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ASUS Radeon HD 7970 DirectCu II Graphics Card Pictured

btarunr

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Here are the first pictures of ASUS' premium DirectCu II graphics card designed around AMD's Radeon HD 7970 GPU. The design is based on giving the GPU a powerful cooling solution, backed by a custom-design PCB. Since its cooling solution spans across three expansion slots, one of the three expansion slot brackets is productively used to provide additional display connectivity. To begin with, the PCB uses a 10+1+1 ASUS Digi+ VRM that draws power from two 8-pin PCIe power connectors. It supports heavy overclocking, and provides several voltage tuning features.

A common metal heatsink spans along the length of the card, making contact with VRM and memory components. On top of this sits the DirectCu II heatsink. This heatsink uses a large aluminum fin-stack heatsink to which heat from the GPU is conveyed by six heat-pipes, which make direct contact with it. The heatsink itself isn't very thick, but what makes the card span across three slots are its two 100 mm fans. The GPU is clocked out of the box at 1000 MHz (vs. 925 MHz reference), and 5.60 GHz/1400 MHz actual memory (vs. 5.50 GHz/1375 MHz actual reference).



This card also features what is called "VGA Hotwire", which is a 2-pin cable, one end of which needs to be soldered onto the graphics card, the other is plugged into a special header on ROG Rampage IV series motherboards. This allows advanced users to eliminate the need for variable resistors and use the motherboard's voltage controller to tune come key voltage domains of the graphics card as if it were the motherboard's.



Display outputs include two dual-link DVI and four full-size DisplayPort 1.2 connectors. The card is 11 inches (27.94 cm) long, and we mentioned earlier spans across three expansion slots in your case. ASUS' previous-generation DirectCu II cards based on GeForce GTX 580/570 and Radeon HD 6970/6950 were just as big. Pricing information is not available.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
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I can still remember back when the fastest graphics cards were small single-slot boards. What have we come to?
 

btarunr

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Cool. I always like the clean backplate of the DirectCu cards. Couple DVI's and four DP all nicely arranged. And none that DL+SL shiz, double DL!
 
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I'm curious to see how these stack up against the new GTX680 cards.
 
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wow!!! that's impressive....it's nice to see that the issues with the 6970 dcuII have been addressed... that one piece vrm/mem/card stabilizer is sweet...

way to go asus
 
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they should go back to 2 slots, 3 slots is stupid:banghead:
 
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Card sexy ...price is going to be a turn off :(
 
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they should go back to 2 slots, 3 slots is stupid:banghead:

no way......i love the tri-slots i have 2 hd6970s and they look AWESOME :rockout:
 
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I was hoping they would go back to a 2 slot cooler but at least they have dual link DVI on BOTH ports this time, and displayport 1.2.......and the card looks more solid with the backplate etc.

I had the the 6970 version for a while but the cooler assembly felt very flimsy and flexible, looks like they fixed that.
 
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Asus missed out on my money several times just because they just won't give up on tri-slot coolers.
 
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they should go back to 2 slots, 3 slots is stupid:banghead:


Oh, haven't you heard ? Triple slot is the new fad :cool:

Really though, I've been sceptic about triple slot design myself, having a small mid tower case 'n all. But after seeing how cool these things run (I live in a desert btw) I lost all doubt. Besides, if you just carried one of these, your e-peen size would get multiplied by a 10 ;) :rockout:
 
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Oh, haven't you heard ? Triple slot is the new fad :cool:

Really though, I've been sceptic about triple slot design myself, having a small mid tower case 'n all. But after seeing how cool these things run (I live in a desert btw) I lost all doubt. Besides, if you just carried one of these, your e-peen size would get multiplied by a 10 ;) :rockout:

clearly the benchmarks show that tri-slot design is not any better than a good double-slot design, such as the MSI Twin Frozer

as for the epeen, I'm kind of past the teenage stage where you have to show off to your friends your tacky LED lightshow case /w plastic window to boost self esteem. I'm more into an elegant and sleek setup these days.
 
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clearly the benchmarks show that tri-slot design is not any better than a good double-slot design, such as the MSI Twin Frozer

as for the epeen, I'm kind of past the teenage stage where you have to show off to your friends your tacky LED lightshow case /w plastic window to boost self esteem. I'm more into an elegant and sleek setup these days.

I totally agree with you. I want a new case that doesn't have lights and 6 case fans.
Want a Antec P280.

I just don't see the point of 3 slots, when the 7970 uses less power and creates less heat than 6970, we should be looking at smaller 2 slots and single slots cards.:banghead: I will only get a 3 slot cooler if I have a rotated M/B, so they are vertical less strain on the M/B slot.
 
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clearly the benchmarks show that tri-slot design is not any better than a good double-slot design, such as the MSI Twin Frozer

as for the epeen, I'm kind of past the teenage stage where you have to show off to your friends your tacky LED lightshow case /w plastic window to boost self esteem. I'm more into an elegant and sleek setup these days.

I don't know about other brands but Asus ridiculously lowers the stock fan speed on their DC coolers to lower the noise. Give the fan speed alittle nudge and let's see if your twin frozr can catch up. I hear they are a little bit on the noisy side.

As for the looks, I guess each to their own. I wouldn't mind going back to being a "teenager" though.
 
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:confused: Nine available 2-slot 7970s at Newegg. Even one by Asus, if you must have one by them. :confused:
 

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Very nice.

Just saw the new cases that accomodate Crossfire:

 
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What a pointless and stupidly over large heat sink...
 
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I can still remember back when the fastest graphics cards were small single-slot boards. What have we come to?

I can still remember back when the fastest CPUs didn't require heatsinks. What have we come to?
 
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