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8Packs ASUS Matrix R290X Air cooling review.

OcUK Staff
Joined
20 Feb 2012
Posts
10,178
Location
John Smiths Stadium
The Matrix series of cards by ASUS have often been seen as class leaders by high end gamers and overclockers alike.

For the gamer they offer High factory clocks, great cooling and excellent aesthetics. The overclocker gets a strong PWM, cherry picked components and again the uprated DC2 style cooler.

For me they have also always offered some extra innovation to the pack when it comes to supporting xtreme overclocking with very little modification. This card continues in that tradition with even more features that can assist you. Short a jumper on the back of the card and switch to LN2 bios and you have literally limitless Voltage control options from software to totally max out the card. Not just the standard GPU, MEM and PLL control but control of the individual rails also. LLC. PWM frequency the list is endless.

Short a second jumper on the card opens up an even more interesting feature the memory heater!! Basically what this does under LN2 cooling is warm the memorys on the card to prevent cold bug. I will be testing this feature when I hit up full LN2 late next week. But this and the individual rail adjustment are features that will help on the 290X to hit absolutely max clocks under sub zero conditions.

So lets take a look at the card with some pics.











As you can see the card looks the business and with a two slot cooler can be used in anything upto 4 way Xfire.



Here is a pic of the Rig on test. Digital Volt meter attached to check power delivery and full hotwire mods for ROG panel connectivity. This was rock solid on all rails through out testing and changes on GPU Tweak where made instantaneously at hardware level. On previous product launches often GPU tweak has not been as good as it might have been, but here ASUS have got it spot on all working from day one.

All testing was done on Normal Bios and thus top voltage available was 1.41v Core through GPU tweak which is very safe on an air cooler of this type.

Test Rig
ASUS RIVE BE
4930K
Corsair Dominator plat 2666C9 ;)
ASUS AMD R290X Matrix
Win 7 64Bit
AMD Catalyst 13.12
Antec 1200w HCP

So here are the results in the 8Pack punishment suite!!!

11


FS


FSX


Heaven Hwbot Version


Heaven Valley


So from the above we see some great benching results given air cooling with a stable clock of 1220 Core and 1625 been hit on the RAM at only 1.325v. This is very similar to the best high end cards I have tested in terms of overclocking.

GPU Tweak gave me more but it did not help the GPU scale any further in terms of clocks. This scaling is GPU dependent so some like volts others don't. Those who do on standard bios expect to see 1250+ easy which is a massive air clock. Temps throughout testing topped out at 74 C which on a dual slot cooler is also top notch.

In short I would recommend the Matrix card for all users.

Its a great gaming card and fun to bench on air with the clocks reaching as high as any other card in this high end segment of the market. The card looks amazing too and is both cool and quiet in operation. The PWM is outputting exactly the correct voltages as set by software and is stable even when placed under heavy loads.

For the bencher even more features are evident such as the dam right innovative memory defroster and the total control of all voltages running into the card without hardware based modifications. Also we have a safe mode button which defaults the card at hardware level should you push it too hard!! or for me when I do push it too hard.

The R290X is the choice for LN2 benchers in Heaven because of its efficiency so when I next touch this card I will see how it hits the highs on this tough DX11 Benchmark.

Well done ASUS another great looking, performing and Innovative / unique product.
 
Soldato
Joined
12 Sep 2012
Posts
11,696
Location
Surrey
Very nice. How high would you pump a 290x on water? I was fairly surprise for you to say that 1.41v was safe on air of this caliber (your temps are still super cool though!). Will be looking forward to the LN2 test!
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2012
Posts
2,640
Nice card. Couple of them would look fantastic in my MaximusVI Hero, but alas my 2 7970's are plumbed in and only re-done the loop a couple months ago, so not planning on taking apart til start of next year.
 
OcUK Staff
OP
Joined
20 Feb 2012
Posts
10,178
Location
John Smiths Stadium
We will see. YUou honestly never know with any AMD card if it will go well on cold. Depends if it likes Volts around 1.51-1.55 or not and likes low temps around -50 - -60. For sure memory defroster will help but core is also very important.
 
OcUK Staff
OP
Joined
20 Feb 2012
Posts
10,178
Location
John Smiths Stadium
This or Lightning Ian? Interesting about the memory heater feature. Not that I'd ever use it on water

Its difficult to say to be honest both are great products and as always you play the silicon lottery in terms of absolute top clocks. I think maybe the Lightening Cooler is a touch better but its also bigger too so wont fit in all cases. The red and black colour scheme on this GPU suits maybe afew more systems.

I will be able to form a better opinion when I try this on water and LN2.
 
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