The ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP edition is basically a very beefed up version of the HD 7970, similar to the review we did of the GTX 680 DCII TOP. In these versions, ASUS essentially takes the GPU and builds a whole new card around it. This allows them to take advantage of the ASUS VRM engineering and performance designs to make the card just that much better. By stacking a DirectCU II cooler on top of this, they can create an amazing card. The TOP also has some extra advantages going for it, such as specially screened GPUs pushed at a high overclock to ensure you get something special right out of the box.

The ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP came to market at around $449.99 when you could find it but these cards simply are not available from scouring online stores for available stock.