The first Asus ROG Ares graphics card was air-cooled, and when Asus slapped two Radeon HD 7970’s onto a single board the company decided to partially liquid cool the card, giving it a hybrid cooling design just like the newer AMD Radeon R9 295X2. This time around, when Asus put two Radeon R9 290X GPUs onto a single GPU, it decided that rather than to make an air-cooled or hybrid-cooled card, it would make it exclusively cooled with water. Meet the Asus Republic of Gamers Ares III graphics card.
The card itself carries the same Hawaii GPUs as the R9 295X2, although they run at up to 1030 MHz rather than the reference 1018 MHz. Each GPU has access to 4 GB of memory, giving the card a total of 8 GB of memory. This memory runs at an effective speed of 5.0 GHz over a dual 512-bit memory interface. At this point you’re probably wondering what makes this card so special, so here it comes:
What sets the Asus ROG Ares III graphics card apart from reference R9 295X2 solutions is the PCB design and the cooling. The GPUs are hand-picked and tested, and they are powered by a more elaborate 16-phase Digi+ VRM circuit. The cooling is provided by a hand-crafted EKWB water block, which has a large “ARES” carved into it. It has the standard G1/4” threads, so if you have a custom water loop there is a good chance this will work in it. Because the water block makes the card quite thin, Asus also equipped the unti with a single-slot expansion bracket.
Included with the card is the silver metal carrying case (pictured), along with two G1/4” fittings, an 8 GB ROG USB stick and an AMD Gold Reward game coupon for the Never Settle promotional material. Oh, and Asus will only be making 500 units, each of them numbered as a limited edition card.
There’s no word on pricing for the ROG Ares III just yet, although Asus did indicate that it will be available early in
