Asus Matrix Platinum GeForce GTX 980 Review

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How We Tested Asus' Matrix Platinum GTX 980

Surely you know all about Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980 by now. The Maxwell architecture is both fast and efficient. If this is news to you, check out Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 And 980 Review: Maximum Maxwell, our in-depth review of the features and performance of Nvidia's flagship. In brief, the GeForce GTX 980 is about as fast as a GeForce GTX 780 Ti for much less money and a lower 165W TDP.

Of course, today we're focusing on Asus' Matrix Platinum GTX 980. We'll look at the card's special features, the cooler's thermal and acoustic performance, power consumption and overclocking headroom.

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Intel Core i7-5930K

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MSI X99S XPower AC

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Crucial Ballistix 16GB Kit (4GBx4)

Test System
CPUIntel Core i7-5930K (Haswell-E), 3.5/3.7GHz, Six Cores, LGA 2011-v3, 15MB Shared L3 Cache, Hyper-Threading enabled, Overclocked to 4.2GHz
MotherboardMSI X99S Xpower AC (LGA 2011-v3) Chipset: Intel X99 Express, BIOS v1.5
NetworkingOn-Board Gigabit LAN controller
MemoryCrucial Ballistix DDR4-2400, 4 x 4GB, 1200MHz, CL 16-16-16-39 2T
GraphicsAsus Matrix Platinum GeForce GTX 9801241MHz GPU, 4GB GDDR5 at 1753MHz (7009MT/s)Zotac GeForce GTX 980 AMP! Omega Edition1203MHz GPU, 4GB GDDR5 at 1762MHz (7048MT/s)Reference GeForce GTX 9801126MHz GPU, 2GB GDDR5 at 1750MHz (7000MT/s)
SSDSamsung 840 Pro, 256GB SSD, SATA 6Gb/s
PowerBe Quiet! Dark Power Pro 10, 850W, ATX12V, EPS12V
Software and Drivers
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows 8 Pro x64
DirectXDirectX 11
Kevin Carbotte

 Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years. 
24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • damric
    I like when reviewers say MT/s instead of MHz :)
    Reply
  • fatboyslimerr
    I don't get how this card can be meant for water-cooling or LN2 but then you void the warranty by removing the cooler......????
    Reply
  • envy14tpe
    I believe this is really designed for liquid overclocking. This review compares the air overclock vs liquid cooled overclock. You can see the difference but is it worth the $100 premium?
    http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/03/asus_rog_poseidon_gtx_980_platinum_video_card_review/4#.VP6eCvmUe2Y
    Reply
  • loki1944
    Owning two ROG Matrix 290Xs and two ROG Matrix Platinum 780Tis I'll say they are good cards overall and look great, but neither is impressive cooling wise, 290Xs still hit 95C under max load and the 780Tis reach around 85C (my room is around 55-60 degrees F). This looks pretty much the same here on single card cooling, so not exactly impressive for air cooling. Great build quality though and best looking cards ever made in my opinion. I wish more cards were made this solid, but for a lot less $$.
    Reply
  • ohim
    Sapphire with Vapor-x has the best cooling solution out there, not only that they keep the GPU chip cooled the VRMs are also cool, only Gigabyte gave attention to VRM cooling as well.. the rest like to run those guys hot.
    Reply
  • Damn_Rookie
    15453974 said:
    I believe this is really designed for liquid overclocking. This review compares the air overclock vs liquid cooled overclock. You can see the difference but is it worth the $100 premium?
    http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/03/asus_rog_poseidon_gtx_980_platinum_video_card_review/4#.VP6eCvmUe2Y
    I agree that this card is really designed for the more extreme overclockers out there (using either H2O or LN2), but just to note, the link you provided is for a different model of card; the ASUS ROG Poseidon GTX 980 Platinum, as opposed to the ASUS Matrix Platinum GTX 980 reviewed here. The Poseidon is the one possessing a hybrid air/liquid cooler, letting you watercool while keeping your warranty.

    While both cards carry the "Platinum" moniker, they're built on very different underlying boards, with differing power delivery (10-phase for the Poseidon vs 14-phase for the Matrix); the Poseidon being designed for "normal" use, so to speak, and the Matrix designed for breaking LN2 based overclocking records. Honestly, if someone plans to only run it on air, the Matrix is simply overpriced. If they already have a water cooling setup, for the same cost they could get the Poseidon and have a warranty supported liquid cooled 980.
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    The EVGA ACX 2.0 model (1266MHz core) would have been a better comparison
    than the Zotac. I've seen lots of people on forums with the EVGA listed in their sig,
    but hardly anyone with this Zotac. The EVGA @ stock gives 14512 gfx score for
    Firestrike, beating the Matrix Platinum.

    Btw, 1329MHz for an oc is really low. I've seen numerous people on forums going
    well over 1400 (check the techpowerup Unigine threads). I was able to get 1366
    in just a couple of minutes, without any real effort as regards optimisations or
    seeing what the voltage limits were. Some people are getting 1500+ with their 980s.

    Ian.

    PS. Can you confirm whether the Matrix Platinum is genuinely a 2 slot card?
    By that I mean, earlier models of some cards of this type are often fractionally
    wider than 2 slots, eg. the MSI GTX 580 3GB LX. For mbds with normal 2-slot
    spacing, it can make fitting more than one card a real pain (rear fan clash).

    Reply
  • Memnarchon
    15453974 said:
    I believe this is really designed for liquid overclocking. This review compares the air overclock vs liquid cooled overclock. You can see the difference but is it worth the $100 premium?
    http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/03/03/asus_rog_poseidon_gtx_980_platinum_video_card_review/4#.VP6eCvmUe2Y
    This was ROG Poseidon card. It has liquid cooling system built in.
    This GPU managed in max overclock (25%) to beat a max overclocked (18%) Sapphire TriX 290X by 25%!!! in their tests.
    Well I think this worth $100 premium...
    15454066 said:
    Sapphire with Vapor-x has the best cooling solution out there, not only that they keep the GPU chip cooled the VRMs are also cool, only Gigabyte gave attention to VRM cooling as well.. the rest like to run those guys hot.
    Indeed Gigabyte did a great work on their latest coolers.
    I think Galax HOF cards have VRM cooling too.
    Reply
  • Eggz
    Cool (literally)

    Also, I think there's an error on the second page (How we Tested Asus' Matrix Platinum GTX 980), under the "Graphics" section. It lists the stock GTX 980 as having only 2 GB of VRAM, but I think it has 4 GB.
    Reply
  • animalosity
    Hrmm...ROG GTX 980 or R9-295x2 for the same price, and still runs cooler with hybrid cooler. You do the math. As much as I think ASUS is an awesome company, they tend to get a bit overzealous on the price. Why not just buy a reference 980. Slap a water block on it for cheaper and still achieve higher overclocks? Dozen ways to skin a cat at $640 bucks...
    Reply