Tom's Hardware > News > Components > Graphics Cards > Asus Launches 'Dark Knight' Graphics Cards

Asus Launches 'Dark Knight' Graphics Cards

12:30 - Tuesday 14 October 2008 by Aaron Heibert - source: Tom's Hardware

Looking to upgrade your current video card ? Looking to upgrade to something that looks cool AND has functionality for cooling ? ASUS has launched a few customized cards based on ATI and Nvidia GPUs that deviate from typical reference designs.

All new cards are named under Asus’ new Dark Knight (DK) name. The new Dark Knight cards come with varying specifications, but most notably the Dark Knight Fansink that will apparently deliver "extreme" cooling and "low noise levels." Other features include the EMI shield, DIP Spring Chokes, LF PAK MOS, and Japanese made Solid Capacitors.

The new Dark Knight Fansink is manufacturer from aluminum alloy, has four heatpipes and a larger surface area. From the description and available pictures at this time (see below), it looks pretty slick. Though we find it odd that ASUS chose aluminum over copper. The aluminum definitely looks cool color-wise, but based on the target audience — where’s the copper ?

Hopefully we’ll get our hands on some of these for a closer look soon. For now we will leave you with some eye candy to look at and the specs of the new cards to go along with them – draw your conclusions in the comments sections !

ASUS Dark Knight ATI GPU
Model	EAH4870 DK/HTDI/1G	EAH4870 DK TOP/HTDI/512M	EAH4870 DK/HTDI/512M
Graphics Engine	Radeon HD 4870	Radeon HD 4870	Radeon HD 4870
Bus Standard	PCI Express 2.0	PCI Express 2.0	PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory	1GB DDR5	1GB DDR5	1GB DDR5
Engine Clock	750 MHz	815 MHz	750 MHz
Memory Clock	3.6GHz (900MHz DDR5)	3.7GHz (925MHz DDR5)	3.6GHz (900MHz DDR5)
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit
DVI Max. Resolution	2560 * 1600	2560 * 1600	2560 * 1600
D-Sub Output	Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )	Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )	Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )
DVI Output	Yes x 2 (DVI-I)	Yes x 2 (DVI-I)	Yes x 2 (DVI-I)
HDTV Output(YPbPr)	YES, via HDTV Out cable	YES, via HDTV Out cable	YES, via HDTV Out cable
HDCP compliant	Yes	Yes	Yes
HDMI Output	Yes, via DVI to HDMI adaptor	Yes, via DVI to HDMI adaptor	Yes, via DVI to HDMI adaptor
Adaptor/Cable Bundled	1 x DVI-to-D-Sub adapter 1 x HDTV-out cable 1 x DVI-to-HDMI adaptor	1 x DVI-to-D-Sub adapter 1 x HDTV-out cable 1 x DVI-to-HDMI adaptor	1 x DVI-to-D-Sub adapter 1 x HDTV-out cable 1 x DVI-to-HDMI adaptor
Software Bundled	ASUS Utilities & Driver	ASUS Utilities & Driver	ASUS Utilities & Driver

ASUS Dark Knight Nvidia GPU
Model	EN9800GTX+ DK TOP/HTDI/512M	EN9800GTX+ DK/HTDI/512M
Graphics Engine	GeForce 9800GTX+	GeForce 9800GTX+
Bus Standard	PCI Express 2.0	PCI Express 2.0
Video Memory	512MB DDR3	512MB DDR3
Engine Clock	775 MHz	740 MHz
Shader Clock	1950 MHz	1836 MHz
Memory Clock	2.36GHz (1.18GHz DDR3)	2.2GHz (1.1GHz DDR3)
Memory Interface	256-bit	256-bit
DVI Max. Resolution	2560 * 1600	2560 * 1600
D-Sub Output	Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )	Yes x 1 (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor x 1 )
DVI Output	Yes x 2 (DVI-I)	Yes x 2 (DVI-I)
HDTV Output(YPbPr)	YES, via HDTV Out cable	YES, via HDTV Out cable
HDCP compliant	Yes	Yes
HDMI Output	Yes, via DVI to HDMI adaptor	Yes, via DVI to HDMI adaptor
Adaptor/Cable Bundled	1 x DVI-to-D-Sub adapter 1 x HDTV-out cable 1 x DVI-to-HDMI adaptor 1 x Power Cable	1 x DVI-to-D-Sub adapter 1 x HDTV-out cable 1 x DVI-to-HDMI adaptor 1 x Power Cable
Software Bundled	ASUS Utilities & Driver	ASUS Utilities & Driver
Note	The card size is 4.376 inches x 10 inches	The card size is 4.376 inches x 10 inches