Asus Ares II HD 7990 6 GB

[mediasorcerer]

Hey, how is it in metro2033 @2560x1600 hehe, what a horrible yet excellent game to sort out the graphics card men from the boys .

You got to hand it to Asus for this card, only they could get away with it, great engineering feat, about time for solid metals too, often thought about casting a shroud in aluminium, wouldn't be that hard either.

That's a ripper card, what ever way you swing it, numbers haint everything, i just want it.

If this card doesn't appeal to you,,,,,,,,?




you got the wrong hobby. hehe!!


Good read wi77ard.

[tacosRcool]

Would thought it would be better in terms of performance vs the gtx 690 especially for $1600

[Am*]

Holy crap...this card is a colossal failure.

The Devil 13 costs over 600 dollars less (even 700 less in some places), has a much better cooler even though it is an air cooler , it is worth more even purely in material costs, not a cheap piece of shit single rad with a water block that didn't even cover the whole card and could hit almost the same clocks. And to add insult to injury, they release it a year after the fucking card was originally released. It doesn't deserve a 4/10 for a score, let alone an 8.9; throw this worthless turd back at ASUCKS HQ where it belongs...shops around here couldn't get rid of their stocks of the original Ares fast enough and that was a half decent card back then. Anybody with a brain cell will not go anywhere near this piece of shit, but I give props to the few chosen retards that will buy this card.

[yogurt_21]

^ has a point.

1600$? that's 4 7970's. or 2 of them and a good mobo/cpu/memory combo. Price makes it worthless.

[BigMack70]

Originally Posted by yogurt_21

^ has a point.

1600$? that's 4 7970's. or 2 of them and a good mobo/cpu/memory combo. Price makes it worthless.

I think that the price just sorts out who the card is for and who it's not for. It's for someone wanting to build a unique rig with a collector's item in it, who doesn't care at all about the price or value of the computer.

They could probably set this card at $2500 and it would still sell out.

I agree with you about it being worthless, but I'm not in the target audience.

[rainbow dash]

this card is totally disaster..

[Am*]

Originally Posted by BigMack70

I think that the price just sorts out who the card is for and who it's not for. It's for someone wanting to build a unique rig with a collector's item in it, who doesn't care at all about the price or value of the computer.

They could probably set this card at $2500 and it would still sell out.

I agree with you about it being worthless, but I'm not in the target audience.

The price has nothing to do with the target audience. Even if you are a collector, there are way better options for you; you want a rare dual 7970 GPU card, get the Devil 13, if you want a dual 680 card or one that uses the best materials, get the 690. This Ares card has nothing over either of these and yet it costs $600 more. That's $600 more than the most expensive and best performing GPUs on the market which debuted a year ago. ASUS can fuck off -- this is beyond a joke, they are just taking the piss now. This is the first generation of graphics cards that offer limited edition dual GPU cards from both AMD and Nvidia without ASUS -- their price premium reasoning is long gone -- they did not have to engineer or redesign anything, as Powercolor already did that and still managed to make a profit by selling their cards for less. ASUS are not the only player in the limited edition GPU market anymore -- as far as I am concerned, they are no longer relevant.

[BigMack70]

None of those other cards are limited edition. The ARES II is, and on top of the unique design (rather you like it or not), that's going to make it much more desirable for some folks than the Devil 13 or 690.

Honestly there's no reason to get so mad at ASUS... some people will be very happy with this card.

[Am*]

Originally Posted by BigMack70

None of those other cards are limited edition. The ARES II is, and on top of the unique design (rather you like it or not), that's going to make it much more desirable for some folks than the Devil 13 or 690.

Honestly there's no reason to get so mad at ASUS... some people will be very happy with this card.

While the GTX 690 isn't a limited edition card, the Devil 13 IS.

[BiggieShady]

Originally Posted by rainbow dash

this card is totally disaster..

Total disaster only for the credit card bill and the power bill, this monster is great for multi monitor gaming and it's quiet

[BigMack70]

The Devil 13 is a limited release but not a limited edition, so you don't get things like the serial # telling you which of the run of cards you have, for example.

