith E. Whisman
June 01, 2009 at 11:38am
Damn it. Only 1000? All the magazines and hardware websites are going to buy them up befor any reach store shelves. This sucks. We need to protest at the ASUS headquartars until they relent and produce at least 100,000 units. 100,000 units would still be hard to get but much easier than just 1000. That's retarded. I want one and I know that there is going to be no chance at all of getting one if there are only going to be 1000.
Devo85x
June 01, 2009 at 5:38pm
Screw 100,000 units... I say we protest to make it a constant product :)
comptech08
June 01, 2009 at 10:34am
are those things actually running as that picture was taken? Just curious, because there is no SLI bridge across them. I know you can run them without it, but why would you want to?
Shckr57
June 03, 2009 at 5:28am
sli is pointless if you want to run multiple monitors. i know some people that will argue an sli bridge with multiple monitors slows down performance a little. idk, don't agree but still.
5eagles
June 01, 2009 at 9:24am
Wow, those look as sweet as the specs read. Maybe this will be the reason I finally fork over the money and build me an i7 machine. God I love gadget pr0n.
DBsantos77
June 01, 2009 at 8:16am
I'd recently bought an XFX 9600GT from Newegg for 60 bucks, but I'd trade it for one of these :x anyone else have good experiences with the 9600's?
Defiant
June 01, 2009 at 8:25am
Well if Denis63 ever views these comments I'm sure he will have a word or 2 to say about it, he owns one and loves it.
Denis63
June 01, 2009 at 12:00pm
You're damn right Defiant!
i have an eVGA 9600GT OC 512. Its rather good and does everything i ask of it. recently though i've been playing Fallout3 and its been lacking there, but it has a Zalman VF1000 heatsync on it and when it starts to cough, i overclock it :P. 775mhz (over a 675 stock) core clock and the temp dosn't even go up a degree (according to aVGA precision). I payed 180 for it almost a year ago now...
Defiant
June 01, 2009 at 7:31am
Ill take 2 of them, preferably number 1 and 2 ;P
I can only imagine how hot this gets and how much power it will use, not to mention the price!!
Devo85x
June 01, 2009 at 7:47am
lol :) just liquid cool it, as for the numbers 1 and 2, imagine the resell price of those! give me 1-4 and ill sell 1 and 2 :)
Defiant
June 01, 2009 at 7:58am
Gives me an excuse to buy the corsair hx1000 to power them (I've been looking for a reason to get it too).
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