ASUS ROG MARS 760 Review
Category : NVIDIA
Published by Christian Ney on 19.11.13
For this edition of ASUS MARS Graphics card, ASUS has thought about something different than their usual recipe. This time, there aren't two high-end chips but two GTX 760 mid-range GPUs. You can find these chips on one single PCB combined with a powerful and beautiful cooler. Other than that the GPUs received a really decent factory overclocking and we're curious to see what this card is capable of.
 Article in English |
 Artikel in Deutsch |
 Article en français |
 Articolo in italiano |
Presentation
ASUS has definitely outdone itself and has brought quite a surprise with the launch of the ASUS ROG MARS 760. The new ASUS ROG MARS 760 is actually the first dual-GPU card based on two GK104-225-A2 GPUs, or simply, two GTX 760 GPUs placed on the same PCB. If you actually stop to think about it, then you might stumble upon the fact that one GTX 760 card comes at quite a decent price point which puts the ASUS ROG 760 at quite good price/performance ratio on the market. So putting two GTX 760 GPUs on a single PCB and then making them work together with a decent PLX chip sounds like quite a plan, a plan that might scare off even the GTX 780 or the mighty GTX Titan.
With such a custom card, it's quite obvious that there is nothing according to reference specifications. There is a brand new cooler, a completely custom PCB and even a factory overclock on both GPUs. ASUS is not making any exceptions with this MARS card, as their ROG department has really decided to push the limit to a whole new level.
We will start off with frequencies. The base clock of this beast is set at 1'006 MHz while the Boost clock is at 1'072 MHz. After putting some load on these two chips we see that a maximum Boost clock goes all the way up to 1'123 MHz while the average Boost clock is at 1'123 MHz. On this card, the NVIDIA Boost technology is both temperature and power based, the latter being predominant, leading to more consistent results. The only time when the maximum Boost clocks drop is when we are putting heavy load on these GPUs using Furmark. Luckily load like this is not going to be applied in games so the ASUS ROG MARS 760 should stay at its maximum Boost almost the entire time. Another interesting feature is the fact that there is an SLI connector, which basically means that Quad-SLI setup is possible when two ASUS ROG MARS 760 graphics cards are paired. The PLX chip, which is there to make the two GK104's work in tandem, is the PEX8747.
Specifications
| ASUS MARS | Gigabyte OC V1 | GeForce GTX 760 | |
| Chip | 2x GK104-225-A2 | GK104-225-A2 | GK104-225-A2 |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion |
| GPU clock | 1'006 MHz | 1'084 MHz | 980 MHz |
| Boost clock | 1'072 MHz | 1'150 MHz | 1'033 MHz |
| Memory GDDR5 | 2x 2'048 MB | 4'096 MB | 2'048 MB |
| Memory clock | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz | 1'502 (6'008) MHz |
| Memory interface | 2x 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 2x 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s |
| Shader Cores | 2x 96 | 96 | 96 |
| TMUs | 2x 1'152 (6 SMX) | 1'152 (6 SMX) | 1'152 (6 SMX) |
| ROPs | 2x 32 | 32 | 32 |
| TDP | xxx Watt | xxx Watt | 170 Watt |
| PCB Type | Custom Design | Custom Design | Reference Design |
| Lenght (PCB - Total) | 28.2 - 28.2 cm | 25.5 - 28.0 cm | 17.5 - 24.1 cm |
| Height (PCB - Total) | 11.0 - 12.2 cm | 11.0 - 12.5 cm | 11.0 - 11.0 cm |
| Slots | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Cooler | DirectCU II | WindForce 3X | NVIDIA Reference |
| Launch Price | $XXX | $XXX | $249 |
The card
Next to the specifications, there is something else that is impressive about this graphics card. The looks and quality of the used materials are astonishing. First of all, it does come with an aluminium backplate to prevent bending and it also protects crucial components from potential damage. Another cool design element is the MARS LED light on the side. Now let's have a look at the cooler itself. To be quite honest, this thing is of such a high quality we have not ever seen or had anything similar in our lab that could actually be compared to this one. The face-plate features a coating that is very similar to the one you can find on ASUS ROG gaming notebooks and it gives the card a matte, velvety touch. This is really high-class stuff and we would love to see this also on other ROG VGAs or maybe even some high-end motherboards.
|   
|
ASUS decided to equip their ROG MARS 760 with their very own cooling solution from the DirectCU II series. The ROG MARS 760 features two separate cooling units each with four 6mm copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPUs and each cooled by a 90mm fan. The fans are manufactured by FirstD and carry the model number FDC10H12S9-C.
