ASUS GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition Video Card Overview
The ASUS GTX 660 DirectCU II OC Edition Video Card follows the same color scheme that we have seen on ASUS graphics cards for the past year or so. You have a black PCB with a matching black shroud and even though this is an NVIDIA card the accents on the shroud are red. ASUS of does this to match the 3 stripes on the box or the card, but it also allows you to match the card with their Republic of Gamers motherboards. The card itself is 10.2-inch long so you should have any issues fitting it inside of your case.
The DirectCU II cooler is made of 2 dust proof cooling fans, a very large heatsink and 3 large copper heatpipes that make direct contact with the GPU. This means heat will be directly transferred from the heatpipes to the large heatsink where it will be dissipated. The fans on a reference GTX660 only provide 24.2 CFM of airflow while the ones on this card provide up to 163.38 CFM. The heatsink itself is made of Aluminum and has 5 dissipation points with 125% larger dissipation area and optimized pitch.
This is a dual slot card and as far as connections go you have 2 DVI ports, one HDMI and one DisplayPort. Power comes to this card via a single 6pin PCIe power connector.
On the same side of the card as the 6pin PCIe power connector you will find the SLI connector. The card also has a metal stabilizer on this side. This just insures that the card will not bend over time as some cards do. On the back of the card there are two power diagnostic LEDs that will show you if you are getting good power from your power supply.
Removing the cooling system from the card is actually easy. It can be done by simply removing 4 screws. Once the cooling system is removed you can see the PCB of the card. Towards the end of the card you can see the SAP (super alloy power components). Super Alloy Power utilizes metals that are highly-magnetic, heat-resistant and anti-corrosive to reduce power loss, enhance durability and achieve cooler operation. The Supper Alloy choke’s provide cool and quiet operation with enhanced power delivery. The Super Alloy capacitor is actually a 5K capacitor compared to the 2K capacitors you will find an all other cards, this provides a 2.5x longer lifespan. The Digi+ VRM uses a 6-phase power design that utilizes digital voltage regulators to minimize noise by 30%, enhance power efficiency by 15%, widen voltage modulation tolerance, and improve overall stability and longevity by 2.5 times over reference.
