The card
The ASUS ROG MATRIX R9 290X features a pretty much same DirectCU II cooler
as the ROG MATRIX GTX 780 Ti, so we are looking at a rather hefty aluminum fin
heatsink with one 10mm direct-contact copper heatpipe, two 8 millimiter
direct-contact pipes and two more heatpipes that measure 6 millimeter in
diameter which should, combined with two fans, including a hybrid CoolTech
multi-directional fan, provide temperatures up to 31 percent cooler then
reference Radeon R9 290X. It also comes with an aluminum backplate which should
keep the backside of the PCB a bit cooler and also provide structural ridgidity
to the graphics card.
The ROG R9 290X Platinum Edition also features a custom PCB with DIGI+ 14-phase
VRM with Black Metallic Capacitors, concrete-core chokes and hardened MOSFETs,
all in order to ensure high stability, extra long lifetime, 20 percent better
temperature endurance and 30 percent less power noise.
This card allowed for a maximum stable
overclocking of 1150 MHz regarding the GPU and 1625 MHz on the memory side. We
used Furemark V1.11.0 Geeks3D benchmark with 15 minutes duration. With these
clocks we had to feed the GPU with 1.15 Volt and the memory ran at stock
voltages.
The ASUS ROG MATRIX R9 290X Platinum Edition also shares a lot of premium,
gaming-oriented and overclocking-friendly features seen on the ROG MATRIX GTX
780 Ti Platinum Edition graphics card including the LN2 Mode / STD (Standard)
Mode Jumper Switch which unlocks restriction on power target, voltage and
overcurrent protections, Memory Defroster switch, which should defrost memory
during subzero overclocking and get rid of memory cold bugs, VGA Hotwire, which
allows you to wire the ROG MATRIX R9 290X to any compatible ROG motherboards in
order to adjust the GPU, VRAM and PLL via BIOS or OS in real time, Clear VBIOS
switch, which allows you to restore default frequencies and voltages with a
single button, as well as the ROG color-coded Load Indicator ROG LOGO which
lights up in different colors depending on the actual GPU load. The ROG MATRIX
R9 290X also comes with ROG Edition GPU Tweak graphics card-tuning utility which
gives you a precise control over GPU, VRM and even fans of the ROG MATRIX R9
290X graphics card. The ROG MATRIX R9 290X also features GPU Tweak Streaming
which allows you to stream your gaming action in real-time.
The memory chips used are made by Elpida and carry the model number
W2032BBBG-6A-F. They are specified to run at 1'350MHz (5'400 MHz effective).