14 DAY TRIAL // NVIDIA's dual-GPU video card has had its share of problems ever since it came out, but ASUS appears to be determined to take things up to eleven in time for a demonstration at Computex 2011.
It took NVIDIA quite a long time to come up with a 500 series dual-GPU graphics card, so when it did, users, or at least some of them, were hoping for a clear win over AMD's Radeon DH 6990.
This did not happen, according to benchmarks, and there were even some episodes involving flames that eventually led to the decision to make a revised card model, slated for June.
Apparently, the Santa Clara, California-based company is not the only IT entity with such thoughts, or so reports say.
Basically, ASUS is also working on a dual-CHIP card, only it will have a different name and will be significantly more powerful.
To the point, the card will have the name of GeForce GTX 595 ARES Mars and boasts two GF110 graphics processing units.
For those that do not remember, the GTX 590 had the GPUs working at 607 MHz, while the 3GB of GDDR5 VRAM operate at 1,707 MHz (3,414 MHz effective).
The ARES will have the graphics chips at 875 MHz each, (which is more than even the 772 MHz of the GTX 580), the shaders at 1,700 MHz (1,215 stock) and the memory at a full 4,800 MHz.
Basically, the board will have a massive performance advantage over its peers and, perhaps, over all existing cards.
Of course, such a prowess requires the same level of cooling effectiveness, so the Mars cooler will be used, possibly designed with vapor chambers instead of copper blocks.
The former launch of the GTX 595 is set for Computex, but it is unclear if shipments will start at the same time or will be scheduled for later.