Introduction

ASUS Mars II Market Segment Analysis Radeon

HD 6970 GeForce

GTX 580 Radeon

HD 6990 GeForce

GTX 590 ASUS Mars II Shader Units 1536 512 2x 1536 2x 512 2x 512 ROPs 32 48 2x 32 2x 48 2x 48 Graphics Processor Cayman GF110 2x Cayman 2x GF110 2x GF110 Transistors 2640M 3000M 2x 2640M 2x 3000M 2x 3000M Memory Size 2048 MB 1536 MB 2x 2048 MB 2x 1536 MB 2x 1536 MB Memory Bus Width 256 bit 384 bit 2x 256 bit 2x 384 bit 2x 384 bit Core Clock 880 MHz 772 MHz 830 MHz 607 MHz 781 MHz Memory Clock 1375 MHz 1002 MHz 1250 MHz 855 MHz 1002 MHz Price $370 $490 $725 $710 $1499

First seen at Computex this year, ASUS today released their long awaited ASUS MARS II. The MARS II is the first dual GeForce GTX 580 card, and is part of ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand of premium products targeting the gamer-overclocker market. Please note that ASUS did not choose the "GeForce GTX 590" name, even though the ASUS MARS II is a dual-GPU design. Rather they went with calling it Dual GeForce GTX 580, which makes sense since the MARS II comes at the full GeForce GTX 580 clock speeds. instead of the reduced clocked of the GTX 590.ASUS has also added another significant change to the MARS II: Unlike the GTX 590, the card does not use any power limiting system. While this means higher performance, it also means increased power and thermal requirements for the ASUS MARS II. To take care of this, ASUS has designed a 21 phase power circuitry which is almost twice as powerful as the 11 phases of the GTX 590. To take care of the heat the ASUS MARS II uses a triple slot Direct CU cooler with two fans.In terms of pricing the limited edition ASUS MARS II is the most expensive single graphics card released so far. Prices are expected to be around $1499 online!