[H]ardOCP & ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II Giveaway

I like Asus products overall. I've owned several motherboards and video cards. Of that, I only had issue with one motherboard which RMA took care of.

The 660Ti would be a great upgrade from my 6950 in my 'HTPC' box. The DirectCU's cooler will ensure the card doesn't overheat even in our 100 plus degree summers.

The Formula would be a total upgrade for any of my boxes.

Thanks!
 
With all the electronics my room gets hot, so hot that it has the nickname, "the sweatbox". It offers so much fun but it comes at a very steep price. When playing any 1st person shooter, you can seriously see the steam rise from my forehead. With each click of the mouse, the perspiration starts to seep out of my pores. It literally feels like each minute spent gaming is 1 degree Fahrenheit closer to eventual heat stroke. I mean I'll start off really well but as it heats up, the extreme environmental factors come into play and my k/d ratio plummets. I swear the last time I had an intense gaming session on tf2, I came out my room looking all dry and prune like. That's definitely not a very sexy look but the things I have to deal with to game.

If I win, you will be changing my life for the better, 1 Fahrenheit at a time. I'll be able to concentrate without losing consciousness in long gaming sessions. Not only that but you will be doing me a huge favor and ridding me of my current video card that has inferior performance and an extremely ugly blue pcb board. In all honesty, I feel that any respectable video card should possess a black pcb board and an ultra effective sexy cooler, both of which this gtx660 has. It is literally the perfect upgrade from my current video card.

As I write this, tiny droplets of sweat are starting to form upon my forehead but I just wanna thank you guys for this opportunity. I've recently began putting a new system together (listed in my signature) and the very last thing I want for it is a video card. I know it's asking for a miracle to win but it would really be a dream come true.
 
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In the world of graphics cards, there are winners and there are losers. The ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II is a clear winner. You start with the beast of rage that already is the GeForce GTX 660Ti, with it's 192bit bus, DX11 & Physx support, and you give it a shot of adrenaline, pumping the core clock over 140mhz above reference to a nightmarish 1059mhz. Then, in the only manner possible to tame this beast, you add on top of it the sophisticated and most dominate of graphics cooling solutions: The DirectCU II. With its dual cooling fan and triple heatpipe design, you know it means business when it comes to cooling.

Now, the only real way to unlock the unearthly power of this graphics card is to put it in a system can handle it. To do that, you have to match rage with rage and I plan to do that with my ASUS Maximus V Gene and it's Intel Core i5 Processor clocked in at 5.1ghz. The might of the ASUS Maximus V Gene pair with the unbridled fury of the ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II will give me the edge I need to take out the baddies in Boarderlands 2, to be visually awed by the groundbreaking Physx engine and to make all my friends drool in envy while I do it.
 
Easy. It'll replace my secondary rig's Shit 5870 that is used for x plane 10. Ive heard that it will make x plane look like it is on steroids, and give me buttery smooth frame rates.

Also, it should make my 5870 a nice paperweight. :)
 
Id love to have an Asus Direct CU II 660TI. My mini ITX system is currently rocking a 7770 but it needs more umph. I wish I could claim that I need the mother board as well, but really all I want is that beautiful GPU.
I just cant play my games the way they were meant to be played without sliding down some settings so my 7770 wont choke. The though of replacing my card for a high quality Asus Nvidia 660TI would make my dreams come true.
I want to push that Direct CU II cooler to the extreme as well :)
 
Firstly, Thank you ASUS and as always [H]ardocp for giving back to community!

I would want this card because of the amazing Direct CU II Cooler, in many builds I have featured cards from asus with this cooler do to the cooling capacity for overclocking and quietness.

Thanks again and keep up the good work on your GPU's!
 
How it would improve my gaming and hardware enthusiast experience...

DirectCU II would help because a cooler running card means better stability and overclocking. Of course that means higher framerates.

Having a video card that sounds like a hair dryer can get you killed if you can't hear your enemy sneaking up behind you, so lower noise can be critical. Having the best of both worlds just kicks ass.

"DIGI+ VRM with Super Alloy Power" sounds like it was designed just for me. The product page indicates it has 2.5 times the longevity of the reference design. This is fantastic because I've already had to bake two video cards because they simply couldn't handle the voltage and speed I forced on them (they both died completely soon after baking them).

GPU Tweak's BIOS update sounds fantastic! I've never seen a graphics card officially support BIOS updates. This is obviously great because updated BIOSs can provide performance, stability and power management improvements.

Hardware PhysX support sounds nice at this point because I just bought Batman Arkham City and plan to get Arkham Asylum and they both make heavy use of PhysX. I would like to go back and play Cryostasis again as well and actually be able to enjoy it (it simply won't run well on my AMD card).
 
