ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix 6 GB Review

Name: ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix 6 GB
Brand: ASUS

W1zzard

on Feb 12th, 2016,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: ASUS

(51 Comments) »

Introduction

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti was released in June last year. Built on the same GM200 GPU as the GeForce Titan X, it has fewer shaders (2816 vs 3072). While the GTX 980 Ti's GPU is still produced on a 28 nanometer process at TSMC in Taiwan, it comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise all at the same time.

Our review of the reference design GTX 980 Ti revealed that it is barely slower than the Titan X, which means custom designs could surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.

Today, we are reviewing the ASUS GTX 980 Ti Matrix flagship card, which is geared towards gamers, enthusiasts, and hardcore overclockers. The Matrix competes with cards like the MSI Lightning and EVGA Kingpin Edition. ASUS has overclocked their card's GPU to a base clock of 1216 MHz and its memory to 1800 MHz.

A large dual-fan, triple-slot cooler ensures the ASUS GTX 980 Ti Matrix stays cool at all times, and hopefully quiet as well.

At $720, pricing is high, so let's see if its cost is justified.

GeForce GTX 980 Ti Market Segment Analysis
	GeForce GTX 970	Radeon R9 290X	Radeon R9 390X	GeForce GTX 780 Ti	GeForce GTX 980	Radeon R9 Fury	Radeon R9 Fury X	GeForce GTX 980 Ti	ASUS GTX 980 Ti Matrix	GeForce GTX Titan X	Radeon R9 295X2
Shader Units	1664	2816	2816	2880	2048	3584	4096	2816	2816	3072	2x 2816
ROPs	56	64	64	48	64	64	64	96	96	96	2x 64
Graphics Processor	GM204	Hawaii	Hawaii	GK110	GM204	Fiji	Fiji	GM200	GM200	GM200	2x Hawaii
Transistors	5200M	6200M	6200M	7100M	5200M	8900M	8900M	8000M	8000M	8000M	2x 6200M
Memory Size	4 GB	4 GB	8 GB	3 GB	4 GB	4 GB	4 GB	6 GB	6 GB	12 GB	2x 4 GB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	512 bit	512 bit	384 bit	256 bit	4096 bit	4096 bit	384 bit	384 bit	384 bit	2x 512 bit
Core Clock	1051 MHz+	1000 MHz	1050 MHz	876 MHz+	1126 MHz+	1000 MHz	1050 MHz	1000 MHz+	1216 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1018 MHz
Memory Clock	1750 MHz	1250 MHz	1500 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	500 MHz	500 MHz	1750 MHz	1800 MHz	1750 MHz	1250 MHz
Price	$290	$300	$400	$390	$470	$520	$630	$620	$720	$1000	$620

Packaging

You will receive:

Graphics card + driver CD
Documentation
2x PCIe power cable

The Card

The Matrix is a huge card—just look at how far it extends beyond the PCIe slot cover! When looking at the front, you'll see a slightly new color theme that consists of large areas of silvery paint (the cooler is made out of plastic) with orange highlights. A sturdy metal backplate is included as well. Dimensions of the card are 30.0 cm x 14.5 cm.

Installation requires three slots in your system.

Display connectivity options include one DVI port, one HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts.

The GPU also comes with an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0 compatible, which supports HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies.