Asus will introduce a new feature in its GPU Tweak software that detects any changes in the angle of the installed graphics card. According to VideoCardz, this feature will arrive with the upcoming ROG Matrix RTX 5090, the new flagship gaming GPU that will supersede the ROG Astral that launched earlier this year as its most premium GPU.
Graphics card sag has been a problem ever since manufacturers started making humongous three-fan designs that took up two, three, or even four slots. This resulted in a healthy market for creative aftermarket anti-sag brackets, but some users would likely hesitate to install one, as it would mess with the aesthetics of their gaming PC.
Because of this, Asus added the Level Sense feature to its latest top-of-the-line offering. We still don’t know exactly how the graphics card will detect changes in its placement, but this will likely be through tiny accelerometers and gyroscopes built directly onto its board.
This won’t be the first Asus GPU to have this feature, as the ROG Astral is already equipped with the same sag detection capability. However, the main difference between the two GPUs is that the Matrix will have it at launch, whereas Asus only activated sag detection on the Astral some months after it dropped.
Asus hasn’t released the complete specifications of the ROG Matrix RTX 5090 just yet, so we’re unsure how much it will weigh. Nevertheless, we can safely assume that it will be around the neighborhood of the ROG Astral RTX 5090, which is around 3 kg, or more than 6.5 pounds.
Motherboard manufacturers began releasing reinforced PCIe slots last year to accommodate the heft of these beefy GPUs, but it can only do so much to prevent sagging. After all, even if the motherboard can handle the weight, the forces applied to it will be redistributed to the GPU’s PCIe connector, which can then rip due to long-term stress.
GPU Tweak will also come with other new features, including Power Detector+, which monitors the melt-prone 12V-2x6 power cable and will inform you of any anomalies, Thermal Map, which collates temperature data from various points on the GPU, and Mileage, which collects the graphics card’s usage data. All these features position the ROG Matrix RTX 5090 as an enthusiast-grade graphics card designed for those who are into extreme overclocking and with heavy workloads.
We still don’t know how much the ROG Matrix RTX 5090 will go for, but you can expect it to be pricey. While we don’t think it will reach the half-million-dollar price point of the ROG Astral Gold edition, it will still likely be much higher than the $2,000 SRP that Nvidia announced for the RTX 5090.
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