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The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 25c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.
Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes. Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic.
The Asus Direct CU II cooler is fantastic. When gaming the card peaks at 70c which is around 15c lower than the reference card at similar clock speeds.
As we noted when we last looked at this cooler, the dual fan system spins at very low rpm. 27 percent relates to around 1,400 rpm. Under full load this only rises to 35 percent which equates to around 1,750 rpm. The thermal profile is well optimised with steady fan speeds reported when both idle and under load. No annoying fluctuation which can become distracting.
Return to ambient is a feature we have recently added to our reviews … we measure the time it takes for a solution to return to idle temperatures, immediately after full load. The faster the time, the better the cooler – for example a Noctua NH D14 cooler will return an Intel processor to idle temperatures much faster than a reference cooler. This is a good indication of how quickly a heatsink can dissipate heat.
This cooler is significantly better than the reference design, taking only 18 seconds to return the core to idle temperatures. The reference card can take over 30 seconds to do the same task, while making a lot more noise.
I am sporting a semi after reading the overclocking page (first thing I skipped too as the default clocks of this are stupid).
Makes that XFX card look really bad.
Very yummy indeed, but the 3 slot cooler is a little extreme. surely they could have done that in a dual slot design. the heatpipes and heatsink arent that big.
that cooler really is insane looking. very similar to MSI’s frozr, which is also great. I dont understand the low core clock speeds. if t his card can hit 1.1ghz with voltage increase then 1ghz should be easy enough. if they sold it as a 1ghz model I bet they would sell tons more. people dont always know how high a card will OC. now we do !
THey always made good boards, but they can be slow getting them out. all the early adopters miss these cards cause they already have other ones.
Thats a fucking kick ass product. 3 slot cooler is really massive, wouldnt fancy trying to fit three of these in a system for 3 way CFx
id rather have their GTX580, but both are pretty class leading designs whatever way you look at it.
whats next? sapphire with a four slot cooler?
Asus have probably the best engineers in the world, look at their mars and ares cards for instance. we will all never forget em.
I would be more then happy with a card of such calibre running in any of my desktops and I think this card is going to be truly amazing when it comes to staying cool which as we all know opens up lots of over-clocking possibilities
i have bought one 6970 direct Cu 2 and i fails bad
here is forum with the real temps
http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4151379&posted=1#post4151379