Asus' ROG Ares II: Four Dual-GPU Graphics Cards, Compared

[FormatC]

Earlier this year, Asus joined the extreme high-end graphics club with its own dual-Tahiti-based card, liquid-cooled and overclocked. You can't buy it anymore, but we got our hands on one and are adding it to our database of performance data.

Asus' ROG Ares II: Four Dual-GPU Graphics Cards, Compared : Read more

 

[acasel]

nice video card.

hope it doesnt cost a kidney

 

[Ceee9]

last picture on the last page seem..., i think it oversize

 

[JJ1217]

ermagherd gerfics cerd yey i r so herpy

 

[UltimateDeep]

I think you can get 2 690s or least 3 680s for the price of an ARES 2. The benchmarkers didn't evaluate Performance per watt, or Performance per dollar and the flipping size and length of each card which is the reason why I still stand by the GTX 690 in this article... For all these cards, all of that personally needs to be taken into consideration.

I've nothing against the Dual 7970s but just want to let consumers be aware of the pros and cons especially the cards are not for the meek of wallet.

 

[killerchickens]

So about that FCAT ........... sigh

 

[slomo4sho]

Wonder if Asus will re-release this card into the US market as the 7990.

 

[ASHISH65]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dkcomputer]

Classic statement whenever you talk about AMD - "If only the software were better" or "When the software catches up" - how about "If only this component would be relevant when the software its made for exists"

 

[PadaV4]

So is the fps for radeon dual cards already divided by 2 or must the reader do it by himself?

 

[ShadyHamster]

You can't buy it anymore, but we got our hands on one and are adding it to our database of performance data.

If you live in Australia and have a spare $1900 you can still get your hands on one.

 

[damianrobertjones]

"the GeForce GTX 690 remains the most elegant high-end card we've ever used."

I actually had a chance to own a 690 so I went for it and, upon the next reboot, I was greeted by a black screen. Yay. I looked on the web and, as expected, others were suffering with the same issue. An ebay auction later and I'm back to 2x 660s in sli. The moral of the story is: Just because it's expensive doesn't mean it'll work

 

[Memnarchon]

Why not testing with FCAT? Or any frametime measurement? I think anyone who wants to spend so much money for a GPU would like to know this too.

 

[eric4277]

Why did you include 7970 Crossfire and not 680 SLI?

 

[utroz]

Would have been nice to see the ARES II with the newest drivers as well just to see how much performance has increased since launch...

 

[Cataclysm_ZA]

No frame latency using FRAPS? Your readers consider it the industry standard now, Tom's, you should be implementing it on all your reviews in future. Even though FCAT is more work, timestamping using FRAPS is still an accurate and reliable measurement.

 

[Marko Brekic]

A true NV fanboy review...disturbing...

 

[hero1]

Nice review. Those cards are awesome. But the Ares II is a beast of them all. ASUS should have made more of them, find a way to cut down on power consumption and market it for $1200. I would have snagged one as it is more than enough for my 2560x1440 Dell. The question is, will the true 7990 made by AMD deliver what ASUS and HIS did but with lower power and heat?

 

[Onus]

So sorry, but without FCAT measurements all of that work is for nought. I realize this article may have been researched and written before the significance of FCAT was realized, but that makes it an editorial task to not release it until it has been reworked, or even scrap it if it simply is no longer relevant.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Frame-Rating-GeForce-GTX-Titan-GeForce-GTX-690-Radeon-HD-7990-HD-7970-Cross-6

 

[the great randini]

What a cool test, it is surprising how little power the titan uses.

 

[nforce4max]

Nice card and they should have made more as they would have sold well. The saving grace for this card isn't just the performance but the thermals and acoustics. The price however puts this card far out of reach for all but the 1% D:

 

[tslot05qsljgo9ed]

Review FAIL.

Not testing DUAL GPU cards (internal SLI or CF) with FCAT is a complete FAILURE of a review.

In fact all future GPU reviews (Single, Dual, 3-Way, 4-Way, IGP, APU) should be using FCAT to make sure vendors are not playing fast and loose with FRAPS while generating STUB and DROPPED frames.

 

[mapesdhs]

Not impressed with one of the Crysis2 graphs starting the X-axis at 38. That's visually misleading,
and bad practice, especially when all the other graphs on the same page start at 0. Please change
it to a normal graph with origin 0.

Ian.

 

[jate]

In page 1,
Transistors 2 x 4.31 million(AMD) 2 x 3.5 million(NVIDIA)

I thought we are now running in billions of transistors?

 

[alidan]

why even make a dual gpu card right now?

gforce has the titan... its basically dual gpu performance on a single gpu

and it has non of the problems that dual gpu brings to the table.