X-bit labs

Asustek Releases Liquid-Cooled Top AMD Graphics Card.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 07/31/2007 | 09:13 PM ]

Asustek Computer, one of the largest makers of computer components, announced on Tuesday the world’s first ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT-based graphics card with liquid-cooling. Potentially, advanced cooling system will allow end-users to overclock their graphics cards to higher levels than with typical coolers.

Asustek’s new EAH2900XT AquaTank graphics card comes with a specially designed heat-spreader/waterblock that cools both graphics processing unit (GPU) and memory chips, however, the liquid pump should be put out of computer case, which may not be really convenient for novice enthusiasts. The liquid pump can pump up to 80 liters per hour and comes with 4600rpm cooling fan. Asus declares that the pump can survive for 44 000 hours, but the liquid should be refilled every 10 000 hours, or 416 days in non-stop mode.

Compared with reference design boards, the EAH2900XT AquaTank is able to lower the GPU temperature by an outstanding 10°C to provide users with substantially improved overclocking capabilities. The manufacturer itself did not pre-overclock the Radeon HD 2900 XT and it still operated at 742MHz for the core and 1650MHz for 512MB of GDDR3 memory.

Asus EAH2900XT comes with exclusive bundle that features such games as S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadows of Chernobyl and Race The WTCC; and a voucher coupon for Valve‘s “The Black Box” game bundle suite which consists of 3 tier 1 games: Half Life 2: Episode Two, Team Fortress 2 and Portal.

Pricing of the novelty remains unclear, but it is obviously that the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB graphics card with advanced liquid cooler will cost considerably more than manufacturer suggested retail price of $399.