Asus prepares Radeon HD 7950 with updated DC2 cooler

When AMD launched the Radeon HD 7950, Asus was fast on the table, and the DirectCu II variant showed excellent results in SweClocker’s test lab. However, the company is not happy there, but is preparing a refined variant with several changes.

First out is a self-designed circuit board, which replaces AMD’s reference variant in the original model. Asus is also taking the opportunity to update the DirectCu II cooler to an optimized variant taken from the HD 7970, where previously five heat conduction pipes are expanded to six.

Even under the hood, Asus takes the opportunity to introduce changes. The graphics processor gets a heat spreader for better overclocking, while graphics memory and power supply are covered by a heat-dissipating metal plate. Last but not least, the company is taking the opportunity to change the set of video outputs to dual DVI, HDMI and full-size Displayport.

The Asus Radeon HD 7950 DirectCU II V2 comes in two variants. The standard model has the clock frequencies 800 MHz GPU and 5,000 MHz graphics memory, the more lavish TOP variant comes with 900 MHz GPU and also there 5,000 MHz for the graphics memory. Other features include 3 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus, as well as connection via PCI Express 3.0.

The updated graphics cards are expected to appear in stores in August, and the price tags will be the same as for current models. That means just over SEK 3,000 for the standard-clocked variant, and a few hundred kronor more for the TOP model.