ASUS Matrix Radeon HD 7970 Platinum Review

Name: ASUS Matrix Radeon HD 7970 Platinum
Brand: ASUS

by Marco Chiappetta — Friday, December 28, 2012, 10:30 AM EDT

Before bringing this article to a close, we'd like to cover a few final data points--namely power consumption, temperatures and noise. Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we monitored acoustics and tracked how much power our test system was consuming using a power meter. Our goal was to give you an idea as to how much power each configuration used while idling and also while under a heavy workload. Please keep in mind that we were testing total system power consumption at the outlet here, not just the power being drawn by the graphics cards alone.

Total System Power Consumption

Tested at the Outlet

The ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum put up some interesting power consumption numbers. At idle, the card consumed considerably more power than a reference Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. Under load though, despite having higher clocks, LED status indicators, dual fans, and a multitude of additional features, the ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum consumed only slightly more power than the reference card. That’s a testament to the efficiency of the ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum’s 20-phase digital VRM and ASUS’ tuning of the card.

The ASUS ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum’s temperatures were vastly superior to the reference card. Idle temps are comparable, but while under the load the ROG Matrix 7970 Platinum’s cooler is far better at wicking away heat than the reference cooler, as evidenced by the 10 degree delta separating the cards. We should also point out that the ASUS card’s large cooler and 100mm fans are also quieter than reference models. At idle, it’s difficult to pick out any audible differences over the other noise generated by the test system. Under load though, the reference card definitely produced a louder, higher pitched hum.

Tags: AMD, Asus, Radeon, Matrix, platinum

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com