The cooler also features an aluminium frame which is used to fix the cooler to the PCB and also to cool most memory chips and all MOSFETs via thermal pads. The thermal paste used is soft, of good quality and hasn't been spread uselessly in large quantities.
|   
|
No surprise here, the MARS 760 uses a custom PCB where the power design is placed between the two GPUs, in the center of the PCB. ASUS went for a 12-phase power design implementation where each GPU get 5 phases and each memory side get one phase. Component wise, the MARS complies with ASUS Super Alloy Power standard.
Checking the voltage regulation chip we found two digital multi-phase controller labelled Digi+ VRM ASP1212 (probably a rebranded CHiL 8318) for the GPU and memory voltage regulation, one controller for each side.
|   
|
The memory chips used are made by SK Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR-R0C. These are specified to run at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective).
Photo Gallery
Delivery
The ROG MARS 760 graphics card ships well secured in a foam made mold. Bundled with the graphics card are a software disc, an installation manual, a DVI to HDMI adapter, one ROG magnet and a power adapter (2x PCIe-6pin to PCIe-8pin).
Test Setup
| Mainboard |
|
| CPUs |
|
| Memory |
|
| Graphic Cards |
|
| Drivers |
|
| Games and OS |
|
| HDD |
|
| PSU |
|
Weighted average
Temperatures / Noise levels
Fan Speed
Noise Level
For the noise level results, we measured the noise level using a decibel meter (Voltcraft SL-200) located at 1 meter away from the graphics card.
Idle Temperature
Idle, temperature is taken after 15 minutes @ lowest, 40 %, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature under Furmark
For FurMark, temperature is taken after 15 minutes of GPU Burn test at lowest, 40 %, 50 %, 70 % and 100 % fan speed.
We stopped the test when the GPU temperature hit 90°C.
Room Temperature: 25°C
Temperature and fan speed under BattleField 3
For BattleField 3, temperature and fan speed values taken are the highest achieved after 1 hour gaming @ auto fan speed.
Performance/Watt
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Power C. (Watts)* | Performance/Watt*10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 53.55 | 178 | 3.01 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN (Ref) | 85.05 | 306 | 2.78 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 (ASUS DC2OC) | 70.92 | 257 | 2.76 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 (ASUS DC2T) | 62.00 | 227 | 2.73 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 (ASUS DC2OC) | 81.66 | 302 | 2.70 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 (ASUS DC2T) | 47.37 | 177 | 2.68 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 (Ref) | 68.36 | 258 | 2.65 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 (ASUS DC2OC) | 56.63 | 218 | 2.60 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition | 92.84 | 374 | 2.48 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost (Ref) | 40.87 | 169 | 2.42 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270X (ASUS DC2T) | 53.39 | 223 | 2.39 |
| ASUS MARS 760 | 97.90 | 420 | 2.33 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 (ASUS DC2T V2) | 50.03 | 220 | 2.27 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 (ASUS DC2T) | 42.04 | 195 | 2.16 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 (ASUS DC2OC - Ref PCB) | 32.75 | 152 | 2.15 |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X (ASUS DC2T) | 68.40 | 320 | 2.14 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti (ASUS DC2T) | 30.8 | 151 | 2.04 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 OC 4GB V1 SLI | 101.54 | 500 | 2.03 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 (Ref) | 50.49 | 254 | 1.99 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 (XFX DD - Ref PCB) | 63.41 | 323 | 1.96 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (ASUS Matrix P.) | 69.99 | 360 | 1.94 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 (Ref) | 36.83 | 208 | 1.77 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 (Ref) | 41.32 | 244 | 1.69 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 (Ref) | 31.88 | 200 | 1.59 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5850 (Ref) | 30.05 | 193 | 1.56 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5870 (Ref) | 35.98 | 232 | 1.55 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 (Ref) | 73.96 | 481 | 1.54 |
| *Entire system | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
The "Performance Index" value is calculated as the sum of all benchmarks results divided by the amount of games (3DMark and Unigine are not included into the calculation).
