Top-shelf graphics cards have always commanded a substantial price premium, but some folks simply crave the best no matter the cost. Asus' shiny ROG Matrix Platinum RTX 5090 is the company's new halo card, and it's coming in at a hefty $4,000. There's just one small problem: You can't get one anymore.
Asus really made the Matrix an exclusive product, as it only produced 1,000 of these cards, and they're reportedly sold out already. That's a fairly impressive feat for a card that carries about a 42% price premium over the $2,800 that standard-issue RTX 5090s are currently going for. Given the regular cards are still available from several vendors, it's safe to say the Matrix has quite the halo-product allure.
It's worth mentioning that even if you do have four grand burning a hole in your pocket, taking in and feeding the Matrix is quite the project. To make the most of its 800 W power limit, you'll need a motherboard with a BTF graphics card power slot, which effectively means a higher-end Asus model. The card's power delivery system can use either the BTF connector or a summery 12V-2x6 connector, but you'll need both to unlock its full potential.
German Youtuber der8auer has put the Matrix 5090 through its paces and pretty much confirmed Asus' claims of a roughly 10% performance boost, provided you enable the 800 W power limit. Although 10% seems low, keep in mind we're talking 10% over what is already a massive performance figure.
In this age of diminishing returns on top-shelf hardware, it's still mildly impressive, cost and practicality concerns aside. Der8auer did remark that he was not a fan of the card's liquid metal application, pointing out that it would benefit from an area barrier to prevent it from potentially oozing out further than intended.
The card's cooling system is equally impressive, comprised of a massive heatsink and four fans in a 3+1 setup, in addition to the liquid metal TIM. The whole assembly reportedly weighs in at around 3.2 kg, or 7.1 lb. It's also simply gigantic, at 370 x 150 x 77 mm, or 14.58 x 5.92 x 3.04 inches.
A card this large is almost guaranteed to sag in time without support, and Asus fitted it with an angle sensor for an added layer of safety. Because no one wants broken hardware, especially after you just shelled out thousands for a GPU.
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