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.
As in the automotive world, the extreme high-end of computer
hardware is almost always fun to look at, and rarely practical to own.
With its Ares II,
Asus set out to build the fastest graphics card in the world, matched
by stunning presentation. The final product was mostly supposed to serve
as demonstration that the company could build such a
performance-oriented product, even if it was only available in limited
quantities (the company claims only 1,000 were made, of which only a
fraction made it to the U.S.).
So, why bother looking at it now? Because we had one in the lab,
that's why. Oh, and it just so happens that only two samples of the
other "fastest dual-GPU card in the world" ever left its manufacturer's lab. That was HIS' Radeon HD 7970 X2 (not X2), and we got both of them last year. Creates a nice little comparison, right? The Ares II offers an additional 50 MHz on the core clock, plus liquid cooling to deal with the incredible heat generated by two Tahiti GPUs.
We previously rounded up HIS' Radeon HD 7970 X2, PowerColor's AX7990 6GBD5-A2DHJ Devil13, and EVGA's GeForce GTX 690 in Radeon HD 7990 And GeForce GTX 690: Bring Out The Big Guns. Now that we have the Ares II,
it only makes sense to add it to our round-up numbers. We're using the
same benchmark system and drivers to keep the comparison fair. It would
have been great to get those other dual-Tahiti boards into the lab to
run them with the very latest drivers, but they're both such rare museum
pieces that it simply wasn't possible. We settled on turning back the
clock and adding Asus's effort. Incidentally, we didn't add Nvidia's GeForce GTX Titan for much the same reason (not that it would have mattered, since one Titan is slower than a GTX 690).
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 690 Vs. The Dual-Tahiti Competition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asus Ares II | HIS Radeon HD 7970 X2 | PowerColor AX7990 6GBD5-A2DHJ Devil13 | EVGA GeForce GTX 690 | |
| Shader Units | 2 x 2048 | 2 x 1536 | ||
| GPU Clock Frequency | 1100 MHz | 1050 MHz | 925 / 1000 MHz (BIOS) | 915 MHz + GPU Boost |
| ROPs | 2 x 32 | 2 x 32 | ||
| GPU | 2 x Tahiti | 2 x GK104 | ||
| Transistors | 2 x 4.31 million | 2 x 3.5 million | ||
| Memory Size | 2 x 3 GB | 2 x 2 GB | ||
| Memory Bus | 2 x 384-bit | 2 x 256-bit | ||
| Memory Clock Frequency | 1650 MHz | 1500 MHz | 1375 MHz | 1502 MHz |
On paper, Asus' Ares II looks good. HIS' Radeon HD 7970 X2 runs 50 MHz faster than PowerColor's Devil13 card at its overclocked BIOS setting, which is why it proved to be the faster board in our original round-up.
We’re testing with our 2012 VGA benchmark system. The driver we're
using was the "miracle" update that catapulted AMD's performance out in
front of what Nvidia could do with its GK104. As a result, we can draw comparisons between the dual-Tahiti boards and Nvidia's GeForce
GTX 690 without worrying about software-based misrepresentations.
Overall, the data should look pretty similar using today's beta drivers,
at least in the games we're benchmarking.
| Benchmark System | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-2600K (Sandy Bridge), 32 nm, 4C/8T, 8 MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading Enabled, Overclocked to 4.5 GHz |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3, Intel Z68 Express, BIOS F10 |
| Memory | 4 x 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3-1600 |
| CPU Cooler | Cooler Master TPC 800 with Noiseblocker eLoop B12-PS (PWM) |
| System Drive | Kingston V200+ 480 GB |
| Power Supply | Corsair AX1200i Digital ATX Power Supply, 1200 W, 80 PLUS Platinum |
| Operating System | Windows 7 x64 Ultimate |
| Drivers | Catalyst 12.11 (Beta) and Catalyst 12.9 GeForce 306.97 WHQL |
| Ambient Temperature | 22 °C (held constant) |
| Benchmark Case | NZXT Phantom 820 |
It’ll be interesting to see how these enormous cards fare in a closed case. It’s not easy to exhaust out 500 or more watts of heat.