I know that stuff sounds stupid, but it's going to mean a lot to some people.

[Am*]

Originally Posted by BigMack70

The Devil 13 is a limited release but not a limited edition, so you don't get things like the serial # telling you which of the run of cards you have, for example.

I know that stuff sounds stupid, but it's going to mean a lot to some people.

WTF... send an email to Powercolor and tell them you want a freaking number on the box for $600 extra, I bet they will engrave your girlfriend's name on it as a freebie for that kind of stupid money...

Originally Posted by BiggieShady

Total disaster only for the credit card bill and the power bill, this monster is great for multi monitor gaming and it's quiet

*facepalm* yeah it's great for multi monitor gaming...until next month, when a whole new generation of graphics cards are going to be released that will wipe the floor with this card. Until then it's only a disaster for the only two things that matter...

[BigMack70]

Hey I'm not arguing that it makes sense, I'm just trying to explain why some people aren't going to care about the price premium.

[n0tiert]

i dunno why people arguing,

nobody pics on those ipad/iphone nerds paying huge money for a piece of crap forged by foxconn slaves, calm down......

u have to see it the other way , it´s an honour to get such sample for dismantling, testing, reviewing it....... i bet they breed even more stuff like that in their labs but non public

thx, for the review, keep it up !

[NinkobEi]

Why are these people angry that ASUS made a limited edition card targeted at the lazy wealthy?

Personally I think it is a great engineering achievement and hope to see more (lower priced) models in the future. If it helps to break in the era of easy pre-packaged watercooling then count me in!

[yogurt_21]

Originally Posted by NinkobEi

Why are these people angry that ASUS made a limited edition card targeted at the lazy wealthy?

Personally I think it is a great engineering achievement and hope to see more (lower priced) models in the future. If it helps to break in the era of easy pre-packaged watercooling then count me in!

its not the first dual 7970 card so no, its not an engineering achievement. This version is 600$ more expensive than the powercolor version which was reviewed on this site, August of last year. Pre-packaged watercooling has come and gone, there is no era starting here, it was tried and ultimately proven inefficient compared with cheaper the less complex air coolers. The only reason this one has it is the high heat output, otherwise asus would have used air like it has in the last aries model.

The last aries launched at the 1000$ price point with all of the limited edition crap, there is nothing on this one that justifies the extra 600$ That watercooler isn't worth an extra 600$, an extra 100$ at most. This is more for people who worship the ground that asus walks on, its not really for the uber rich enthusiest. After all if you can find 2 devil 13's for 1.2x the price of this one alone, why wouldn't you run those instead?

[NinkobEi]

Originally Posted by yogurt_21

After all if you can find 2 devil 13's for 1.2x the price of this one alone, why wouldn't you run those instead?

Obviously you aren't part of the targeted consumer group for this card. No need to get angry at that. Call it overpriced garbage if you want, I still think it's neat that they can completely package a waterblock with a videocard and have it maintenance free. I wouldn't buy it, because I am poor, but I'm not outraged that ASUS would make such a card.

[the54thvoid]

Selling any product and identifying it as a limited run with individually serialised numbers on it is a marketing and manufacturing driven pricing strategy.

In the realm of manufacturing the less of something you make (or commit to make) necessarily incurs a higher production cost than against mass produced articles.

Asus did not make this card to sell to thousands. Just a thousand, max. And these cards (Ares 2) are not all about performance - I know, I have 2 water cooled 7970's and they run at 1050, therefore my product runs pretty much on par with this.

However, 2 x7970, plus 2 x water blocks plus rad, pump and fan would cost (in UK pounds) around £800. That is for two not very special stock PCB's with no top end components. This card is a limited run, with a custom built PCB with high quality components throughout, with far higher clocks and all pre plumbed into an effective cooling loop.

The card is obviously being sold at a higher cost than the sum of it's parts but that is for the specific reason it is a collectors, limited edition model.

I would invite all the trolls bitching on this thread to go and peruse some watch forums and harp on about watch prices. Or maybe some car forums. Or any other special edition commodity that retails higher than it's manufacturing cost.

Guys, get a grip.

