ASUS Designs Monster Dual-GTX285 4GB Graphics Card 212
suraj.sun writes to mention that ASUS has just designed their own monster graphics card based on the GeForce GTX 295. While the card retains the GeForce GTX 295 name, same device ID, and remains compatible with existing NVIDIA drivers, ASUS has made a couple of modifications to call its own. "the company used two G200-350-B3 graphics processors, the same ones that make the GeForce GTX 285. The GPUs have all the 240 shader processors enabled, and also have the complete 512-bit GDDR3 memory interface enabled. This dual-PCB monstrosity holds 32 memory chips, and 4 GB of total memory (each GPU accesses 2 GB of it). Apart from these, each GPU system uses the same exact clock speeds as the GeForce GTX 285: 648/1476/2400 MHz (core/shader/memory)."
Re:oblig. (Score:1, Insightful)
Yeah, it plays Tux Racer hella fast.
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:2, Insightful)
A true nerd looks at this card the way an off-roader looks at an H2: It's bigger than it needs to be, costs more than it should, and is at best no better at what it's supposed to be good at then something a third the price. Oh, and only rich posers actually own one.
It's not tech for the sake of tech. It's tech because you can do something cool with it that makes you a nerd. And there's not really much you can do with this that you can't do just as well while spending less money.
A nerd can get his computer, with half as much RAM and less processor power, to do everything this card can do. And do it better.
Re:Dual GPU card (Score:3, Insightful)
So what happens when you SLI two of these badboys together?
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:3, Insightful)
How can you compare something that costs $80,000 (plus running costs) to something that costs $800?
The other big difference is that this thing will be "normal" in a couple of years and only cost $100. Mid-range PCs will have this as standard.
A Hummer, OTOH, will still be just as expensive and just as stupid.
Hmmmmm.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:3, Insightful)
Says the nerd who can't afford it. I think it would have been awesome to put this in a liquid cooled quad SLI setup, even though it'd require it's own power circuit, AC unit and noise-isolated room in the basement. You can't say that's NOT nerdy...
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:5, Insightful)
How can you compare something that costs $80,000 (plus running costs) to something that costs $800?
He didn't compare them, he used their few similar traits to illustrate a point. A common use of analogies.
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:3, Insightful)
A true nerd looks at this card the way an off-roader looks at an H2: It's bigger than it needs to be, costs more than it should, and is at best no better at what it's supposed to be good at then something a third the price. Oh, and only rich posers actually own one.
It's not tech for the sake of tech. It's tech because you can do something cool with it that makes you a nerd. And there's not really much you can do with this that you can't do just as well while spending less money.
A nerd can get his computer, with half as much RAM and less processor power, to do everything this card can do. And do it better.
Sort of... But not really.
I mean, I understand where you're going with this, and I generally agree. I usually buy a $100 video card and put the extra money into RAM and CPU. Generally that works out pretty well for me. But my needs are relatively low...
I play things like WoW and EVE on at 1280x1024. I don't have a ginormous monitor, and I don't play a whole lot of visually-impressive high-speed games. If I had a big ol' monitor and wanted to play something like Crysis at 2560x1600 it just wouldn't happen. I'd get a slideshow at best. And that's without even pondering whether I'd turn on anything fancy like HDR or whatever.
No, you probably don't need a card like this. And you can probably get away with something less expensive. But it isn't like they just stuck a bunch of gold and diamonds on the card to jack up the price... It does actually do more than my budget card.
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:5, Insightful)
The article doesn't mention the price, but I suppose it would cost more than the GTX 295, so this card would be expensive. The advantage of it though, is you can stick enough graphics power in a single slot to power a 30 inch monitor at the highest settings with playable framerates in almost any game. So while I can not speak for every nerd, this is surely not tech purely for the sake of tech. No one could get something with half the RAM, less processor power to do everything this card can do that I know of. Perhaps you could prove me wrong on that point?
So while some think your post is insightful, I think you have no idea what you are talking about. This card was made to fill a niche in the high end gamers market, pure and simple.
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:3, Insightful)
Well, since numerical prefixes are by definition quantitative...
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:2, Insightful)
But unless you set up a rediculous(sp) scenario, a high end video card is almost always going to beat a low end or old one.
Unless you pick a rediculous scenario (e.g who can get the highest FPS on crysis with full detail on everything, 32x antialiases, etc) a medium and high end card will always give you the same key features (being able to play most modern games in high detail), while the high end card will draw more power and make more noise. The end result is a true geek will never guy this monstrosity but a poser will, Hummer analogy win!
Re:I feel nerd-emasculated (Score:2, Insightful)
Not trying to be offensive, but you are wrong.
...I think you have no idea what you are talking about.
Actually, he's correct in most aspects and has at least some idea what he is talking about. The cheaper machine and cards can do everything this card can do, just smaller.