14 DAY TRIAL // Asus' DirectCU II GTX580 is definitely one of the best GTX 580 graphics cards available out there, as one world famous overclocker that goes by the name of Shamino proved when it managed to push Asus' card to an impressive 1519MHz core speed, almost double than the GPU's default clock.
Compared to other graphics cards built on the GF110 core, Asus' DirectCU II uses an improved cooling system that occupies no less than three slots inside the computer case as well as a redesigned PCB that allows for better power regulation.
This in turn increases the overclocking potential of the board, as Shamino proved when it managed to achieve his impressive 1519MHz GPU overclock.
As its the case with such high overclocks, the card was stripped bare of all the unnecessary components, including Asus' improved cooling system, and a liquid nitrogen pot was placed on the GPU to chill it during the experiments.
In addition, a few hardware mods were also required as the voltages of the card had to be raised to 1.5V for the core, 2.12V for the VDIMM and to 1.36V for the PLL.
Over-current protection was also disabled by soldering two pins on the PCB and a new BIOS was installed to improve the card's behaviour when exposed to extreme temperatures.
The card's 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory were operated at their default frequency of 1250MHz (5000MHz effectively).
The rest of the system was comprised of an Intel Core i7 2600K Sandy Bridge processor paired together with an Asus Maximus IV Extreme motherboard and a couple of high-performance DDR3 modules.
Just as the graphics card, the CPU was also cooled with LN2 and was overclocked to 5412MHz.
The setup was stable enough to run Futuremark's 3DMark 03 benchmark where it managed to score 172883 points, making it the fastest GeForce GTX 580 in the world to run 3DMark 03. (via Nordic Hardware)
