ASUS MATRIX-HD7970-3GD5 Pro Reviews

If you’ve read some of our previous high-end graphics card reviews or round-ups, you may know that we’re not necessarily fans of triple-slot graphics cards. We acknowledge that the vast majority of power users run only a single graphics card, however, and as such, probably won’t miss the additional slot that must be sacrificed with the ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum over more common two-slot cards. With that said, there are obvious benefits to the oversized cooler. The ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum operated at lower temperatures and was quieter than a reference Radeon HD 7970 too. Put it all together and you end up with one heck of an impressive piece of PC hardware. Of course, high end hardware always comes at a price. The ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum can be had for about $499, which is roughly $100 - $110 more than the most affordable Radeon HD 7970 cards. That’s a fairly steep premium, but one that can be justified considering the ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum’s increased performance, better overclocking headroom, quieter operation, and myriad of additional features. Is the ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum for everyone? No. But hardcore enthusiasts looking for an ultra-high performance, tweaker-friendly graphics card would be well served by the ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum. In fact, it’s our favorite Radeon HD 7970 card and has earned itself and Editor’s Choice award. ASUS’ did a killer job with this one.

The price is right for the ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum video card. The non-Platinum version MSRP has not been announced. The MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum version MSRP is set at $480. You might guess it would be a $600 video card, but ASUS has done right by keeping the price at a sane level below $500. Both Platinum and non-Platinum versions of the video card are the same except for one thing: the MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum version uses hand-picked GPUs that showed the best potential for overclocking. From what we are hearing, there will likely be very limited amounts of the non-Platinum cards sold. Given the nature of the MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum, we think that this will be the version of the card sought out by enthusiasts. The MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum pricing does set it at the high-end of GTX 680 cards, but it is able to compete by being able to be overclocked so high. That is the key to the ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum cards success; it is meant to be overclocked. In a time when NVIDIA is gating voltage overclocking on the current GTX 600 series, the ASUS MATRIX comes along and shows us why we love tweaking voltage, what it can produce in terms of an overclock, and why voltage tweaking will hopefully never die amongst hardware enthusiasts. The ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum can be summed up in one sentence. The ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum achieved the highest overclock we've seen yet; it's big, it's power efficient for its clock speeds, it runs cool, it's quiet, and it is worth every penny of its cost. Kudos to ASUS for building the best HD 7970 we have experienced.

ASUS has really done a fantastic job with the Matrix HD 7970 graphics card, in either standard or Platinum branding. A combination of superior technical design, quiet and efficient cooling as well as a ton of overclocking headroom will likely make this card one of the best options for an entire generation of graphics cards.

The ASUS HD 7970 Matrix Platinum 3GB video card was able to deliver and is likely going to be regarded as the nicest AMD Radeon HD 7970 video card produced by any company.

The ASUS HD 7970 Matrix Platinum represents a seamless combination of bleeding edge performance, excellent acoustics solid software and sky-high overclocking potential. It truly is a poster child that represents just how far graphics card technology has progressed over the last few years. It may just be the best card currently available and it wins all three of our awards, becoming only the fourth product in the history of Hardware Canucks to do so.

The ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum is a complex beast. Many users probably would never understand what the real capability or design of this card is, but enthusiasts know it is a sign that manufacturers love this just as much as we do. This is the reason that companies like ASUS hire people like Peter Tan and hold OC events to improve their products. As for the card itself, it is a very intense card, and an expensive one at that. For those who never intend to overclock, this card is slightly unnecessary, but might be cool to have nonetheless, especially as it comes with a custom cooler and a rock-solid build quality. However, this card was designed with overclocking at heart. The HD 7970 MATRIX Platinum has all the right parts for those of us who chase world records in megahertz, and we would definitely recommend it for the overclocking and benchmarking crowd. The only real issue we can think of is that the triple-slot cooler could cause some issues in multi-GPU configurations. The four memory chips left uncovered by the heatspreader concerned us a little, but as you can see, the memory overclocks fine. Overall, this card is great for those looking for an amazing card that can take a pounding. If you do want one, though, be quick, as these GPU’s are hand-sorted for performance, and there are only so many super-sample chips left.

ASUS has definitely come through and provided one hell of a video card. As far as history goes, the ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum Edition is the fastest, most overclockable, quietest, and really best bang-for-your-buck out there. It places first in nearly every test, only a handful of defeats from the NVIDIA GTX 680 and maybe once or twice with the 6GB HD 7970. With a launch price set at $480, this video card is only an extra $40-$50 over other HD 7970s. For that extra $40-50, you get so many extra features and you can have the unofficially fastest single-core card on the market. With the exceptions of the few tests where it lost out by a few frames per second, the ASUS MATRIX HD 7970 Platinum Edition sweeps the floor and achieves win after win.

ASUS has engineered the most powerful single-GPU AMD graphics card money can buy right now. The HD 7970 Matrix runs at 1100 MHz GPU clock, which is higher than any other HD 7970 available today. Only the PowerColor PCS+ matches it, but runs a much lower memory clock. Memory clock on the Matrix is also very high, and with 1650 MHz it's finally a card that goes beyond the 1500 MHz barrier out of the box - good job ASUS. Being based on the Tahiti XT2 GHz ASIC, the Matrix also uses AMD's Boost clock feature that runs the card at 1100 MHz during normal gaming and drops down to 1050 MHz during Furmark or similar testing. Overall, these enhancements result in a 11% performance improvement over the regular HD 7970 and a 3% boost over the HD 7970 GHz and MSI HD 7970 Lightning.