14 DAY TRIAL // In the hardware enthusiast world, Asus is well renowned for its custom designed products and the recently launched GTX 560 DirectCU II TOP is no exception to this rule as the graphics card comes with an improved cooling system and PCB layout as well as with an impressive factory overclock.
The cooling solution employed by Asus for its version of the GTX 560 is based on the DirectCU II design which uses three direct contact heatpipes to draw the heat away from the core and into a massive aluminum heatsink.
This is then cooled by two 80mm fans and Asus claims that its system is able to increase the thermal performance of the card by up to 20%.
In addition to the improved cooling system, the PCB has also been revised to include high-performance components which should increase the lifespan of the card as well as its overclocking potential.
All these modifications, have enabled Asus to raise the operating frequency of the GPU up to 925MHz, which is 125MHz higher than Nvidia's reference clock for the GTX 560.
Together with the GPU, the video memory was also overclocked and this now operates at 1050MHz (4200MHz data rate).
The rest of the card's specifications follow Nvidia's reference design and the Asus GTX 560 DirectCU II TOP features a pair of dual-link DVI ports as well as a mini-HDMI video output.
The graphics card is available right now for purchase and its pricing has been set at $219.99.
Nvidia has developed the GTX 560 to allow its users to play modern games at a 1920x1080 resolution, and the graphics card packs 336 stream processors, 56 texture units, 32 ROP units as well as a 256-bit wide memory bus.
Its TDP is rated at 150W, which means that it consumes 10W less than the GTX 460 1GB it's meant to replace.