ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080 Ti White Edition Review

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No sooner than we’ve got used to ROG products coming in black boxes and Strix ones being dominated by the rainbow ROG logo than the White Edition appears and chucks all the expectations out of the window. If you want the box to be different rather than just the card inside then you’re well catered to.

  

If you’ve ever done a “when I win the lottery” build then you’ll be familiar with the aesthetics of the ASUS Strix cooler and the White Edition doesn’t stray from that very successful formula, with three low noise fans, vents to help keep airflow smooth, and subtle RGB streaks around the fans.

  

The backplate has plenty of cut-outs to help keep temperatures low as well as the famous ROG logo in RGB form. There is even a plastic coating to help keep it clean during installation that you can remove once you’ve fitted the card.

  

The DirectCU cooler on the Strix White Edition combines a slender shroud to let the air flow as smoothly as possible, with strong card bracing and meaty heatsinks. It’s the perfect blend of form and function and looks very nice in its white colour scheme.

  
  

There are many qualities to the Strix cooler and fat heatpipes sit alongside a huge fin density to keep the cherry picked GPU running cool at all times.

  
  

The BIOS lets you switch between Performance Mode, which keeps the fans running to keep the card cool, and Quiet mode, which retains the performance targets but also runs the fans in silent mode wherever possible. With good case airflow you should be able to leave it in quiet and enjoy a silent desktop without toasting your system when the polygons start flying.

  

Despite the hefty overclocking prowess we’ll see on the next page, the White Edition sticks with the two 8pin PCIe power inputs of the regular card, rather than adopting three as we’ve seen on some models.

  

Even the covers for the DisplayPort, HDMI and USB Type-C ports are in white plastic, a nice touch.