DX11, cooler temps are reasons to get it. With one of these cards would be the first time I would be able to play with Physx and might convince me to switch sides (mostly went with AMD in the past for price/performance which Nvidia is starting to match if not beat)
 
Let's see, how can I benefit from an ASUS GTX 660Ti DirectCU II? Well, it would replace my existing ASUS HD5850 DirectCU which has been humming along at an overclocked 825/1150 since new. This card has actually managed to live through three processors and two motherboards, going from AMD to Intel in the process. The 660Ti would be the culmination of my transition from AMD/ATI to Intel/nVidia.

This would ultimately result in me going from gaming at 1680x1050 on an LG 22" LCD to 1920x1200 on a Dell U2412M!
 
Not having to use SLI with terrbile gtx 460's would be awesome. The mother board would be awesome because i have a friend who cant get rid of a 3770k and i can get it off him for a steal. I tried selling it for him on the hard forums with no luck.
 
Okay so to answer the question, "what features the new ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II has that will benefit your gaming and hardware enthusiast experience?"; I would need to inform you about my current set up.

So lets:
  • Case is a Gigabyte Aurora
  • PSU is a Corsair 650HX(An upgrade from my old PC power & cooling which went to my parents)
  • Motherboard is a ASUS P5Q yes that old LGA775 P45 chipset board but it has severed me well for years
  • Memory is 8gigs 2x2gigs of Gskill and 2x2gig of I think patriot memory clocked at 800mhz 4-4-4-12 1.9volts
  • CPU is a E8400 clocked at 3.6Ghz I forget the voltage I have for it but I think it's low; I did 3.6Ghz so it locks with memory and the rest of the bios settings nicely
  • Soundcard is an old creative x-fi fatality sound card which I keep around because it allows me to record "what u hear"(directsound/wave/mic all in one)
  • GPU to which the ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II will replace is a MSI ATI 5770 Hawk(which will either go to my gf or parents if I win)

Now that you have a picture of my current rig let's focus on what the GPU will be replacing.
The MSI 5770 Hawk purchased from newegg 2+ years ago? to replace an aging BFG Geforce 8800GTS 320mb.
So what does the ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II that would be a benefit over my current GPU? let's bring up the specs and then talk about specific difference.
Let's use the same review website as a reference(sorry [H] but you didn't have both cards reviewed)

MSI HD 5770 Hawk
ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II

Now just in terms of gaming performance unfortunately the linked reviews don't have a direct comparison, but we can infer to what information is given that ASUS' 660Ti will be at least 51% ish faster upwards of 80% in games, at my resolution of 1920x1080(even if my math is made up)

We come to this by looking at the performance page for my gaming monitor resolution which is 1920x1080(a resolution not given in the reviews but close to 1920x1200 although I know in games screen ratio can have some issue with performance due to what is being displayed or stretched/not) along with using an intermediary that appears in both reviews a HD 6850

Now from these reviews we get that the 5770 is 29% slower then a 6850 and the 6850 is 51% slower then ASUS' 660Ti.
So sense the 6850 is faster then the 5770 then the 51% boost that ASUS' 660Ti gives you over a 6850 can easily be translated to be at least 51% compared to a 5770 now since the review rigs aren't the same the whole up to 80% is pretty made up as you can't really legitimately add 29%+51% when the testing suite is different. But to answer the gaming department this is a significant boost in performance.

Now that we have gaming out of the way let's look at why I bought a MSI HD 5770 Hawk, well I needed a bit more performance at the time in gaming which was my main reason although the upgrade to DX11 is nice although rarely used. Why a 5770? Price point. Why MSI's Hawk? Because of the non standard cooler which I can run at low rpm's and get reasonable temperatures while playing games. So it's about performance and sound, with performance clearly superior I have no qualms about ASUS' DirectCU system being able to perform similar if not better in keeping the gpu cool at a reasonable volume, it clearly has demonstrated such qualities[1] [2].

So what about the hardware enthusiast in me? Well I obviously love the non standard, custom feel that ASUS is going for, with that high end feel. Although I do not know which version of ASUS' 660ti it is: TI-DC2-2GD5,TI-DC2O-2GD5,TI-DC2T-2GD5(not counting the ones that come with borderlands) I would be more then satisfied with the stock OC along with the potential for more(with some luck) from the GK104. As ASUS provides everything I would need to push the clocks to the limit for the chip, given that it features DirectCU cooling, with the additional heatsink over the voltage regulation circuitry along with DIGI+ VRM and Super Alloy Power technology (the nice package of higher end capacitors, chokes and MOSFETs). Although I will try ASUS' GPU Tweak, I'm still likely to use MSI's afterburner in the end(if everything works) just from being used to it.

Ofc there are stock things I like about the 660ti to which asus has nothing to do with but in general are nice, such as nvidia's adaptive V-sync(which funny enough nvidia gave to the old G80 8800 in my parents comp), the ability to use 2dvi ports and 1 hdmi port to run 3 monitors and that gpu boost tech which I find fascinating.

Lastly I would like to point out that like my current gpu and ASUS' 660ti features a HDMI port which I use from time to time to hook up a TV to watch things like hulu.

In short ASUS' 660Ti is awesome.
 
I look for maximum power with the beefiest cooling that maintains silent performance. The ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU II does just that and more.
 
