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.
theinquirer.net (c) 2009 Incisive Media
Issue: 106 | November, 2009