We first saw the DirectCU II cooling with the GTX770 we reviewed previously and despite there being no improvements here we still love the look of the design with a svelte black shroud with metallic red highlighting.


Back plates seem to be a rarity these days but we are happy to report that ASUS have seen fit to adorn the R9 290 DirectCU II with one. We like back plates because they afford some protection to the back (top) of the card, strengthen it thus preventing it from bowing while also assisting with cooling.


Just a single fat heatpipe is visible from the side of the graphics card. hinting at the cooling power beneath. As we will see on the next page, there are more heatpipes which are the main selling point of the DirectCU II cooler.


The card measures 28.7cm x 14.73cm x 4.06cm which is a little smaller than other high end cards on the market so should you have a smaller enclosure; this card may be more suited than those offered by alternative manufacturers.


We love this little feature as it allows the user to immediately identify if there is problem with power delivery. As you can see we have omitted to plug in both PCIe power connectors so rather than looking at the card with distress thinking it is faulty we can see where our issues lay.


Two neat features of this card are the ability to manually monitor voltages using a multi-meter. The second feature is a BIOS switch which will allow you to try out alternative BIOS' without bricking the card thanks to the backup BIOS.