EDIT: At the moment of typing this the system specs of the four folk on this page decrying the card are all Nvidia owners. Go figure.

[jihadjoe]

IMO whether you're an AMD or Nvidia fan, now is definitely not the time to be buying a high-end GPU. The HD7000 and 600 series are both old, about to be refreshed.

[Fluffmeister]

The card is stupidly expensive and fails on many metrics people care about.

To suggest people who question the point of this card are either trolls or nVidia fanboys is rather pathetic.

[Widjaja]

Novelty item/brag value for computer enthusiasts with a dash of overprice for having the ARES name in it.

Only thing I see which is appealing is not being a generic AMD ASUS triple slot high end card.

[mediasorcerer]

Yes i love it too, how adventurous of Asus to bring this to market, of course it's for those tech enthusiasts who have plenty of spondoola but i say why not, if it was $1599.00 id probably come at it but $1600 is just too pricey.

I'm so glad Asus made this thing, it is a great idea and hopefully more vendors will follow suit with lower priced but similar offerings.

I can't believe folks would not appreciate the engineering in this card, who cares what the price is, as if we would buy it anyway? Love adventurous companies who aren't frightened to try something a bit new and different, good one Asus.

I'd love this card in my rigg already.

[mediasorcerer]

Originally Posted by the54thvoid

Selling any product and identifying it as a limited run with individually serialised numbers on it is a marketing and manufacturing driven pricing strategy.

In the realm of manufacturing the less of something you make (or commit to make) necessarily incurs a higher production cost than against mass produced articles.

Asus did not make this card to sell to thousands. Just a thousand, max. And these cards (Ares 2) are not all about performance - I know, I have 2 water cooled 7970's and they run at 1050, therefore my product runs pretty much on par with this.

However, 2 x7970, plus 2 x water blocks plus rad, pump and fan would cost (in UK pounds) around £800. That is for two not very special stock PCB's with no top end components. This card is a limited run, with a custom built PCB with high quality components throughout, with far higher clocks and all pre plumbed into an effective cooling loop.

The card is obviously being sold at a higher cost than the sum of it's parts but that is for the specific reason it is a collectors, limited edition model.

I would invite all the trolls bitching on this thread to go and peruse some watch forums and harp on about watch prices. Or maybe some car forums. Or any other special edition commodity that retails higher than it's manufacturing cost.

Guys, get a grip.

EDIT: At the moment of typing this the system specs of the four folk on this page decrying the card are all Nvidia owners. Go figure.

You tell them buddy, your spot on, how could a tech enthusiast not like this card, i love ferraris, can't afford one, doesn't mean we cant appreciate the engineering in it, it's a bit moronic to be bitching i think, missing the point completely.

[Am*]

Originally Posted by the54thvoid

Selling any product and identifying it as a limited run with individually serialised numbers on it is a marketing and manufacturing driven pricing strategy.

In the realm of manufacturing the less of something you make (or commit to make) necessarily incurs a higher production cost than against mass produced articles.

Asus did not make this card to sell to thousands. Just a thousand, max. And these cards (Ares 2) are not all about performance - I know, I have 2 water cooled 7970's and they run at 1050, therefore my product runs pretty much on par with this.

However, 2 x7970, plus 2 x water blocks plus rad, pump and fan would cost (in UK pounds) around £800. That is for two not very special stock PCB's with no top end components. This card is a limited run, with a custom built PCB with high quality components throughout, with far higher clocks and all pre plumbed into an effective cooling loop.

The card is obviously being sold at a higher cost than the sum of it's parts but that is for the specific reason it is a collectors, limited edition model.

I would invite all the trolls bitching on this thread to go and peruse some watch forums and harp on about watch prices. Or maybe some car forums. Or any other special edition commodity that retails higher than it's manufacturing cost.

Guys, get a grip.

EDIT: At the moment of typing this the system specs of the four folk on this page decrying the card are all Nvidia owners. Go figure.

