Asus DirectCU NVIDIA and AMD Graphics Round-Up

Model ENGTX580 DCII Core Clock 782 MHz     Memory Clock / Size 1002 MHz / 1.54 GB Ports One HDMI One DisplayPort Two DVI Warranty 3 years Price $499

 

Quick overview of the GTX 580
The GTX 580 is the fastest single GPU card on the market. Only the dual-GPU GTX 590 and HD 6990 video cards are faster. With that said, it's clear the GTX 580 sits at the high end of the spectrum, in both price and performance. They can be found online between $499 and $559.

How does the DirectCU II GTX 580 differ from the stock model?
The Asus DCII version of this card deviates from the reference design in quite a few ways. Asus has reconfigured the core clock speed, output ports, PCB, and cooling. This model operates at 782 MHz vs 772 MHz reference speed, while offering two DVI, one DisplayPort, and one HDMI port. The stock card provides only two DVI and one mini-HDMI port.

 

They also increased possible power consumption by requiring two 8-pin PCIe power supply connections. In addition, they installed a back plate heat spreader for additional component cooling. This also improves the appearance of the product while providing an added layer of physical protection.

One important category where the DirectCU II GTX 580 is similar to the stock model is cost. Re-badged reference design cards sell for $499 online, the same price tag found on this particular product.

Installation

Here we show the DCII GTX 580 on the Asus Rampage III motherboard. It definitely takes up a considerable amount of real estate, but there are still a total of four PCI expansion slots available and enough room for another triple slot GTX 580 for SLI action.