Anyone looking to buy a GTX 980ti soon may want to wait. ASUS has announced a new STRIX model, which uses the Next Generation DirectCU III Cooling Technology andcomes packed with features.
ASUS claims that the new cooling design will include a “220% larger cooling surface area for better heat dissipation”, “runs 30% cooler when compared to the reference design.” It also includes a “patented triple wing-blade fan” over the previous DirectCU II, which uses 2 fans. “silent 0dB fan mode”, “giving a 105% improvement over fans without wing-blades”. “The fans will not spin up until the card reaches 65°C or higher”, allowing for an absolute 0dB noise level due to non spinning fans. The GPU “features two exclusive 10mm direct-GPU-contact heat pipes”.
A few more interesting features of this GPU are “ASUS-exclusive Auto-Extreme technology, the industry’s first 100%-automated manufacturing process that removes human fallibility from the production line for consistent perfection”. If the new process ASUS is claiming removes human error from the production line, we could potentially see less DOA (Dead On Arrival) GPU units, not that there are that many in the first place.
This is followed by “Auto-Extreme technology eliminates flux to minimize dust buildup and oxidization, and makes the rear side of the graphics card’s printed-circuit board totally smooth”. You can see the difference between the reference manufacturing process and the new ASUS method below:
Images provided by the ASUS ROG Article.
The specs for the GPU include a Gaming Mode (Default) – base clock of 1190 MHz with a boost clock of 1291 MHz (reference base clock 1000MHz, boost 1075MHz), OC Mode – Base Clock 1216MHz and 1317MHz boost clock in OC mode, PCI Express 3.0, OpenGL 4.5, GDDR5 6GB, Cuda Cores – 2816, Memory Clock – 7200 MHz with a memory interface of 384-bit.
Largest resolution supported is 4096×2160. Includes 1x DVI-I Output, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x Display Port (Regular DP) and HDCP Supported.
Some images of this impressive GPU are below:
Click the images to expand.
Via ASUS ROG & ASUS Website