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I recieved my Asus GTX 570 DirectCU II last night. And it is an impressive unit.
First the unboxing, Newegg.com always seems to give more than enough shipping material to protect your multiple hundred dollar parts from most shipping hazards.
![DSC00115.jpg]( "DSC00115.jpg")
The actual product box from Asus looks like a carbon copy of my GTX 460 DirectCU edition.
![DSC00116.jpg]( "DSC00116.jpg")
Here is something I thought was odd on the box, the diagram of the ports shows the card upside down.
![DSC00117.jpg]( "DSC00117.jpg")
The first thing I found when i opened the inner black box was the standard installation CD and the quick user manual. If you remove the little package from the center of the foam you get your first peek of the beast that lies beneath though a little 4x4 inch cut out.
Remove the top layer of foam and you are greeted by this:
![DSC00119.jpg]( "DSC00119.jpg")
I went to pull it out of the box and the first thing I noticed was the weight. Granted part of the weight is of course the heatsink, which uses 5 direct touch pipes that are cooled by a heatsink that is almost the full length of the shroud itself.
The two fans look right at home under the unique shroud, definitely not reference design!
![DSC00121.jpg]( "DSC00121.jpg")
The insides look impressive from the outside, I did not open my card at all, as another reviewer did, but here is a look from the outside:
![DSC00122.jpg]( "DSC00122.jpg")
![DSC00124.jpg]( "DSC00124.jpg")
**Here are pictures of the card from under the shroud- Credit for these goes to techpowerup.com Click here to see their review with some more detailed pictures**
Front: From techpowerup.com
![front.jpg]( "front.jpg")
Back: From techpowerup.com
![back.jpg]( "back.jpg")
With 2 SLI tabs, the GTX 570 is able to be put into SLI with up to 4 total cards of any manufacturer, and this model comes with an extra long SLI connector.
This is a big card too, its 11 inches long, which is a good bit longer than the gtx 460 DirectCU version which is just under 9 and a half inches long. And that inch and a half can be significant.
GTX 460 in an NZXT Vulcan Case:
![DSC00125.jpg]( "DSC00125.jpg")
Now the GTX 570:
![DSC00126.jpg]( "DSC00126.jpg")
***EDIT***
![DSC00179.jpg]( "DSC00179.jpg")
Changed cable management in my case, the original pictures had the power cables pulling stress on the card **SLIGHTLY** pulling it down. With the new way of routing the cables, there is not any tension on the card, and you can see its looking much better.
The GTX 460 left room between itself and the internal 3.5" drive cage, the power connectors are at the end of the card, much like the GTX 570, however the 570 goes under the 3.5" drive cage.
I'm sure you are aware of the performance gains of the new GTX 570, if you are not, the review by techpowerup.com will give you great information on stock performance.
What I am most impressed with is the noise level this card delivers: It is super quiet. At stock the fan speed on this card is 1040RPM. On the GTX 470 DirectCU 1GB model, it was 1320RPM, and that nearly 300 RPM makes a ton of difference when it comes to noise level.
The case I have it in has a huge side mesh panel, and it lets every sound in the case escape. The GTX 570 is significantly quieter than the smaller GTX 460. I cannot distinguish this card's fan from any other noise level in my case, but I could hear the 460 over the other fans in my case.
Temperatures are very nice too. At stock settings, or over-clocked for that matter, the card ran at a cool 24 degreed Celsius. (Same as the GTX 460) At the stock 742MHz (factory over-clock) the temperatures sat around 48 degrees.
Here is the screen shot of the results of my benchmark set to extreme. The temperatures did not fluctuate any higher if i let it run longer.
![742MHz.png]( "742MHz.png")
Moved to 800MHz and the temp stayed at 48C, proving in my case that the temp of the core is affected more by voltage than speed used, my voltage is still stock at 800MHz, and stock on the ASUS DirectCU II is 1v for the record here.
![800MHz.png]( "800MHz.png")
Now up to 900MHz, voltage has to be bumped up to 1.075 for a Temp of 57C
![900MHz.png]( "900MHz.png")
This image also shows the graphics card also cooled back down to idle. Which is a cool 25C!
