ASUS Announces ROG MATRIX RTX 4090 Flagship Graphics Card

erek

erek

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New flagship to dethrone the STRIX

“Once the heat is transferred to the cooling solution, where it is dissipated via a copper water-block, it's picked up by a high-pressure coolant, and circulated through a 360 mm x 120 mm radiator, ventilated by three ROG MF-12S ARGB high static-pressure fans with discreet wiring (through contact-point daisy-chaining). Each of the fans is driven by a fan-controller on the card's PCB. Due to its elaborate liquid cooling solution, the card is still 3.5 slots thick, and you need a case that can accommodate graphics cards at least 35 cm in length, as the coolant tubes of this card stick out from the tail end, and need some room to bend.

ASUS has given the PCB of this graphics card an array of temperature sensors that are individually exposed to software. There's also an elaborate mechanism in the card's VRM that lets it detect anomalies in the input power from the 12VHPWR connector on a per-pin basis (that's each of the six +12 V pins). Lastly, the card features dual-BIOS, with the P-BIOS featuring the bonkers 600 W power limit and the yet-undisclosed factory-overclock, and the Q-BIOS running it at a more tame 450 W power limit, with lower clock-speeds, and a relaxed fan-speed profile.”

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Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/309370/asus-announces-rog-matrix-rtx-4090-flagship-graphics-card
 
Yet afaik Asus is one of the brands which doesn't release a dedicated custom WC card ala powercolor liquid devil or or gigabytes waterforce
 
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The MATRIX has been ASUS' top model for at least 15 years. The earliest one I can think of is the 9800 GT. I think the "Republic of Gamers (ROG)" branding was introduced a year prior to this model.

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STRIX was just the name of the cooler when it was introduced in 2014. It was basically an updated version and branding of the DirectCU II cooler. I don't think it has any bearing on the performance, as there are "OC" and normal models that sport the STRIX branding.
 
Stupid design negates the primary advantage of water cooling a 4090: size. A good water block can reduce a monstrous 4 slot, 14 inch card to a single slot, 12 inch assembly that will fit in a lot more cases. The frame keeps this from being any thinner, and the house connections look like they might require more space than an air cooled card.

The Strix LC line from Asus is better than this.
 
Even more ridiculous is that the RTX 4090 gains less when watercooled than any other NVIDIA flagship card in the past. I just got a basic air cooled RTX 4090 and it still tops out at 75.5 C with zero tweaking:

msi_gaming_trio_rtx_4090.png


This is also in an incredibly low airflow case...
 
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jfreund said:
Stupid design negates the primary advantage of water cooling a 4090: size. A good water block can reduce a monstrous 4 slot, 14 inch card to a single slot, 12 inch assembly that will fit in a lot more cases. The frame keeps this from being any thinner, and the house connections look like they might require more space than an air cooled card.

The Strix LC line from Asus is better than this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't understand the chamber that encases the whole thing, unless ASUS wants to try and discourage people from taking it apart. Still, the whole assembly looks like it's only 9.5" long considering it's just as wide as the motherboard it's plugged into. Without the chamber, though, it would be a "standard" 2-slot design that is only about 8" long vs. a 2.5-slot design. The fancy lighted chamber is probably a way to get their brand fanatics to go crazy and buy them all up.

VideoCardz has a more thorough analysis of the card:
https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-an...4090-gpu-featuring-360mm-aio-and-liquid-metal
 
erek said:
New flagship to dethrone the STRIX

“Once the heat is transferred to the cooling solution, where it is dissipated via a copper water-block, it's picked up by a high-pressure coolant, and circulated through a 360 mm x 120 mm radiator, ventilated by three ROG MF-12S ARGB high static-pressure fans with discreet wiring (through contact-point daisy-chaining). Each of the fans is driven by a fan-controller on the card's PCB. Due to its elaborate liquid cooling solution, the card is still 3.5 slots thick, and you need a case that can accommodate graphics cards at least 35 cm in length, as the coolant tubes of this card stick out from the tail end, and need some room to bend.

ASUS has given the PCB of this graphics card an array of temperature sensors that are individually exposed to software. There's also an elaborate mechanism in the card's VRM that lets it detect anomalies in the input power from the 12VHPWR connector on a per-pin basis (that's each of the six +12 V pins). Lastly, the card features dual-BIOS, with the P-BIOS featuring the bonkers 600 W power limit and the yet-undisclosed factory-overclock, and the Q-BIOS running it at a more tame 450 W power limit, with lower clock-speeds, and a relaxed fan-speed profile.”

View attachment 573431

View attachment 573432
Source: https://www.techpowerup.com/309370/asus-announces-rog-matrix-rtx-4090-flagship-graphics-card
Click to expand...
 
I don’t understand why anyone would buy this other than the “it” factor. My cheapo bare standard PNY 4090 never goes above 73c in a media cabinet and NR200.

