ASUS' HD7970 Direct CU II is fast, but you do pay for it

Not content with the reference 7970 cooler, ASUS were the first company to launch a true custom PCB design and cooling solution. We covered XFX card recently, and while their cooler was impressive, ASUS have taken it to the next level, while also designing their own custom PCB, power delivery system and triple slot cooler for the new AMD HD 7970.

To give you a rough idea of its physical size, the ASUS HD 7970 Direct CU II weighs in at a fairly hefty 1.3kg. The “Direct Copper II” cooler is very similar to that used on previous ASUS cards, and nothing like the ASUS 7950 reviewed on page 38. Instead of gaping holes and stand-off balancing acts, we see a fully shrouded card, of solid construction and the build quality we have come to expect from the DCU II series.

ASUS have overclocked the card to 1GHz core clock, up from the standard clock of 925MHz. This actually gives a nice boost to frame rates, as the Tahiti core responds very positively to increased core clock. Our sample overclocked further, all the way to 1280MHz on the core, and 1800MHz on the memory (up from 1400Mhz).

Unfortunately for those of you planning on putting this card on water, due to its non-reference design you will be forced into using a universal GPU block, along with a 5mm copper spacer (now available from EK). The reason this spacer is required is due to a small 5mm gap created between the universal water blocks and the GPU “shim” holding the core in place. Handily ASUS have posted pictures of this online at http://tinyurl.com/ASUS-7970DC2T-shim.

Connectivity of the card is also impressive, sporting four full sized Display Port connections, along with two DVI. This allows the user to enable six-screen Eyefinity from one card (as long as each monitor resolution is 1920x1080 or less). Thanks to the new Eyefinity 2.0 features, users can also mix and match resolutions easier, and create a far greater range of custom profiles quicker than previously possible.

As for gaming performance, it is much as you would expect. We see frame rates tearing apart the 1920x1080 resolution into of dust, so we’ll instead focus on the high resolutions this card was designed for. Games like Metro 2033 will still stress this card out on 2560x1600, but to be honest the vast majority of games will run more than adequately. Hell, even Eyefinity gaming is a possibility on this card, with resolutions of 5760x1080 becoming a popular choice for gamers as LCD prices continue to fall.

The cooler even somehow manages to justify itself. Keeping temperatures well and truly below the reference cooled card at all time, and better still, close enough to inaudible while doing so. The down side is obviously motherboard real-estate, or more specifically, how much space this card requires. If you plan on owning two of these cards in your next PC build, you will need to make sure you acquire a board designed for at least three-way CrossFire: that way you are guaranteed to have the six PCI slots required, and hopefully a seventh for a single slot air gap inbetween.

Overall this is a very nice card from ASUS this time around – quiet fan profiles, more than competent cooling performance, custom PCB design, six display outputs and a solid back plate construction – this card really does impress. The price tag is arguably a little high, but we feel ASUS have done a good job with this card, and it is worthy of praise.