ASUS GTX980 Strix Review

Up Close

If you’ve come here fresh from our review of the ASUS GTX970 Strix, then all of this will be familiar. It almost makes the GTX970 Strix more desirable to know that it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the two cards. 

The packaging is a nice combination of the standard ASUS clarity – the fantasy drawings of old are long behind us – and the owl that forms the backbone of that Strix branding.

The card comes with the awesome ASUS DirectCU II cooler which is extremely angular and futuristic on the top, with the smooth, well ventilated, backplate covering up the unsightly extra chips and soldering that always blight the bit of a graphics card you actually see. With windowed cases the absolute norm it surprises us how few manufacturers make an effort to give as much attention to the visible bit as we see given to the cooling fans and shroud.

We’re sure there must be a good design reason as to why the fans look like they’ve slipped to the right, but it is slightly offputting. The neat-freak in us makes us wish the right hand edge of the PCB was the end of the entire card. Overhangs never look good.

Power is a 8+6pin, which is more than the reference models 6+6 arrangment. Hopefully this hasn’t compromised the low power draw.