ASUS are one of the most popular companies among all enthusiast circles and are well known for their premium component offerings. Building on their success with gamers over the years ASUS also have a number of their products under the republic of gamers banner, a label they attach to their products with the finest hardware engineering, the fastest performance and the most innovative features. Today we're going to be looking at the ASUS Extreme GTX 260 Matrix graphics card. This card is complete with a custom cooler and a comprehensive software application which allows for overvolting and overclocking of the graphics card and available for about $225, though maybe even less with some luck. - DriverHeaven

ASUS Extreme GTX 260 Matrix Cooler Edition Review

The ASUS Extreme GTX 260 Matrix is supplied in a very attractive box with a depiction of the card inside a sword with a subtle hint that the hardware is cutting edge. Emblazoned on the top corner is the republic of gamers logo, signifying the product's intentions and target demographic. The back of their box provides a few details and lacks an extended specifications list however the front of the box opens up to reveal a huge walkthrough of the special features associated with the board. After removing it from the box you can instantly see that it looks nothing like a reference GeForce GTX 260 design with the elaborate cooling system.

The ASUS GeForce GTX 260 Matrix certainly sets itself apart from the rest of the crowd by offering a number of features straight out of the box that will appeal to demanding customers, all at a very competitive price. And in addition to offering a custom cooling solution and efficiency management that surpasses many of its competitors products the iTracker software allows you to adjust clock speeds and voltages on the fly. Even to many gamers and enthusiasts who may already overclock their products, graphics card overvolting is generally a less common practise than with the CPU for example, and the typical processor tweaking.

In fact many cards contain voltage regulators which make software volt modding a difficult proposition. At $225 the Extreme GTX 260 Matrix carries an aggressive price tag and is placed in just the same territory as basic and lightly overclocked versions. In fact BFG's GeForce GTX 260 OCX MaxCore retails for around the $249 mark and when you consider the fact that this card can reach vastly higher clocks while staying under warranty it becomes a very attractive proposition. On top of the card offering blinding performance for a GeForce GTX 260 the cooler is a component which adds further value to the overall package.

The board is completely silent when operating out of GPU intensive applications as the fans come to a complete standstill transforming the unit into a passive cooler. The cooler is also very capable in dealing with the card in an overclocked and overvolted state and keeps the temperatures within a perfectly acceptable range. The only downside to the cooler is that at times during extreme load it can be just slightly loud. This ASUS Extreme GTX 260 Matrix is a great option for all users who are looking for an high performance graphics solution at a reasonable price and will certainly perform great with upcoming games as well.

The iTracker utility makes it simple for everyone to quickly overvolt and overclock the graphics board and thanks to the three year warranty coverage any worries about losing $225 can be brushed away. So never mind outperforming competing products such as the pre-overclocked GeForce GTX 260's the Matrix edition has produced performance in our testing that leave it ahead of the GeForce GTX 275 version, a video card which retails for $249 at the absolute minimum. ASUS have produced a card complete with great features and performance that enters the market at exactly the right price point to be a real winner.