Ok. Conclusion of the ASUS HD7970 Matrix Platinum.
Overclock capabilities
This card can overclock quite far, I've managed 1300/7200 3dmark and heaven stable with 1350mv. However, gpu tweak sucks and I'll get to that in a minute.
Cooling
The hsf on this card (Direct CU II) is extremely good, and you would hope so given its size!!
Gaming @ 1250/7200 with the fans at around 65-70% the noise is acceptable, a massive improvement over the reference as you could imagine.
Gadgets
Being able to change the voltage and select 100% is handy for benching and suicide clocks but not inside a case... ASUS didn't really think about the placement of these buttons, they very tricky to press when in a case, I really have to squeeze my fingers in to press them. Twice I hit the SAFE button by mistake.... Which sets all settings back to default... Very annoying.
Best 7970 out there?
Probably, definitely has the potential to break some records yes, can overclock well, stay cool and can be bought cheaper than the lightning.
But alas, the card itself is fantastic, but that doesn't mean a thing when you can't enable the simplest of things like temperature, voltage and fan monitoring. Yes, I'm talking about gpu tweak.
GPU tweak is based on the same base application that MSIs Afterburner is. So we can really see it's potential. ASUS chose to use it, but their own, badly supported version. With little updates and next to no community awareness, I am shocked and appalled that ASUS see this as acceptable.
I've tried 4 versions now and I'm unable to do the following:
- Set a custom fan profile
- Monitor temperatures accurately
- Monitor voltages and frequencies with any accuracy
- Set voltages, accurately
- Have confidence that my settings save/apply. Sometimes just resets to default..
- Have confidence that the application won't crash
I am so close to sending this back, the only reason I'm not is because I'm holding out for ASUS to release GPU Tweak for the 7970 Matrix Platinum to enable me the features for day-to-day use. How can they provide you with such an amazing piece of kit and not provide the tools to use it properly?
On that note, I can no longer suggest this card for the average user/overclocker. Go spend a little more on the MSI Alternative and have Afterburner.
Only buy this card if:
- You want to break records with extreme cooling
- You're ok with waiting for ASUS to sort out their GPU Tweak, of which there is no promise.