ASUS Matrix GTX 580 Platinum Review - PAGE 4

The Matrix Platinum uses a four part thermal solution that consists of the back-plate, VRM heatsink, DirectCU II GPU cooler, and the dual fan shroud. With dual fans and a massive heatsink, the DirectCU II design should prove to be highly efficient, and according to ASUS the Matrix should run 20% cooler than the reference design.

The Matrix Platinum's heatsink includes two aluminum arrays that are connected to the base via five copper heatpipes. Three of the heatpipes extend into the upper array, while the remaining two heatpipes are bent at a 90° angle, placing them into the lower array. This will divide the heat evenly amongst the arrays and allow the heat to be more efficiently dissipated. Additionally, all the heatpipes use a direct contact design, which improves the thermal transfer rate.

The heatsink shroud factors largely into overall size of the heatsink, and with dual 80mm fans and a metal structure it is easy to see why. Aside from the size the shroud also adds to aesthetics by including F1 inspired vents with dynamic engine lines, and of course the ROG theme. On the side of the shroud is the LED load indicator that we looked at on the previous page.

The fans utilizes a design that seals off the bearing at two separate locations within the housing assembly. This makes the fans virtually dust-proof and and increases the lifespan by up to 10,000 hours, in comparison with an average propeller style fan.

With the cover off, we can see that the Matrix Platinum has an extremely clean layout and a very robust design. Under the VRM heatsink is a 19-phase Super Alloy Power (SAP) design. The SAP technology is based on a blend of elements that were internally developed by ASUS. This includes using premium materials that are highly magnetic, heat resistant and anti-corrosive. All of this reduces the power loss, enhances durability and allows the components to run at cooler temperatures. The graphics card should enjoy a longer operational lifespan as a result, and also have more overclocking headroom.

Overclocking:

Overclocking the ASUS Matrix GTX580 Platinum was extremely easy, and with all the features that are available, anyone should be able to get the GPU over 900MHz. In our labs we were actually able to increase the GPU clock speed to an impressive 950MHz, which is quite good for a GF-110 GPU. At this speed the CUDA engine was set to 1900MHz and we were also able to push the GDDR5 memory up to 4.6Gbp/s. Reaching full stability at this point did require a substantial voltage increase, and as you can see from the image below we were running the core voltage at 1138mV.