AsusMars
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ASUS MARS II gets reviewed, deemed the fastest single graphics card on the market
Well, that insane ASUS MARS II card we got to feast our eyes on back in June has finally started rolling off the assembly line. That means it's time for the hardware fanatics and gaming freaks to start putting them through their paces. HotHardware said the dual GTX 580-packing card was "quite simply the fastest single graphics card we have ever tested, bar none." And everyone else seemed to agree. Now, obviously there are drawbacks -- the 3GB card is an absolute power hog (requiring 600-watts all by itself) and insanely pricey at $1,499. You could even buy three separate GTX 580 cards for slightly less, use the same number of slots and get better performance, but the MARS II has one other thing going for it -- status. Only 999 of these beasts will be made. After they're all snatched up you'll have to head to eBay, and pay a hefty premium over it's already absurd price. But, if you absolutely have to have the best performance you can out of a single card solution, this is the clear choice. If you need more detail about just how badly this spanks the competition check out the reviews below. Read - HotHardware Read - PC Perspective Read - techPowerUp Read - TweakTown
ASUS Mars 2 teases superpowered dual GeForce GTX 480 goodness
We'll be honest with you, we thought the GTX 480 was finally a graphics core too damn large and power-hungry to get the dual-GPU treatment. ASUS, however, is making us think again. Imagery has emerged of a Mars 2 (or II, if you're into outdated numbering schemes) reference board that fits two 480s on its densely populated surface, and is fed by not one, not two, but three 8-pin auxiliary power connectors. Back when Galaxy showed off a dual-GTX 470 prototype at Computex a month ago, we deemed it an unreasonable proposition -- in terms of power draw, heat dissipation, and cost -- but apparently those Taiwanese focus groups are really into their extravagantly overpowered video cards. We suspect if and when this Mars 2 hits retail it'll do so in a highly exclusive fashion, like its predecessor, and anticipate the unveiling of its cooler -- which is likely to be either the biggest or best engineered one we've seen yet.
