It was some time ago that we first got the idea of making a comparative test of two cards that are in high demand among hardware enthusiasts. The chance arose when two almost identical cards got to our offices, courtesy of ASUS. Situations such as these, where you have the chance to compare graphics cards with entirely different GPUs under the same conditions, are rare to say in the least. Even if performance is comparable, cooling systems are usually not. Furthermore, every manufacturer has its own PCBs, layouts etc. However, this is one such situation, since ASUS provided us with cards from their DirectCU II series. We’ve already explained countless times how this series first got its name, so no need to repeat all the “theory” again. Suffice to say - an even-handed melee between Radeon HD 6970 and GeForce GTX 570. If this phrase is enough to get you going, you’re the proper audience for such a showdown, so sit back and enjoy the following lines.
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Why is this duel so interesting to begin with? Well, there are several reasons for that. Firstly, these cards are not only in the same price range, but usually come with exactly the same price tag, rarely varying for more than 10€, which is a ridiculous difference in the 300€+ price range. Besides, AMD’s card has the Cayman GPU, which was hyped beyond anyone’s threshold, being an entirely new chip with just as new an architecture, one that a lot was expected from. While we wouldn’t go as far as saying that these haven’t been met, NVIDIA’s new revision of Fermi has certainly overshadowed much of Cayman’s glory. The once crude GF100 has been polished into its current form, one of a serious competitor which has managed to turn many surprised heads. Our initial impression was that NVIDIA didn’t have too much room to make for an actual surprise, and that it would simply try to compete, but it turned out that the final result was a bit different.
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The cards that we received for testing are ASUS’ representatives from the DirectCU II series, as already stated. This is the second generation of the DirectCU cooling system, the simpler version of which was seen on GTX 560 Ti. This revision, however, is entirely different. In short, ASUS engineers have outdone themselves, as this cooling system is one of the best that we’ve ever encountered. Efficiency is undeniable, and aesthetics aren’t lacking either. The core of the system is a tri-slot cooler (yes, an actual tri-slot cooler, occupying three slots in total), consisting of a copper base, aluminium cooling profile and five 8 mm-thick heatpipes. The body is massive, consisting of very thickly packed fins. As this is DirectCU technology, the heatpipes lie directly on the GPU, increasing heat transfer efficiency across the entire cooler. The fans are large for a GPU cooler, 90 mm in diameter, which makes them very quiet in turn. The power section is passively cooled on both cards, while the memory is kept in check by the fans directly, as their sheer diameter means that the airflow reaches most of the PCB surface. The thing that may present a hindrance to some users is that the card is tri-slot, which means that it occupies its own slot and two slots to the left in addition, which is a rather luxurious approach.
