Test: Asus Matrix HD7970 Platinum

Konklusion

Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum er et grafikkort for overclocking connaisseuren eller gameren, som ønsker det ultimative HD 7970. Asus er gået hele vejen med knapper til at justere spænding, slette sit overclock og skrue blæserne op på 100%. Ligeledes har Asus naturligvis benyttet specielle komponenter, der bør gøre kortet endnu mere stabilt. Kvaliten er helt i top og kortet ser og føles rigtig solidt. Køleren er kæmpe stor og har naturligvis ingen problemer med at køle chippen. Desværre er den ikke helt så stille under load som jeg havde håbet, og dette er sådan set min eneste klage ved dette grafikkort. 
 

Innovation/Teknologi - 5
Matrix kortet benytter HD 7970 eller Tahiti chippen produceret med 28nm produktionsteknologi og AMDs Core Next arkitektur. Ligeledes sørger hele 3GB ram for, at kortet ikke løber tør for hukommelse i den nærmeste fremtid. Detaljer som VGA Hotwire teknologien er ikke set før. 

Bundle/Tilbehør - 5
I kassen finder man en god solid bundle, med alle de almindelige ting man skal bruge til installation. Derudover følger der dele til ekstremoverclocking og en mussemåtte med. 

Design/Layout - 4
Designmæssigt ser kortet rigtig godt ud, og med den store brug af aluminim virker det rigtig solidt. Køleren er desværre ikke helt så stille som man ville forvente når den fylder 3 slots, men den har absolut ingen problemer med at køle chippen selv under voldsomt overclock. 

Software/BIOS - 5
Asus egen GPU Tweak software gør, at dette kort er utrolig let at overclocke, og sammen med et Asus grafikkort får man mulighed for, at kontrollere mange ekstra variabler og funktioner. AMD's standard drivere fungerer vanen tro ganske fortrinligt.

Ydelse - 5
HD 7970 chippen er mellem 5-15% langsommere end et tilsvarende overclocket GTX 680, alt efter benchmark. Denne forskel kan fjernes ved at overclocke kortet, i hvilket tilfælde det i en enkel benchmark næsten nåede ydelsen på et  GTX 690. 

Pris - 2
Asus forlanger hele 3968,- kr for deres Matrix kort, dette er 600,- kr dyrere end MSIs lignende Lightning kort og 1400,- kr mere end et billigt HD 7970. Så man får virkelig lov til og betale for de unikke funktioner dette grafikkort har. Men når man vil overclocke med LN2 er det selvfølgelig også et noget begrænset marked.

UK summary

Asus Matrix HD 7970 Platinum Is a card for the overclocking connaisseur or the gamer who wish the ultimate HD 7970. Asus has gone all the way with buttons to adjust voltage, cancel an overclock and adjust the fans to 100% speed..Of course, Asus has In addition used special components that makes the card even more stable. The quality is excellent and the card looks and feels very robust. The cooler is gigantic and has of course no problems cooling the chip. Unfortunately, it is not quite as silent under load conditions as I had hoped for, and this is actually my only complaint regarding this card.
 

Innovation/Technology - 5
The Matrix card uses HD 7970, or the Tahiti chip, produced with 28nm production technology and AMD’s Core Next architecture. In addition, 3GB ram ensures that the card is not running out of memory in the near future. Details, such as the VGA Hotwire technology has not been seen previously.

Bundle - 5
The box is equipped with a fine bundle, including all normal things that you need for the installation. In addition, parts to extreme overclocking and a mouse pad are included.

Design/Layout - 4
From a design perspective the card looks very fine, and with the heavy use of aluminum, it feels very robust. Unfortunately, the cooler is not quite as silent as one could expect with a card that fills 3 slots, but it has certainly no problems cooling the chip, even during heavy overclock.

Software/BIOS - 5
Asus’ own GPU Tweak software makes this card extremely easy to overclock, and with an Asus graphics card you get the possibility to control many additional variables and functions. As usual, AMD's standard drivers works excellent.

Performance - 5
Depending on the benchmark the HD 7970 chip is 5-15% slower than an equivalent overclocked GTX 680. This difference is removed by overclocking the card, in which case it almost reached the performance of GTX 690 in one single benchmark

Price - 2
The price tag from Asus is as high as 3968 DKK on their Matrix card. This is 600 DKK more than MSI's look alike Lightning cards and 1400 DKK more than a cheap HD 7970. So you really get allowed to pay for the unique features on this card. But if you go for overclock with LN2, the market is obviously somewhat limited.

Test: Asus Matrix HD7970 Platinum

Innovation / Teknologi	5
Bundle - Tilbehør	5
Design - Layout	4
Software - BIOS	5
Ydelse	5
Pris	2
Samlet	86%