Performance/Price
| Graphics Cards | Performance Index | Price (€)* | Performance/€*10 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost | 40.87 | 110 | 3.72 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7870 | 50.03 | 136 | 3.68 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7790 | 32.75 | 97 | 3.38 |
| AMD Radeon R9 270X | 53.39 | 160 | 3.34 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 | 47.37 | 143 | 3.31 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7850 | 40.04 | 123 | 3.26 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti | 30.80 | 95 | 3.24 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 OC 4GB V1 SLI | 101.54 | 508 | 2.00 |
| Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 GHz Edition | 92.84 | 469 | 1.98 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 670 | 62.00 | 213 | 2.91 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti | 53.55 | 184 | 2.91 |
| AMD Radeon R9 280X | 68.40 | 237 | 2.89 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 | 63.41 | 223 | 2.84 |
| AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition | 69.99 | 249 | 2.81 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 760 | 56.63 | 202 | 2.80 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 770 | 70.92 | 263 | 2.70 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6870 | 31.88 | 125 | 2.55 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 680 | 68.36 | 289 | 2.37 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 580 | 50.49 | 215 | 2.35 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX 780 | 81.66 | 411 | 1.99 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6950 | 36.83 | 204 | 1.81 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5870 | 35.98 | 249 | 1.44 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6970 | 41.32 | 295 | 1.40 |
| AMD Radeon HD 5850 | 30.05 | 257 | 1.17 |
| AMD Radeon HD 6990 | 73.96 | 663 | 1.12 |
| nVidia GeForce GTX TITAN | 85.05 | 831 | 1.02 |
| ASUS MARS 760 | 97.90 | TBC | TBC |
| * 18/11/2013 | More is better | Less is better | More is better |
For the price we took the lowest price available on geizhals.eu.
Conclusion
| General | + | - | |
| The ASUS Republic of Gamers MARS 760 graphics card is
definitely a nice idea and ASUS made sure that is done the right way. Build quality is
incredible, and we surely like the design as well as the performance.
Since ASUS paid a lot of attention to details, even the cooler did very well too, temperatures are
good and although the noise levels are a bit on the high side, it is
expected considering that it has to cope with two GTX 760 GK104 GPUs.
Bundle is quite OK although we did expect a bit more considering it is a part of ASUS' Republic of Gamers series. Of course, if ASUS decided to aggressively price the new graphics card, the situation with the bundle is quite understandable. We also think that it should be eligible (as you practically bought two GTX 760s) for Nvidia's Holiday game bundle that includes Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, which should give it additional value. |
- Performance
- Cooling performance - Design - Noise levels |
- Memory Clock | |
| Cooling / Noise Level | + | - | |
| Raw cooling performance and noise levels are bad,
temperatures are up to 20°C higher and noise levels are 10 dB(A) higher than
what we had a chance to see on a good custom GTX 760 for example. But
when you take into account that this is a dual
GPU graphics card and if we compare it to a GTX 760 SLI situation then the cooling
performance and noise levels are very good. When looking at the results we see that the MARS 760 does as good as two Gigabyte GTX 760 OC
4GB in SLI. Bear in mind that these are two graphics cards that are
equipped with
rather huge coolers and are on two separate PCBs. Also on the MARS 760, both GPU were always at the same
temperature at +/- 1°C. When we take everything into an account, we can easily say that the cooling solution which ASUS decided to put on the ROG MARS 760 is very good, and probably one of the best we have seen in a long time. It would not also hurt that ASUS decided to go with a triple slot version for even better temperatures and noise levels but it might have an impact on SLI support, at least on some motherboards. |
- Cooling performance
- Noise levels |
||
| Performance | + | - | |
| Performance is, as expected, exceptional. On average
and in tested
games, the ROG MARS 760 easily beats the Titan by good 15%, and the single GTX 760 by 73%. Compared to a single GTX 760, the MARS 760 performance gain ranges from 25% in some games like Borderlands 2 to a rather impressive 108% in more demanding games like Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3. We have also compared the ROG MARS 760 with two custom GTX 760 graphics cards in SLI and the SLI consisting of two Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 OC 4GB V1 which has a GPU clocked 100 MHz higher, was around 5% faster. The MARS 760 also did really good regarding power consumption. In idle, the power consumption of the entire setup was as low as 56W (53W with the SLI and 45W with a single 760) and 420W under heavy load (218W with a single GTX 760 and an enormous 500W with the SLI) leading to a quite good performance/Watt ratio. |
- Performance
- Power consumption under load |
||
| Recommendation / Price | + | - | |
| Unfortunately, we still do not have any information
regarding the price so we will update the article when the new ROG MARS 760 becomes
available. It should end up cheaper than the GTX Titan and hopefully
sit even below a price of two custom GTX 760 graphics cards. In the meantime we can say that it is a very good dual GPU graphics card and if the price premium is not that high, the ROG MARS 760 could be a very nice alternative to a more expensive GTX 780 Ti or the GTX Titan. |
- Gaming | ||
| We gave the MARS 760 from ASUS 4.5 out of 5 stars. | |||