Even overclocking 4090s doesn’t net large boosts. Those days seem like they are long gone as iirc it’s silicon limits and/or power limits. But I’ve seen 600w limits being pushed and it didn’t seem worth the paltry percentage to spend another whole 1600 on it.
 
next-Jin said:
ma I don’t understand why anyone would buy this other than the “it” factor. My cheapo bare standard PNY 4090 never goes above 73c in a media cabinet and NR200.

Even overclocking 4090s doesn’t net large boosts. Those days seem like they are long gone as iirc it’s silicon limits and/or power limits. But I’ve seen 600w limits being pushed and it didn’t seem worth the paltry percentage to spend another whole 1600 on it.
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I am sure someone can't wait to increase their credit card debt on it, whole goal as a company is to part that foolish person from their money. Asus is very good at it.
 
Gideon said:
I am sure someone can't wait to increase their credit card debt on it, whole goal as a company is to part that foolish person from their money. Asus is very good at it.
Click to expand...

1_rick said:
e-peen and getting 2fps more than the other 4090s.
Click to expand...

I mean a few generations ago watercooling showed fairly impressive results iirc. Not just in temps but performance. With this one it just seems like it’s pointless.
 
xDiVolatilX said:
Der8auer reviewed it and upon inspection he discovered the copper is not nickel plated, so the liquid metal is going to be an issue on pure copper over the course of 6-24 months.
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I thought that the staining/alloying with LM + copper wasn't really an issue because it doesn't structurally harm the Cu like it does with Al, it just forms a stained layer that's impossible to remove but doesn't affect integrity or thermals? Or is that incorrect?
 
NattyKathy said:
I thought that the staining/alloying with LM + copper wasn't really an issue because it doesn't structurally harm the Cu like it does with Al, it just forms a stained layer that's impossible to remove but doesn't affect integrity or thermals? Or is that incorrect?
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"This(*staining) is similar to what we saw with nickel, but much more extreme and effectively impossible to remove, even with a lot of acetone. That’s because we’re starting to see ion migration into the copper, with some of the liquid metal permanently plating the copper. Gallium has a negative potential and copper has a positive potential, which will cause the gallium to migrate and plate the copper. In terms of performance, the copper IHS retains all of its original performance characteristics (in our testing), and so looks a lot worse than it is in reality. This is a stain, not heavy pitting or corrosion."
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/...cts-copper-nickel-and-aluminum-corrosion-test
*my addition to clarify
 
jfreund said:
If that's what it takes for real performance increases, I'm for it 😉
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You want then each gen can have card perf going from iTX all the way to eATX multi GPU builds like a dual socket monster.
hell maybe even socketed SoC GPU form factors.
 
Asus already has the most unreasonably overpriced GPUs of all the AIBs, and now they're unveiling a halo model of a GPU that most people already can't afford? I can only imagine the profit margins...

Also, 3.5 slots thick on a liquid-cooled GPU is a fail. Let's face it - if you're buying a card like this, you've either got a custom water-cooling loop and would be better off with a single-slot, full-cover block, or you're an extreme overclocker fixing to slap an LN2 pot on it and set some benchmark records.

I actually want to waterblock my RTX 4080, but not for thermal reasons - it's just that I want my PCIe slots freed up for other things, and the stupid thick heatsink on the thing is blocking off most of them.
 
pendragon1 said:
not sure where they picked that up, even the articles shots show only a dual pci bracket on the back.
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I stand corrected, then. First post had "Due to its elaborate liquid cooling solution, the card is still 3.5 slots thick" as an article excerpt, the author didn't fact-check, and I didn't immediately perceive the bracket that would've hinted for me to do my own fact-checking.

In that case, I can understand a little extra thickness needed for the AIO pump on top of the GPU block, but I would still prefer just a plain, single-slot, no-pump waterblock.
 
erek said:
an elaborate mechanism in the card's VRM that lets it detect anomalies in the input power from the 12VHPWR connector on a per-pin basis (that's each of the six +12 V pins)
Click to expand...

INB4 this is "faulty" on some cards, leading them to not power on, followed by a 3-4 20 minute Gamernexus videos which will then say the fault is with the specifications of the power supplies in question not being as good as the GPU wants. Leading to (wealthy) ASUS fans pointing fingers at PSU manufacturers.

If it happens, might be fun. We'll see.
 
sk3tch said:
Even more ridiculous is that the RTX 4090 gains less when watercooled than any other NVIDIA flagship card in the past. I just got a basic air cooled RTX 4090 and it still tops out at 75.5 C with zero tweaking:

View attachment 573454

This is also in an incredibly low airflow case...
Click to expand...
Yeah when I did all of my research about the 4090 (and learned how much beefier it was than a 4080) seemed like overclocking headroom was weak in general and all of the cards performed and ran temp-wise within a very close margin to each other. So I just got one with lower power draw and a quiet cooling solution and run everything stock clocks. Easy peasy.
 
