X Fastest, a Chinese language technology website today posted images of the Asus ROG Matrix version of the NVIDIA GTX 580 graphics card. The three-slot (no, that is not a typo) graphics card is claimed to have a 16 phase VRM design, GPU clock of 816 MHz, shader clock of 1632 MHz, and a memory clock of 4008 MHz. Further, the card contains 1.5GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384 bit bus. All this power is delivered via two 4×2 PCI-E connectors (8 pin). The following table compares the claimed Asus card’s speeds to NVIDIA’s reference design.

  Asus ROG Matrix GTX 580 NVIDIA Reference Design
GPU Clock  816 MHz  772 MHz
Shader Clock  1632 MHz  1544 MHz
Memory Clock  4008 MHz (effective)  4008 MHz (effective)
Memory Amount and Bus  1.5 GB GDDR5, 384 bit bus  1.5 GB GDDR5, 384 bit bus
PCI-E Connections  Two 4×2 PCI-E (8 pin) connector  One 6 pin, One 8 pin connector

 

The card features several overclocker friendly features, including nodes to directly measure voltage, hardware buttons to increase/decrease voltage to the card, and a “safe mode” button that promises to restore the card to factory settings located next to the uppermost DVI output.

Asus seems to have gone big with the Matrix GTX 580, and and the three slot cooler should provide ample air cooling for overclocking. On the other hand, one has to question why Asus did not choose to implement a water block for this overclocker-oriented card, as water cooling could allow overclockers to run the card at the same or higher speeds (especially when voltage increases are necessary) and with lower temps. Further, the three slot design may prohibit enthusiasts from using them in SLI configurations, depending on their motherboard layouts. You can see more images of the card here.