Surely runs cooler, faster, quieter, and consumes less power than my current hairdryer like video card.
 
GTX 660Ti DirectCU II has arguably the best non-reference cooling solution that offers very quiet operation under load yet keeps the temps low. Plus, the DirectCU II has great out of the box overclocks.
 
Hmmm, things I like:

- 1058MHz boost clock. (If it's a TOP card make that 1137MHz.)
- DirectCU II thermal design with direct contact heatpipes make it more cool than most 660s. At least around 20%.
- Much more quiet than most 660s. I loathe loud cards, so this is important.
- DIGI+ VRM with 6 phase Super Alloy Power tech. That supposed to
reduce power noise by 30% and enhance efficiency by 15%. It also enhances stability.
- ASUS GPU Tweak utility for tuning clock speed, voltage and fan speed.
- It has a full sized display port, one HDMI and two DVI.
- I love black and red. So the color scheme of the card suits me well too :)
- It would be perfect for my 1920x1200 ASUS ProArt PA246Q.

nVidia related:

- First rate timely driver support.
- Adaptive vsync, helps reduce tearing and stutter.
- FXAA, post processing tech that improves performance
and reduces memory load vs standard MSAA.
- TXAA, it reduces temporal aliasing, crawling and
flickering in movement.
- PhysX support.

The above isn't an exhaustive list of features and capabilities of the card, it's what's meaningful to me.
 
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First off i would like to tell you of its use to me.... i would be using this as a platform for my new system, as i would be mailing my brother my current computer. He was a formor Marine Sniper who is about to start with a prvt. company stationed in Baghdad. He an all the guys have crappy PC's and dont have access to things like games (cough cough)torrents and other forms of great media.If i win this ive loadded my current PC with as much media as i can fit on it to send to them. Think of this as a moral write off :D

Now here is what i love about the card and why i want it to build a new system....

Temp's are the main things that will hold you back from OC's on your graphics card all the way to artifacts in games from over heating, well worry no more the Direct CU II design will allow me to achieve higher clock's at a much more efficent lvl and with less heat ( + its OC'ed out of the box ). Along with thier DIGI+ VRM to further enhance the stability the card will also allow for more head room and a longer life in your rig. Noise level throughout gaming will be quite with the dual fan design. 4 Displays you say? Check, the card also supports all 4 as active displays, also a plus with the normal HDMI and Display port inputs. With the standard 2 Gig's of memory i will be able to turn on all the eye candy without sacrafice to resolution like with my older card. Hello DX 11.1 support...I would love to see what BF3 looks like on ultra ( Armored Kill, yum ) and this would also be the purfect card for Guild Wars 2 which comes out soon! The Nvidia 660 ti chip with Asus's custome designed board will lead to a much better gameing experince for me!

Not only would my system be built around the massive power and performace of Asus's 660 Ti i could also send my system to my brother and the other guys that will be stuck there for the next 8 months, thanks [H] and Asus's !
 
For me, it comes down to the cooling system of the DirectCU II. No one wants borderline temperatures and the sound levels of a vacuum cleaner when your graphics card is being pushed. On top of this, the Digi+VRM +Super Alloy component feature set should help instill confidence in the card operating at it's best -- if ASUS' reputation already was not enough.

Cool, quiet, powerful and efficient.
 
Core and memory clocks will dwarf my 6970. Not to mention the quieter and cooler DC2 cooling system will finally let me play games without having to use headphones.
 
  • I could do NV Surround without having to buy "dongles" like Eyefinity requires
  • I can save roughly 10w at idle, 100w at load along with temps more than 10 degrees cooler
  • I could run Crysis and Metro with all the bells and whistles and AF+AA without sacrificing performance
  • I could enjoy the PhysX effects in Borderlands 2
  • I could use the ASUS GPU Tweak utility to OC the card even further because I'm [H]ard
  • I could add another Asus product in my machine to go along with my rock-solid P8P67 :)
 
It would enable me to play at full resolution with full settings. The 660ti is perfect for that and ASUS's hardware rocks!
 
What I would be most appreciative about the 660ti is the support for large screen gaming, both through the serious upgrade in horsepower (from a 6950 1gb), and the continued support to the game industry to ensure better visuals through Physix (Borderlands2 please!) and overall driver support. I'm beta testing constantly and have noticed that nVidia has fewer issues (Path of Exile and Firefall being examples).

An Awesome motherboard would just be icing, and an excuse to upgrade to more [H]folding@home PPD!
 
I have been looking forward to getting one of these, it would be a nice upgrade.
Faster than my current card and it looks as though it will run cooler also and quiet is nice !
 
Would love to see the performance I could get out of overclocking one of these. Especially mated with that motherboard.
 
DirectX 11 and lower power usage than my current (old as dirt) card. Plus Having both the DVI-D and HDMI inputs mean I can keep using my old (as dirt) monitor and still have a nice upgrade path for it down the road. Oh, and an ASUS card would match my ASUS motherboard quite nicely. :)
 
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