While not related to the Matrix movies, yet at the same time evidentally better than their sequels, the MATRIX GTX 580 is ROG’s latest, highest of the high-end performance graphics card.
ASUS MATRIX GTX 580 with its brother, the GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II behind it.
The MATRIX is available in two options: Platinum with hand-picked GPU cores at 816MHz, and the Standard Edition clocked at 782MHz. Both come with 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory at 4GHz. This is just the base spec though – even if these are slightly lower clocked than pre-overclocked alternatives, the cards are built to go much further. ROG just leaves it up to you to find out how much!
The MATRIX logo on the side changes colour according to GPU load
The card is very similar to the ASUS GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II with its 3-slot design and 19 phase Super Alloy hardware, but the MATRIX has a more streamlined fan shroud and bit more PCB length for the extra ROG features, including:
ProbeIt – for directly measuring all the card voltages on the card with a multimeter
TweakIt buttons – for directly adding GPU voltage in up to ten 0.125V increments
100% Fan button – gives the card a full boost of air any time you need it
Mod Zone – A dedicated hardware modding zone to disable card restrictions. Designed for extreme overclockers.
Safe Mode button – Pushed things too far and now your PC won’t boot? Yea, well this button’s for you!
Buried in the PCB near the PCI-Express and 8-pin power connectors is additional fuse protection against (admittedly rare) power spikes, while the metal back plate acts to brace the entire PCB to prevent it from bending.
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- ASUS Matrix GTX 580 with the DirectCU II GTX 580 behind
The card requires both 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors and three slots of space, so make sure both your PSU is up to the task and you have enough space in your case. The extra size is required to squeeze two large fans and a fatter heatsink under the DirectCU II style cooler for better overclocking.
Backing up the hardware is the new GPU Tweak software that (finally) completely overhauls the antiquated Smart Doctor from yonder year. GPU Tweak does what it says on the tin – you can adjust clock frequencies for GPU and memory, core voltage and apply customized fan speeds for up to four graphics cards completely individually. What else you won’t find in other GPU software is that you can even lock the voltage increments to the core clock, so as you jack up the GPU frequency and the voltage scales with it. This is just a brief overview for now as we aim to detail GPU Tweak in full in an upcoming article.
If you missed our MATRIX video from Computex, check it out above, otherwise please drop us a comment or your thoughts below.
Matt Black
Raised by wolves in the wilderness, he one day met a bear who taught him there was more to life than just the jungle. From here, he fought his way to the city, foraging for tech on his travels. Today, still searching for the ultimate technology, he survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have spare kit, if no one else can help, and if you know his number, maybe you can hire... Matt Black.