Asus announced a number of new products at the ROG (Republic Of Gamers) Unleashed press event today. Some of the hardware had been teased or announced previously, but some of the the details have been scarce. In early September we reported that Asus will soon be releasing the next iteration of its highly customized Matrix graphics cards, but many of the details were being withheld. Today, a few more of those details have been revealed, but there are some things we still don't know.
The Asus ROG Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum features a custom PCB design and power delivery subsystem with 14 phase power regulation, which Asus said enables higher and more stable overclocks. Asus said it reserves only the highest overclocking GPUs for the Matrix cards. It claimed that only the top 10 percent of GPUs are selected for the Matrix cards. These chips have been vetted by Asus employees to be among the highest overclocking GPUs to come through its factory, though it has still not revealed what the factory clock speed will be.
To keep the card cool, Asus equipped the Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum with a customized DirectCU II cooler, which features 10 mm copper heat pipes. They've have been coated in black to help them blend in with the shroud design. Although it put the DirectCU II cooler on this card, most Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum cards will likely spend their life hooked up to a more exotic cooling solution. Water would work fine on this card if a block is made, but it has truly been designed for the hardcore overclocking enthusiasts looking for world record clock speeds under liquid nitrogen. The Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum features a defrosting feature designed to keep condensation down under subzero temperatures.
Along with the PCB defrosting function, Asus has included a safe mode BIOS on the card, as well. If you manage to push the settings too high, the safe mode BIOS can recover from what could have otherwise been catastrophic failure. Pushing this button will automatically reload a factory profile to the BIOS.
The previous Matrix card, the Asus Matrix GTX 980 Platinum, featured a set of LED lights that changed color under different load patterns. Asus has equipped the Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum with a similar feature, though the lights are RGB this time around, letting you customize the different modes to any color you'd like.
When Asus first revealed the Matrix GTX 980 Ti Platinum in early September, it showed off a brand new color scheme for the company. The shroud did away with the company's traditional red and black ROG branding, and replaced it with gunmetal and copper accents, which Asus was calling the Plasma Copper ROG color scheme.
Today's announcement was accompanied with a picture of a red and black card with the same design as last year's shroud. It's unclear if both versions will be available, or if the new color has been dropped.
Follow Kevin Carbotte @pumcypuhoy. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
