While there might have been a bit of a cafuffle here recently over non-reference coolers, I feel confident in saying that this one from Asus isn't the norm. It's the DirectCU II type we've seen on previous cards from the GPU partner and this time it's attached to the company's new R9 270.
Asus is claiming that this R9 270 is 20 per cent cooler and three times quieter than the reference model during gaming. You'll have to read our full review of the new card to see if we agree. However, it certainly should perform better under pressure, packing two nicely sized copper heat pipes that run right through the cooler's core and across the GPU itself.
This card also has solid capacitors and, “concrete core chokes,” (which supposedly help eliminate that buzzing some games throw up) and hardened MOSFETS, all of which should improve the life and stability of the card.
The official specs are as follows:
- AMD Radeon R9 270
- PCI Express® 3.0
- 2048MB GDDR5 memory
- 975MHz core speed
- 1280 stream processors
- 5600MHz (1400MHz GDDR5) memory clock
- DVI-/DVI-D output
- HDMI output
- DisplayPort output
The R9 270 can be found at most major retailers and etailers for around £165.
KitGuru Says: What do you guys reckon? Treat yourself before Christmas?