You are quite clearly clueless and cannot comprehend the reasoning of people like me that are complaining about the release of this card. And for you to accuse me of being an Nvidia fanboy is beyond moronic -- I have been the one person out of the few that was pissed at Nvidia's shitty driver support for ages until sometime last year, when they got their act together, and I've said several times here on TPU and elsewhere that I would buy a 7970 over a GTX 680 anyday if I was looking for a card now, so nice fail there.

Both AMD and Nvidia price their cards based on what's selling for what on the market and how big the demand is. If even 1000 retards are still buying last year's re-released cards today, as a top-performance part, they are suggesting to both companies that last year's performance is still good enough -- so what happens? Originally planned $500 flagship replacement cards become priced as extreme-end $1000+ cards (as is the rumour now going around with the GK 110 Titan going for $900 dollars), and we get the same shit re-hashed in another generation under a slightly different name with just slightly lower power consumption. I don't want this to become another case of Nvidia's 9000 series bullshit, I want a much better card for the same money. This card only ruins the chances of that happening for pretty much everybody that wants competition. If you want to try and convince me that releasing this card now is somehow going to benefit anybody other than ASUS then please feel free to explain to me how it will do that.

EDIT: Oh and don't even get me started on your whole "you pay for what you get" bullshit theory, comparing an expensive watch or a supercar which are time-tested pieces of engineering to some shitty chips on a PCB with a $600-$1000 dollar 'GO FASTER' stripe on it. Expensive watches and supercars have decade-lasting and GUARANTEED resale value and do not get replaced anywhere near as quickly as something like consumer graphics cards, if ever (most decades-old supercars become sought-after collector's items due to their lasting unique design and flog for millions), even if you're selling them back to the manufacturer, which is something that this turd of a card will NEVER, EVER have. And do not even think of quoting UK pricing against a US product's retail value. The MARS II went for $1500 in the US, and guess how much it sold for here? £1300-£1600 pounds. In effect, you are not saving jackshit and you would likely be financially better off modding/almost making your very own card.

Originally Posted by mediasorcerer

You tell them buddy, your spot on, how could a tech enthusiast not like this card, i love ferraris, can't afford one, doesn't mean we cant appreciate the engineering in it, it's a bit moronic to be bitching i think, missing the point completely.

Oh and this is not the "Ferrari" of graphics cards...this is more like a VW Golf modded by some chavs with a shit-ton of neon lights, tinted windows and gigantic alloy wheels. Pretentious crap, is what this card is.

[NinkobEi]

Originally Posted by Am*

You are quite clearly clueless and cannot comprehend the reasoning of people like me that are complaining about the release of this card. And for you to accuse me of being an Nvidia fanboy is beyond moronic -- I have been the one person out of the few that was pissed at Nvidia's shitty driver support for ages until sometime last year, when they got their act together, and I've said several times here on TPU and elsewhere that I would buy a 7970 over a GTX 680 anyday if I was looking for a card now, so nice fail there.

Both AMD and Nvidia price their cards based on what's selling for what on the market and how big the demand is. If even 1000 retards are still buying last year's re-released cards today, they are suggesting to both companies that last year's performance is still good enough -- so what happens? Originally planned future $500 flagship replacement cards are priced well as extreme-end $1000+ cards (as is the rumour now going around with the GK 110 Titan), and we get the same shit re-hashed in another generation under a slightly different name with just slightly lower power consumption. I don't want this to become another case of Nvidia's 9000 series bullshit, I want a much better card for the same money. This card only ruins it for everybody that wants competition. If you want to try and convince me that releasing this card now is somehow going to benefit anybody other than ASUS then please feel free to explain to me how it will do that.

Oh and don't even get me started on the whole "you pay for what you get" bullshit you're talking about, comparing an expensive watch or a supercar to some shitty chips on a PCB with a $600 dollar 'GO FASTER' stripe on it. Expensive watches and supercars have decade-lasting and GUARANTEED resale value and do not get replaced anywhere near as quickly as something like consumer graphics cards, if ever (most decades-old supercars become sought-after collector's items due to their lasting unique design and flog for millions), even if you're selling them back to the manufacturer, which is something that this turd of a card will NEVER, EVER have.

Now a permanent part of the internet. Hahahaha Tell us how you really feel