What gpu does it use though?
A standard 5970 is a 5870 that runs at lower voltages and lower clock speeds. This is basically a 5970 that runs at 5870 (or above) voltages and clock speeds, and is capable of hefty overclocks. Custom PCB, beefy cooler, very limited edition, etc. To get 1GH/s, I think each core is somewhere around 1100MHz.
1100mhz sounds about right, maybe just a hair under with optimized kernel/sdk/settings/etc. I have a "golden" 5870 that ran these clocks, but only in the dead of night in the coldest nights of winter. I have a screenshot of guiminer showing a hair over 500 mhash with a 5870 clocked at 1080 core, and later 511 mhash with 1110MHz clock. I could've optimize memory speeds at that core but didn't know any better at the time. Probably could've squeaked out 515 or higher.
Anyways, free bump. Ares cards are WAY out of my price range. I would only offer $300 shipped, but I'm sure you could get something ridiculous like $600 on ebay..
Ya 1110MHz is quite an exceptional OC for a 5870! My 5870 only OC'd to 1000MHz at stock volts, but really shined at 925MHz @ 1.000V. From what I could gather, most cards couldn't OC that well at that voltage.
Even a typical 5970 will have trouble keeping up with a typical 5870 on a core by core basis, but this card wont. I think it's technically labeled as a 5870x2, with hand picked cores.
They are very nice cards, but also very expensive. Too expensive, imo. Good luck with your sale!