Thanks for your reply.
I've actually been through 3 different brands of GTX780ti's, First was Gigabyte, 2 had to be RMA due to the artifacting bugs in 3D Mark 11 and a couple of other games.
This was the OC Windforce edition, and I never saw temps over about 73c
Second I tried was the Asus DCUII, this card had a wicked buzz when under full load, and like you said the VRM temps were high, like 123c high, I spoke to Asus support who said there was a problem with the card, so I RMA'd that one, second one was no different, so it was returned and I got a Galaxy GTX780ti Hall of Fame edition.

That card was very cool, never went over 68c with its 2.5 slot cooler and has the same clock speeds as the Matrix.
Problem again with this card was the incredible loud buzzing under load, that was RMA, the second one was just faulty, artifacts in Wolfenstien and Watch_Dogs.
So I got a eVGA Classified, thought stuff it I'll get the big boy, No buzz, fairly cool, still hit 79c but it had a more aggressive default fan profile and was much louder.
3 days later, grinding fan noise with a high pitch whine. RMA time.
All this was tested in multiple systems including the brand new 4790k build, so its not "my system" like I keep getting told.

So now I got the Matrix, no coil whine, fast and stable. But the temps surprised me a little after seeing the reviews (and its more than one) not braking 70c.
This was the main reason I bought it, the claims of cool and quiet..

Now the stock fan profile does keep the card quiet, as anything over 70% and the fan whines/hums, but stops at 85% whether its the design of the new dual fin fan doing it I don't know. I just don't remember the DCUII making that noise.

I've spoken to another guy who actually owns the card an he has the same temps and fan whine at 70%, but the Nvidia set 85c temp before throttling is a concern seeing there is now 2 of us nearly hitting that temp. Strangely he is in the middle of summer with 32c ambient, I'm in winter last night it was 22c inside and I still hit 81c in Metro LL.

I like the Matrix, I finally got a card with no noticeable issues (besides a fan whine, which could be normal and heat).
Would love to water cool, but Asus stopped me doing that with the warranty sticker on the heat sink screw.

if only asus installed the 3-slot cooler on these ones..
all my cards were asus's (maybe a gigabyte 9500gt at one time for physx),
i never ever had any issues with asus GPUs! no noise, not heat, nothing unexplained.
i never needed to monitor asus hw.
only the latest 780Ti. _ i have to monitor and followup.
after i set up fan profile, the core never go above 85c and the VRM never go above 93c.
watch dogs vrm on 90c
bf4 the vrm also on 90-93
this is the profile i use;

I think we spoke over on the Geforce forums before, but that was about a Gigabyte GTX780ti...

I've created a custom profile, Increasing the fan profile 5%, so the fans run at 60%@70-80c dropped the temps to 77c in the Metro LL benchmark, but its right on that threshold before the whine/vibrations kick in.
Yes I said vibrations, if you put your finger on the motherboard's heat sink you can feel it, same with the pc case near the gpu and the GPU shroud itself, it only starts when you get to about 64% fan, at 70% you can hear it until you get to 85% then they stop.

I'm guessing that's why Asus opted for the 55% fan at 80c, it's not just mine someone else has heard it too over 60%, but not after 80%+

On the Matrix you can't monitor VRM temps at all, well mine aren't showing up in GPU-Z.

Prior to my dark venture into GTX780ti's I had 2 Asus DCUII GTX670's in Sli, no heat, no noise awesome cards.
Miss the days when things were built properly.

waw, since jan.. waw thats ... not nice at all.
i dont believe there is a 780ti dc2oc with normal temps (no mater what asus say). its the design and engineering of the card.
cards with lower temp are cards that the vrm sits clot closer to the edge.
its powerful , but it needs a really good cooler.
i mean the default clock is ..885mz (i think), the dc2oc is setting to 1020 on boost (thats 1070mz on gpu-z). so im guessing its reflecting on the temps.
the lower clock i can tune to is 920mz, that only lowered the temps in 3c.
man.. i tried so many ways cooling the card. i bought 2 scythe typhoon 5000rpm and directed them from any side i could think of, and if you would have seen the air their producing you would have been sure that its gonna do the work. it dident.. cryin out loud.
the only way to keep the vrm temps cool is to keep the core cool.
people suggested me the evga classi'. i tried the "dual classified"... it was very loud. (and hot)
asus is the quite one from all of them.
if you wont get used to the noise then maybe you should consider some other option.
im sitting about 1 meter from the case and the only time the noise (i used to say anoyed me but now its) is chatching my ear, is when its getting to 90%.
i really wish you find a solution for this issue. the matrix is the best of the best. if ill stay with this card after the gtx880, ill probably look for a 3 slot fan.

I made a little video of the fan hum, its horrible at 70%, I understand the fans are going to be loud spinning at that speed, but not to hum and vibrate the whole card.

http://youtu.be/8SwlksRqiBo

I can handle the fan whoosing..lol, just not the hum and vibration, seriously it makes my side panel vibrate.
Plus its started to hum and vibrate slightly on idle (32%), set it to 40% and it stops.
This can't be normal.

Just got to wait for Asus to get back to me, but I feel burnt again with ROG stuff (had 3 dud ROG motherboards too).

Wish the Kraken G10 would fit on the Matrix, I have one with a Kraken x60 sitting on my shelf.

edit update:
I might also be stressing over temp too much, the card has never gone over 81c, today with a ambient temps of 26c it still stays on 81c no matter what I'm playing.
Seems the Matrix has sacrificed more heat for lower noise because at 54% fan speed you can barely hear it.

Though the vibration through the case at idle and 60%+ fan speeds still concern me, little rubber washers between the fan mount and the heat sink would stop that completely. (Tip for ASUS/ROG)

update 2:
Card hit 84c playing Risen 3, of all games something that isn't very taxing.
Not happy.

I have a question. After playing game GPUZ shows green field what is mean POWER RELATED? Its something bad or not? Can somebody explain me? Card is Asus Gtx 780 Ti DirectCuII. Psu is XFX 750 W semi modular.