Review: Asus GTX 980 Matrix Platinum! Still worth it in 2016?

Well so for some time I was very keen to really test out the power of the GTX 980 after using the R9 390. It retails for around RM2600/ US $660 and is easily available at most PC retailers.

Okay, let’s jump in

01| Unboxing & Showoff!

Well I’d just let the box do the talking

The star of the show!
The star of the show!

Here all that you get in the box, the CD, user manual, 2 8-pin converters and a graphics card.
Here all that you get in the box, the CD, user manual, 2x 8-pin converters and a graphics card.

02| Design

When it comes to the design of graphics cards, Asus’s implementation of their designs look stunning, to be honest. The GTX 980 Matrix Platinum is equipped with Asus’s DirectCU II cooler which really in my opinion really suits the card’s aesthetics and the cooling needs.

DirectCU II cooler just looks amazing! I would say that the aesthics haven't been overdone here!
DirectCU II cooler just looks amazing! I would say that the aesthics haven’t been overdone here! To be a bit informative the dimensions of the card are 11.7 x 6 x 1.6 Inch (29.72 x 15.2 x 4.06 cm)
Towards the left of the card, you'll find your display options. There's 1x DVI port, 3x Display Ports and lastly 1x HDMI.
Towards the left of the card, you’ll find your display options.
There’s 1x DVI port, 3x Display Ports and lastly 1x HDMI port
Here its pretty plain but if you look closely its an LN2 for those crazy Overclockers
Here its pretty plain but if you look closely its an LN2 for those crazy overclockers
Towards the back of the card you'll find a decent looking backplate.
Towards the back of the card you’ll find a decent looking backplate.
Do remember that this card requires two 8 pins to be juiced up
Do remember that this card requires two 8 pins to be juiced up!
Toards the top, you'll find the cool ROG logo that changes its color according to the load, a glimpse of the 10mm heatpipes, and the 2x 8 pin skots to power up the card
Towards the top, you’ll find the cool ROG logo that changes its color according to the load, a glimpse of the 10mm heatpipes, and the 2x 8 pin slots to power up the card

Now that we have got an overview of the card. The card sure looks very awesome, no matter what case you’re using. The red and black accent didn’t wreck the blue theme of my PC. But no matter how good the card looks, I was a bit disappointed by the the build quality. That’s not to say its built bad, but I’d have really loved to see its body built of steel instead of plastic. I know the card isn’t the latest addition in the family, but maybe next time, Asus. Overall, that’s my only complaint with the card.

Here’s an overview of the card’s specifications

Specs GTX 980 Platinum03| Benchmarks

Just to inform you guys that these benchmarks were performed on an Intel Core i7 6700 (Non-K) with 8GB of DDR4 2133MHz RAM. Another point to note is that we aploigize for not including the GTA V benchmarks as the lastest driver was causing issues with GTA V’s benchmark tool. So lets roll in the benchmarks shall we?

Unigine Heaven Benchmark 4.0

Ultra Preset with 8x AA and Extreme Tesellation
Ultra Preset with 8x AA and Extreme Tessellation

[infogram id=”unigine_powercolor_r9_390_axon_benchmark” prefix=”IeI”]

Shadow of Mordor

Ultra Preset, Vsync OFF
Ultra Preset, Vsync OFF

[infogram id=”som_powercolor_r9_390_benchmark” prefix=”Y3y”]

Battlefield 4

Ultra Preset
Ultra Preset

[infogram id=”bf4_benchmark-051″ prefix=”aH9″]

Batman Arkham Knight

Ultra Preset, Vsync Off, Maxed Out!
Ultra Preset, Vsync Off, Maxed Out!

[infogram id=”bak_r9_390_powercolor_axon” prefix=”ooc”]

04| Temperatures

Well the temperatures of the card I must say were decent. The graph chart shows the whole story

[infogram id=”powercolor_r9_390_temps” prefix=”ucQ”]

05| Pricing & Conclusion

The pricing of this card is pretty steep.

Pros

  • Better performance at 1080p
  • Adobe Productivity
  • Overclocking
  • Premium Aesthetics

 

Cons:

  • Price
  • Plastic Build
  • Same performance at 1440p and 4k compared to AMD’s lower priced competition

 

It really a skeptical position here and many people really have their preferences. Anyways that’s all for my review.

 

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