GeForce GTX 580 Showdown: ASUS Matrix vs.EVGA Classified

The Bundles

The are that will be judged between the ASUS and EVGA GeForce GTX 580 video cards will be the bundles that the cards come with. While we are at it we will also take a peak at the front of the retail boxes.

The box that comes with the ASUS MATRIX GTX580 P/2DIS/1536MD5 GeForce GTX 580 video card is fairly plain with the usual ASUS Republic of Gamers color scheme. The front cover lifts up to show off the card and the back is covered with information about the card in various languages.

Inside the box you have the ASUS MATRIX GTX580 and the ‘bundle’ shown above. ASUS includes a fairly basic bundle that includes two 6-pin PCIe to single 8-pin PCIe power adapters, a DVI to VGA adapter, an NVIDIA SLI extended length cable (since the card takes up three slots this is required), the utility/driver disc, a Republic of Gamers case badge and the setup guide.

Next up we have the GeForce GTX 580 Classified. The retail box is much smaller than the ASUS card and is just a black box with no fancy windows you can look through. It tells you the name of the card and also shows that it has 3072MB of GDDR5 memory. We like boxes that give the clock speeds and memory capacity on the front, so thumbs up to EVGA showing the memory amount.

The EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Classified 3072MB bundle at first glance looks similar to what comes with the ASUS card, but it is different. EVGA gives you a 4-pin Molex to 6-pin PCIe power adapter, a 6-pin PCIe to 8-pin PCIe power adapter, a DVI to VGA adapter, a DVI to HDMI adapter, the utility/driver disc, a carbon fiber EVGA case badge and a setup guide.

EVGA also included a large poster inside the retail box.

So, at after looking and comparing the bundles included with each video card we must admit that we aren’t impressed with either of them. With both cards costing well over $500 we hoped to see some impressive bundles, but that wasn’t the case. At the end of the day we have to give the win to ASUS as their bundle is complete. It includes the SLI cable that will be needed to run SLI and it includes power adapters for both 8-pin PCIe power adapters on the card. EVGA has two 8-pin and one 6-pin PCIe power connectors on the board and don’t give you adapters for both of the 8-pins. They also didn’t include an SLI bridge, which is minor, but needed by some.

Best Overall Bundle: ASUS MATRIX GTX580