Actually, wait a minute...

They claim this is the fastest 4090 out there with a "Default Mode" of 2670 MHz and an "OC Mode" of 2700 MHz out of a default 600w power limit setting.

What kind of clocks are you guys seeing from your 4090's anyway?

I have one of the weaker 4090's, the MSI Trio model with a power limit of "only" 450w, and a supposed "extreme performance" of 2530Mhz if you use MSI Center (which I don't, I try to minimize software installs and avoid hardware specific software outside of drivers) and a regular boost of 2520.

But I was just in game in Starfield, and I am averaging a clock of 2805Mhz. It rarely drops to 2790, and rarely jumps up to 2820, but it almost always sits at 2805Mhz according to the latest version of Rivatuner.

The kicker is, I haven't even overclocked or tweaked the GPU other than just turning up max power to 106% (the most Afterburner will allow).

Granted, I slapped a water block on it, and have a somewhat overkill water loop that allows it to sit at between 42C-43C at full load. Maybe that helps it boost higher without any other input?

Otherwise something feels weird here.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, but something feels weird.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Actually, wait a minute...

They claim this is the fastest 4090 out there with a "Default Mode" of 2670 MHz and an "OC Mode" of 2700 MHz out of a default 600w power limit setting.

What kind of clocks are you guys seeing from your 4090's anyway?

I have one of the weaker 4090's, the MSI Trio model with a power limit of "only" 450w, and a supposed "extreme performance" of 2530Mhz if you use MSI Center (which I don't, I try to minimize software installs and avoid hardware specific software outside of drivers) and a regular boost of 2520.

But I was just in game in Starfield, and I am averaging a clock of 2805Mhz. It rarely drops to 2790, and rarely jumps up to 2820, but it almost always sits at 2805Mhz according to the latest version of Rivatuner.

The kicker is, I haven't even overclocked or tweaked the GPU other than just turning up max power to 106% (the most Afterburner will allow).

Granted, I slapped a water block on it, and have a somewhat overkill water loop that allows it to sit at between 42C-43C at full load. Maybe that helps it boost higher without any other input?

Otherwise something feels weird here.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining, but something feels weird.
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I have the same MSI card as you (I think) and I see clocks of 2700+ in game - deps on the game - in the UE5 city demo I was seeing 2800 too.. it bounces around. My point exactly too they all kind of perform the same so why spend a bunch more on one of these elite tier units.. Unless you are going for a specific look (which is 100% valid) or wanting to dump heat outside of the case (again 100% valid)..
 
The main advantage of an AIO-cooled 4090 is the smaller footprint and reallocation of a lot of the mass from the card slot to the case. Those are actually pretty big advantages. I occasionally browse around youtube and I've seen a lot of 4090 repair videos that all broke around the clip area. That said you could just either get the MSI version or even the Gigabyte version (which I've heard is worse), or hell even ASUS's own overpriced AIO solution at far less money than this. Or just... you know... make an entire loop, complete with GPU block and active backplate... for less money than this card.
 
NightReaver said:
...you can already do that better for cheaper.

For the price over a normal 4090 you could build a nice full PC water loop that would relocate a lot more heat.
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I never contested that angle and agreed - likely more effective/efficient.. but some peeps don't want to do the whole custom loop thing (for any number of reasons) and are willing to pay for the AIO version. My main takeaway was that all of these 4090s seem to perform the same within a 2%ish variation from one another... so you don't need to spend the extra $ for these flagship models unless you're after other qualities than gaming performance.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
The main advantage of an AIO-cooled 4090 is the smaller footprint and reallocation of a lot of the mass from the card slot to the case. Those are actually pretty big advantages. I occasionally browse around youtube and I've seen a lot of 4090 repair videos that all broke around the clip area. That said you could just either get the MSI version or even the Gigabyte version (which I've heard is worse), or hell even ASUS's own overpriced AIO solution at far less money than this. Or just... you know... make an entire loop, complete with GPU block and active backplate... for less money than this card.
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AiO cards are GOATed, agreed, but yeah way too much of an upcharge for the ASUS Tax.
That said, all the 4090 AiO options are all a bit compromised...

ASUS Strix LC has S-Tier PCB but only a 240mm rad
Gigabyte Waterforce has a 360 rad but only a B-tier PCB and memory cooling looks to be mediocre
MSI Suprim Liquid has S-tier PCB (pretty sure it has even more capacity than the Strix) but only 240mm rad
ASUS Matrix has 360 rad and S-tier PCB but costs $3200

None of that justifies the Matrix being nearly double the price but it is unfortunate that there's no other combo of 360mm rad + super-high-end PCB
 
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