Saturday November 21, 2009 4:19 PM AEST

Asus shows off GIANT Mars dual GTX285 video card

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Asus shows off GIANT Mars dual GTX285 video card
By The Inquirer
May 29, 2009 | 13 Comments
Tags: asus | mars | gtx285 | video | card | ohmygodbig

4GB of RAM and Quad SLI compatible - Asus' insanity knows no bounds!

Proving that it has never been a company to stick to toeing the tedious line of conformity with reference designs, Asus has just shown us a new monster graphics card that it calls the Mars. It features two GeForce GTX 285 GPUs in SLI configuration, and it also looks like it could double-up as a blunt weapon in Cluedo.

In terms of design, it's not dissimilar to a GeForce GTX 295. There are two PCBs sandwiched together inside one package, although each of these features 16 memory chips making for a total of 4GB of 1.2GHz (2.4GHz effective) GDDR3 memory. In short, this isn't a card for anyone running a 32-bit operating system. Asus has also designed its own dual-slot cooler for the card, although it works in a similar way to the reference Nvidia GTX 295 cooler, with a single fan cooling both PCBs.

Interestingly, Asus has decided to spurn Nvidia's own nForce 200 bridge chip to enable the two PCBs to talk to each other in SLI mode, and has instead used an anonymous third-party chip. One of the interesting innovations here is that, despite the new design, the card will still work with standard Nvidia drivers. The card will be recognised as a GeForce GTX 295, but will still be able to access the features of the GTX 285 GPUs.

As a point of comparison, the GTX 285 GPU has the same tally of 240 stream processors as the GTX 295, but it also has much higher clock speeds, which should make the Mars significantly quicker. The Mars' core is clocked at 648MHz, with 1,476MHz stream processors, compared with 576MHz core and 1,242MHz stream processors in a standard GTX 295.

As well as this, the GeForce GXT 285 has a wider 512-bit memory interface, compared with the 448-bit interface on the GTX 295 GPUs. Plus, the GTX 285 has 32 render outputs (ROPs), compared with 28 on the GTX 295 GPUs.

Despite these differences, though, the compatibility with standard Nvidia drivers means that the card can be set up in Quad SLI configuration with a second Mars card. In fact, to demonstrate the point, Asus sent us this photo of two cards running in Quad SLI mode on a pretty extreme looking test rig in their lab.

Asus couldn't confirm whether the Mars is going to reach retailers, or how much it might cost, although the "Limited Edition 1/1000" badge on the top corner leads us to believe that the card will at least make it out in a limited run. Plus, Asus also told us that the colour scheme for the card was decided last month, so it looks as though some serious design decisions are being made.

 

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13 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
fliptopia
May 29, 2009 11:30 AM
quad sli? I want hex sli or nothing... and I want it for a reasonable price... and driectx11 compliant... and free upgrades for the rest of my life... and a puppy. but That's all... and world domination. but nothing more than that.
N3M3SiS
May 29, 2009 12:50 PM
"...and it also looks like it could double-up as a blunt weapon in Cluedo."

Classic ;)

What a bloody monster, my 8800GTS sure aint what it used to be.
stash
May 29, 2009 12:55 PM
Wow overboard.... I want one!
SyKRyD
May 29, 2009 4:14 PM
is that fan suspended in mid-air???
AIMBOT
May 29, 2009 7:41 PM
"is that fan suspended in mid-air???"

Yes, there is not limit to what ASUS can pull out of a hat. Except a bunny - who would have though?
strifus
May 29, 2009 9:37 PM
the shape reminds me of the old betamax video tapes of ages back with the squirrel fan barely peaking out, but much larger of course :P
Sparky
May 29, 2009 10:43 PM
No thats just a REALLY powerful fan!
Sabmac
May 30, 2009 1:40 AM
Do want.
Negotiator
May 30, 2009 10:39 AM
I just made a mess in my pants

*shivers*

Don't worry about hex SLI, go OCTO SLI
Fat_Bodybuilder
May 30, 2009 3:27 PM
I too thought it was a VCR tape haha.
nesquick
May 30, 2009 4:21 PM
Hex and Octo SLi are impossible since DX only supports 4 GPU's at the moment.
-adicolor93-
May 31, 2009 1:42 AM
I WANT, I WILL BUY, I WILL KILL FOR ONE OF THESE. unimaginable what i would do for two of these...
Jeruselem
Jun 5, 2009 2:34 PM
What a monster!
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