ASUS Matrix 5870 Platinum Review
What's in the Box?
Published: 15th May 2010 | Source: ASUS | Price: £408.99 |
What's in the box?
Ok who said a graphics card?
We always rate the ASUS packaging and the Matrix Platinum is no different. Apart from the front box artwork which would look more at home on an Amiga game that a £400 graphics card.
The front of the box lifts up, as is becoming common with high-end products, allowing you to see the various elements of the features we'll see nearer the bottom of the page.
Opening up we get our first look at the Matrix Platinum. Considering how much ballyhooing there is about how this is the last word in HD5870s, it's surprising to see only a slight variation on the reference cooler.
Dear ASUS. This isn't the first product that has come with a "Muti-Language" CD. Please fix your screen printer.
The back of the card is braced with a sturdy plate that will make sure no warping occurs under the extreme voltages, and therefore heat, that this card is capable of.
On the back of the card is a Safe Mode button, which is there to reset the clocks should you try to push the card a little too far. It's a little like a CMOS reset on a motherboard, and its placement is equally awkward. Definitely designed for those who tweak on a bench and then install.
Due to the Voltage Tweak BIOS the Matrix Platinum can really draw loads of power and so has two 8-pin PCIe sockets rather than the more standard two 6-pin ones.
The Matrix display, which we'll show on a later page, means the card is slightly taller than a standard one, but nothing that will cause any issues.
Here is the Probelt points for applying your multi-meter to measure voltages. From left to right we have GPU, GPU, Memory, PCIe, PCIe and Ground.
We also have a Super ML Cap that should allow for great headroom and stability in your overclocks.
The Matrix logo, and underline, changes colour depending upon the GPU loading. We'll see photos of that later on, but it's definitely a snazzy feature.
Most Recent Comments
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Originally Posted by name='adicool96'
Is the MATRIX faster than the GTX 480?????????????
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To answer non-time wasting questions the card is priced the same as other 2GB 5870s.
With a normal 5870 and waterblock (particularly MSI or Asus) you can get 1GHz core. To ask £400 plus the cost of a waterblock to get the most out of the card (not to mention the fact that you lose the fancy lights) seems ridiculous.
Thanks OC3D
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Originally Posted by name='sheri'
what program do you use for so nice charts?
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Originally Posted by name='AMDFTW'
its a nice looking card,it looks the same as the gtx285 matrix,are we not just paying for the back cover,the lights and the ML cap?
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The 2g 5870s, whilst the 1g cards are going eol, are pushing the £400 mark. Whilst the latest retail 480s can be had for £393 and falling. Older 480s can still be had for anything up to £490.
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Originally Posted by name='Rastalovich'
Lights, badges, stickers, names. RoG or Fatal1ty, tack on the extra monkey.
The 2g 5870s, whilst the 1g cards are going eol, are pushing the £400 mark. Whilst the latest retail 480s can be had for £393 and falling. Older 480s can still be had for anything up to £490. |
I really don't know what you were expecting 1200mhz core?
An Xtreme clocker (so to speak) wouldn't go for this over a similar card, because they would stick a waterblock on it. If they were going for benchy records, wouldn't they use a superclocked 5970? They clock almost as well and have two chips instead of one.
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