A Close Look at the Asus Ares II
ZoomAsus didn’t cut any corners designing its Ares II. Marketing was likely responsible for the Greek god of war's name on the card. What we want to know is whether the engineers were able to make good on such a bold moniker.
The Ares II basically bears the specs of two Asus Matrix Radeon HD 7970 Platinum cards running cooperatively. Its GPUs are GHz Edition chips, but they ship at factory-overclocked frequencies. Normally, you'd find those ASICs running at 1 GHz with a 1,050 MHz boost state. Asus operates them at 1,050 MHz and then boosts to 1.1 GHz. As we've seen from other boards, the boost clocks are active until the card operates under full load for long enough and the temperatures spike, triggering a clock rate reduction.
ZoomEach of the two GPUs has 3 GB of memory, totaling the specified 6 GB. The memory operates at an effective 3.3 GT/s. It goes without saying that this is one hot card.
ZoomFor that reason, Asus decided to use a hybrid cooling solution for its Ares II. A compact closed-loop water cooler draws heat away from each of the GPUs, while an 80 mm fan in the middle of the card helps keep the memory and power circuity cool.
ZoomThe Ares II sports a total of four DisplayPort and two DVI connectors. Because its cooling solution is largely liquid-based, none of the rear I/O panel space is needed for ventilation (though that 80 mm blower does recirculate heat into your case). This configuration facilitates up to six displays in Eyfinity without needing a multi-stream transport hub. One of the two DVI outputs is dual-link-capable, which you can toggle using a switch next to the CrossFire connector, depending on the resolutions you require.
ZoomAs with some of the other dual-Tahiti cards we've tested, Asus' Ares II employs a whopping three eight-pin auxiliary power connectors. These should be able to deliver up to 525 W when you count the PCI Express slot's 75 W-output. Don't think the card can come anywhere close to that level of power draw? You might be surprised to learn it even exceeds it by quite a bit, depending on what you're doing. At least 525 W is enough for gaming.
3DMark 11
As mentioned, we're using an older driver on Asus' Ares II in order to draw fair comparisons to the other ultra high-end cards we tested previously. The Radeon HD 7000-series boards received a massive performance boost back when AMD released its Catalyst 12.11 package, allowing Tahiti-based products to compete with and often beat Kepler-based cards that were previously faster.Asus' Ares II demonstrates that it doesn’t just outperform the competition on paper, but instead kicks off our testing by drawing ahead in two different 3DMark detail levels.
Unigine Heaven 2.5
We’re benchmarking these graphics cards using the highest resolutions and settings. Slower single-GPU boards cannot compete when it comes to these demanding combinations of resolution and graphics quality. They just aren't powerful enough.
Unigine Sanctuary
The finishing order stays the same. The Ares II pulls ahead a bit more due not only to its higher clock rate, but also its higher memory frequency.
Temperatures
The Ares II’s closed-loop liquid cooler isn't particularly quiet, but it does effectively keep the card cool. That's quite an accomplishment.
Noise
We used to measure noise using a regularly-calibrated sound level meter, namely, the SL-400 with data logging by Voltcraft. It only provides good results between a limited frequency range, though. It’s practically useless for frequencies higher than 10 kHz. We needed something else to help us represent the impact of coil squealing. PowerColor's AX7990 6GBD5-A2DHJ Devil13 almost drove us insane with its tinnitus-invoking noise last year. Back then, we decided to use a studio microphone that had been calibrated for our purpose and hung vibration-free. We use the same setup to test Asus' Ares II.
PowerColor would have done better at idle if it hadn’t been for the inductor noise that's above the frequency threshold of modern sound level meters. When the squealing is taken into account, the AX7990 Devil13 ends up in second-to-last place. Together, the Ares' two fans generate a base noise level that's slightly higher than the air-cooled cards at idle.
EVGA's well-built GeForce GTX 690 clearly wins out against the AMD-based competition under a gaming load. It really shows that a pair of GK104s generate a lot less heat than two Tahitis. The noise levels of all three cards remain acceptable, though. PowerColor's AX7990 6GBD5-A2DHJ Devil13 brings up the rear in this metric. And two high-end cards from Nvidia manage manage to beat the liquid-cooled Asus Ares II.
HIS' cooler runs out of capacity under full load, requiring that the card spin up its fans and generating more noise than PowerColor's AX7990 6GBD5-A2DHJ Devil13. Then again, anything above 50 dB(A) is just too loud. EVGA's GeForce GTX 690 is the only air-cooled dual-GPU card that manages to stay under this noise level. Meanwhile, Asus' cooling solution shines.
Most systems don't usually see this sort of workload though, so its relevancy is limited to the folks mining for bitcoins (perhaps not a bad idea right now, given what's going on in Cyprus). Without question, the most important charts are our results at idle and under the influence of Crysis 2.
Asus ships this flagship card in a briefcase that you might
expect to see a spy carrying around in a movie. Is it full of money?
Does it contain the pieces for a sniper rifle? Or will you find the Ares II
in there? The low profile, unassuming look might not have been Asus'
intention, but it certainly fits well. When you combine this card's high
price and gratuitous power consumption, we're not surprised the company only chose to manufacture 1,000 of them.
Apparently, it didn't have any trouble selling them, though. At least here in the U.S., they aren't available anymore.
Zoom
Asus did hit its target of manufacturing the fastest dual-GPU graphics card on the planet, though. HIS could have worn that crown if the company had put its prototype into production. The Radeon HD 7970 X2 was overclockable, and might have matched the Ares II. However, Asus took that additional step, earning it a well-deserved, if largely symbolic, victory.
Zoom
There's one other variable we didn't bring up in this story, but have in the past: using frame limiting to address micro-stuttering. AMD needs to learn from the RadeonPro tool we've tested previously and further develop what that utility does to smooth out performance. Software advances would go a long way toward making AMD's real-world experience a lot better.
Make no mistake, Asus' Ares II is the fastest graphics card around. But it really only performs on the GeForce GTX 690's level once you use frame limiting to get stuttering under control. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 is less expensive and consumes a lot less power under full load. If you missed out on your chance to own an Ares II, let that be your consolation. Asus' board is bigger, badder, and commands more attention, but almost a year after its launch, the GeForce GTX 690 remains the most elegant high-end card we've ever used.
Apparently, it didn't have any trouble selling them, though. At least here in the U.S., they aren't available anymore.
ZoomAsus did hit its target of manufacturing the fastest dual-GPU graphics card on the planet, though. HIS could have worn that crown if the company had put its prototype into production. The Radeon HD 7970 X2 was overclockable, and might have matched the Ares II. However, Asus took that additional step, earning it a well-deserved, if largely symbolic, victory.
ZoomThere's one other variable we didn't bring up in this story, but have in the past: using frame limiting to address micro-stuttering. AMD needs to learn from the RadeonPro tool we've tested previously and further develop what that utility does to smooth out performance. Software advances would go a long way toward making AMD's real-world experience a lot better.
Make no mistake, Asus' Ares II is the fastest graphics card around. But it really only performs on the GeForce GTX 690's level once you use frame limiting to get stuttering under control. Nvidia's GeForce GTX 690 is less expensive and consumes a lot less power under full load. If you missed out on your chance to own an Ares II, let that be your consolation. Asus' board is bigger, badder, and commands more attention, but almost a year after its launch, the GeForce GTX 690 remains the most elegant high-end card we've ever used.
FROM : http://www.tomshardware.com/
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