The Matrix sits at the top of the ASUS GTX 980 Ti product stack. It is highly overclocked, comes with a large triple-slot cooler, and offers tons of features for tweakers and hardcore overclockers. Out of the box, the clocks are higher than nearly every other GTX 980 Ti thanks to a high base clock and a generous Boost Clock range.
Running our newly revamped game suite, the card ends up 20% faster than the NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti reference design, a performance uplift usually associated with a next-generation card, something I'd expect from NVIDIA's Pascal later this year. Compared to AMD's Fury X, the card is 17% faster at 4K, even more so at lower resolutions. The fastest custom-design GTX 980 Ti we tested so far is the MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning—the ASUS Matrix edges slightly past it with around 0.5% more performance on average (I reran the Lightning through our new test suite). Unlike many other overclocked GTX 980 Ti cards, ASUS overclocked their memory chips as well.

Instead of going with the typical red ROG color, ASUS opted for a new cooler theme that's dominated by silver paint with orange highlights, which looks good, but might be confusing to some die-hard ROG fans. The triple-slot, dual-fan cooler does an excellent job at keeping the card cool, but definitely falls behind the Lightning's cooler, no matter how you look at it as temperatures and especially noise output are both lower on MSI's card at the same time. What I really miss is the fans turning off in idle and light gaming, like on almost every other competing product. I'm not sure why ASUS dropped the ball on that, but it may be due the product's overclocking focus. Gaming noise is alright with 39 dBA, but it is not nearly as quiet as competing cards.
What is impressive, though, are the sheer number of overclocking options, starting with a dual-BIOS for LN2 usage and ending with the exclusive memory heating circuit that helps counter condensation during liquid-nitrogen overclocking. Add to that the ASUS GPUTweak software and the card offers everything an overclocker would want.

ASUS has included a stiffening bracket and great-looking metal backplate with their card, which both add physical protection against damage. Also make sure to check on whether the card will fit into your case as it is huge and requires three slots.

Power consumption of NVIDIA Maxwell cards is great, and the ASUS GTX 980 Ti Matrix is no exception, but it does draw a little bit more power than other GTX 980 Ti cards. It requires around 20W in idle, which is nearly twice that of the reference design. Some of its added power draw while gaming can be attributed to its higher clocks, but with 263 W typical gaming power draw, it definitely needs more juice than other custom designs as those usually sit at around 230-240 W. My guess is that the modified VRM circuitry is not as efficient as those on other cards. However, relatively speaking, the differences are not big enough to strike this card from your shopping list.

Price-wise, ASUS has positioned their GTX 980 Ti Matrix $100 above the reference design since it retails for $720, which is slightly below the MSI Lightning that will set you back $780. No matter how you look at it, 700-800 dollars is a lot of money for a graphics card. If I had to pick between the two, I'd probably go for the Lightning despite the higher price since its cooler is just too good to pass up. As a hardcore overclocker, I would debate whether the memory heater is worth it and what overclocking software I'd prefer to use.
Thanks to the large overclock out of the box, the Matrix actually offers better price/performance than the GTX 980 Ti reference design, but will most certainly be beat in that metric by cheaper GTX 980 Ti variants that are manually overclocked as all GTX 980 Tis reach roughly the same maximum clocks if you factor in luck of the draw.
I see no reason to buy the more expensive Titan X, which is clearly beat by the Matrix in every regard. Another noteworthy contender is the ZOTAC Amp! Extreme since it is significantly cheaper, but also offering a big, powerful heatsink.