ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3080 OC White Edition Review

Conclusion

The Nvidia RTX 3080 was a spectacular card at launch, bringing 2080Ti beating performance to the market at nothing like the investment the flagship Turing card required. To borrow a phrase from Enobarbus, “age doth not wither nor custom stale…” although in this case it’s the impressiveness of the RTX 3080, rather than Cleopatra’s infinite variety. We still think it is right in the sweet spot of the Nvidia range and the ASUS Strix itself is one of the best of the breed.

Here, in the White Edition, it’s as excellent as it was when we saw it in black. The only difference between the two cards is, rather obviously, the white aesthetic. We’ve been around long enough to remember when white coatings and plastics on PC parts quickly yellowed, and similarly we can remember the ASUS Z97 TUF Sabranco which was the first product to truly use a bright white plastic that remained bright and white no matter how long you owned it. It was a total game changer. Admittedly back then there wasn’t a whole lot of products available surrounding it. The history of the famous “beige box” was still too fresh in people’s minds and most manufacturers were still all aboard the black train.

Thanks to Jonathan Ive white became the absolute in-colour and PC components took a big leap in that direction to the point that you can, and we have, build systems entirely white themed. You haven’t got the same level of choice as you might have if you choose to go down the black route, but when the white products available to you are as excellent as the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3080 White Edition we don’t think that lack of choice is a negative. Most people buy a Strix anyway.

There is only a single element of the design we’re not that keen on, and it’s that ASUS have stuck to using an RGB bar on the side of the card and no RGB on the front fan shroud. When you mount it as we have in our test system that’s fine, but if you want to follow the current trends and go for a vertical mounting then you have to be very careful about your lighting choice as the colour ‘bleeds’ through to the top of the fans. If you built an OC3D based colour scheme that means red lighting and all that happens is the top of your fans end up looking pink. It’s a minor point but something of which to be aware.

However, if you have been itching to get your hands on a new GPU and want one that will perfectly fit your arctic aesthetic then the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3080 OC White Edition is the perfect card with its bright coating, excellent performance and low temperatures and wins our OC3D Extreme Aesthetics award because well……… It looks amazing!

   

Discuss the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 3080 OC White Edition in our OC3D Forums.