I have to say that personally, I am impressed with this card, and its cooling abilities. It is quiet and stays cool even when being stressed. Maybe with the improved "Super Alloy" components, this card will take to being over-clocked better than the reference 570s that seem to have an aversion to being over-clocked. However, I am not ready to test this by removing settings in GPU-Z.
Something else to be noted, MSI's Afterburner software does not seem to allow users to change the voltage of this non reference card. Over-clocking seems to be limited currently to the Asus SmartDoctor.
First the unboxing, Newegg.com always seems to give more than enough shipping material to protect your multiple hundred dollar parts from most shipping hazards.
The actual product box from Asus looks like a carbon copy of my GTX 460 DirectCU edition.
Here is something I thought was odd on the box, the diagram of the ports shows the card upside down.
The first thing I found when i opened the inner black box was the standard installation CD and the quick user manual. If you remove the little package from the center of the foam you get your first peek of the beast that lies beneath though a little 4x4 inch cut out.
Remove the top layer of foam and you are greeted by this:
I went to pull it out of the box and the first thing I noticed was the weight. Granted part of the weight is of course the heatsink, which uses 5 direct touch pipes that are cooled by a heatsink that is almost the full length of the shroud itself.
The two fans look right at home under the unique shroud, definitely not reference design!
The insides look impressive from the outside, I did not open my card at all, as another reviewer did, but here is a look from the outside:
**Here are pictures of the card from under the shroud- Credit for these goes to techpowerup.com Click here to see their review with some more detailed pictures**
Front: From techpowerup.com
Back: From techpowerup.com
With 2 SLI tabs, the GTX 570 is able to be put into SLI with up to 4 total cards of any manufacturer, and this model comes with an extra long SLI connector.
This is a big card too, its 11 inches long, which is a good bit longer than the gtx 460 DirectCU version which is just under 9 and a half inches long. And that inch and a half can be significant.
GTX 460 in an NZXT Vulcan Case:
Now the GTX 570:
***EDIT***
Changed cable management in my case, the original pictures had the power cables pulling stress on the card **SLIGHTLY** pulling it down. With the new way of routing the cables, there is not any tension on the card, and you can see its looking much better.
The GTX 460 left room between itself and the internal 3.5" drive cage, the power connectors are at the end of the card, much like the GTX 570, however the 570 goes under the 3.5" drive cage.
I'm sure you are aware of the performance gains of the new GTX 570, if you are not, the review by techpowerup.com will give you great information on stock performance.
What I am most impressed with is the noise level this card delivers: It is super quiet. At stock the fan speed on this card is 1040RPM. On the GTX 470 DirectCU 1GB model, it was 1320RPM, and that nearly 300 RPM makes a ton of difference when it comes to noise level.
The case I have it in has a huge side mesh panel, and it lets every sound in the case escape. The GTX 570 is significantly quieter than the smaller GTX 460. I cannot distinguish this card's fan from any other noise level in my case, but I could hear the 460 over the other fans in my case.
Temperatures are very nice too. At stock settings, or over-clocked for that matter, the card ran at a cool 24 degreed Celsius. (Same as the GTX 460) At the stock 742MHz (factory over-clock) the temperatures sat around 48 degrees.
Here is the screen shot of the results of my benchmark set to extreme. The temperatures did not fluctuate any higher if i let it run longer.
Moved to 800MHz and the temp stayed at 48C, proving in my case that the temp of the core is affected more by voltage than speed used, my voltage is still stock at 800MHz, and stock on the ASUS DirectCU II is 1v for the record here.
Now up to 900MHz, voltage has to be bumped up to 1.075 for a Temp of 57C
This image also shows the graphics card also cooled back down to idle. Which is a cool 25C!
I have to say that personally, I am impressed with this card, and its cooling abilities. It is quiet and stays cool even when being stressed. Maybe with the improved "Super Alloy" components, this card will take to being over-clocked better than the reference 570s that seem to have an aversion to being over-clocked. However, I am not ready to test this by removing settings in GPU-Z.
Something else to be noted, MSI's Afterburner software does not seem to allow users to change the voltage of this non reference card. Over-clocking seems to be limited currently to the Asus SmartDoctor.
