ASUS MARS II/2DIS/3GD5 Pro Reviews

Presented with a single graphics card costing £1,149 our first reaction is to tell you, dear reader, that money is far better spent on a multi-GPU combination of this card and that. Then we'd normally go on to say that 1600p-level performance can be attained with significantly greater value, and then perhaps make some comment about upcoming GPU architectures. That's all fine and well, and the advice is sound, but the ASUS Republic of Gamers MARS II card is, literally, like no other. Bulletproof construction, monumental size and performance to burn, it's only aimed at folk who desire overt manifestations of manliness as much as the sheer speed itself. Powered by two GeForce GTX 580s, with a sprinkling of extra MHz on top, it's the fastest card we've ever tested. We applaud ASUS engineers for abandoning any sense of normalcy, and encompassing the sublime to the ridiculous, you'll know if you want it. Only recommended to those with extremely deep pockets and a penchant for the unusual.

The Asus MARS II is a lot of things. It’s the fastest, single graphics card money can buy right now. It’s a limited edition product that’s going to cost a serious chunk of change, and it’s a physically imposing beast that uses a lot of power. From a technical standpoint, the Asus MARS II is arguably the most complex graphics card ever released and its specifications put it in a class all its own. The Asus MARS II is extreme in every sense of the word. The Asus MARS II isn’t for everyone (obviously) though, and it's difficult to justify it's high price. The card’s physical dimensions and power requirements alone will also significantly limit its audience. Couple those factors with the MARS II’s $1499 price tag and you’ll get an idea as to why Asus is only making 999 of these babies. At that price the MARS II is about $750 more expensive than a GeForce GTX 590 and about $600-$660 more expensive than a pair of GeForce GTX 580 cards, which would offer nearly identical performance. Heck, three GTX 580s would be cheaper, use the same number of slot locations, and offer more performance. If you’re the type of user that would consider the Asus MARS II, however, you probably don’t care about any of those things. If you’ve got the coin and want the fastest graphics card available—no matter the price—the Asus MARS II is it. It may not be a good value and it consumes more power than a truckload of netbooks, but the Asus MARS II is as hot as geek porn can get. Gigity.

The ASUS MARS II Dual GPU GTX 580 3GB graphics card isn't something that is built for most gamers. Instead it is built to show off the engineering talents at ASUS, the capability the company has to produce truly one-of-a-kind designs and to push the limits of the technology they have access to. In traditionally "flagship" mentality the MARS II is priced outside the realm of most gamers' budgets but I don't think there will be any problem for ASUS to sell a cool thousand of them. If you truly must own the most seriously intense wicked-ass piece of gaming hardware, then this is it - no substitutes for quite a while. The MARS II is the ultimate gaming graphics card if you can afford it.

To be honest this card really is meant as more of a collector’s item than the type of card you would have for everyday use. As beautiful as this card is I wouldn’t even put it in my rig. I would have it in a glass case on my mantle. Or I would build a system specifically for this card and just have it for show. These are limited edition cards that appeal to a very small group of extreme enthusiasts. If that’s you then you will be very pleased with this card. I just hope you understand that you’re buying a product that is meant for exactly that purpose. There will always be those that will want the very best performing hardware that money can buy.

The world's most powerful graphics card, and more. The Asus Republic of Gamers MARS II is well constructed, well designed, but a pipe dream for the vast majority.

The ASUS MARS II is a massive video card that is 13" in length, 6.2" in height and an amazing 2.5" thick. Since it is 2.5-inches in thickness it means that this is a triple slot video card. ASUS has the red and black color scheme going one, which is common with their ROG product line.

The ASUS MARS II is really a monster graphics card. It demonstrates the awesome power of two GeForce GTX 580 GPUs running at full clock speeds. Thanks to the massive design improvements the card delivers an almost 20% performance increase compared to NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 590 at 2560x1600. This performance increase is actually more than I expected when I first heard that ASUS is working on their own dual-GF100 design. I thought "maybe 5-10% faster" but ASUS has exceeded those expectations significantly.