Asus MARS II Single-Card GeForce GTX 580 SLI Sneak Peek

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, August 22, 2011, 03:17 PM EDT

We’re all for well-built reference cards that put reliability and compatibility front and center, but there’s just something exciting about an over-the-top custom graphics card that gets our juices flowing. We think many of you probably feel the same, so we couldn’t resist posting some pictures of a graphics card of gargantuan proportions that just landed in the lab.

Feast your eyes on the Asus MARS II GeForce GTX 580 SLI...

Asus MARS II Single-Card GeForce GTX 580 SLI

The Asus MARS II GeForce GTX 580 SLI’s name tells much of the story—this puppy is sporting a full-on GeForce GTX 580 SLI setup on a single PCB. If you recall, the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 590 is similar in principle, but its clock speeds are lower than a true 580 SLI setup to keep power consumption down. Not so with the MARS II. Asus has crammed a fully-featured GeForce GTX 580 SLI setup, reference clocks and all, onto one card with a huge, triple-slot wide cooler.

We won’t disclose much more at this time, but enjoy the geek porn. We’ve got the MARS II burning through the benchmark suite “as we speak” and will have a full review posted in just a few days.

Tags: Asus, graphics, GPU, sli, MARS II, GTX 580

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com