ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Ti Strix OC (O11G) Review – £1,500 beast!

1. Introduction2. ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Ti Strix OC3. Testing Methodology4. 3DMark (1080p, 1440p, 4K)5. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (1080p, 1440p, 4K)6. Far Cry 5 (1080p, 1440p, 4K)7. Ghost Recon: Wildlands (1080p, 1440p, 4K)8. Middle Earth: Shadow of War (1080p, 1440p, 4K)9. Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p, 1440p, 4K)10. Clock Speed11. Temperatures12. Acoustics13. Power Consumption14. Overclocking: 3DMark and Games15. Overclocking: Thermals, Acoustics, Power16. Closing Thoughts17. View All Pages

There is no doubt in my mind that the ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Ti Strix OC is one of the finest – if not the finest – graphics cards to ever come through the KitGuru labs.

For me, it really checks all the boxes. Starting with the design, its stealthy matte black shroud won't clash with a colour coordinated system, and there are also three zones of RGB lighting to customise to your heart's content.

On top of that, it's both fast out of the box and also able to handle a hefty overclock. We could add an extra 145MHz to our card before experiencing any instability, and even without a manual overclock we still saw the Strix run 2-5FPS faster than Nvidia's Founders Edition card.

My favourite feature, though, is the dual-BIOS functionality. This lets you choose between all-out performance, with a very cool-running GPU but slightly louder fans, or a silence-optimised profile that does run slightly hotter but is effectively inaudible. It's the quiet BIOS that impresses me most, though, considering it performs hardly any worse than the performance BIOS, yet it is just so quiet.

So in my opinion, this is undoubtedly an excellent card in almost every way. The main thing left to discuss, of course, is pricing. That's because this Strix will set you back a whopping £1499.99 here in the UK – and that is still only a pre-order as stock has not yet landed in the retail channel.

Considering this is £400 more than Nvidia's Founders Edition, I really don't think it holds up as a value proposition – no one would sensibly pay an extra £400 for 2-5 frames per second gains. The thing is, though, I don't think you can realistically judge RTX 2080 Ti cards based on a value dynamic – it is has never been about value for money or bang-for-buck.

Instead, RTX 2080 Ti is all about delivering the best consumer graphics card available for those who want the best, regardless of price. And in that regard, I think anyone spending £1100+ on a graphics card is likely to want to consider spending £1500 for this Strix, considering it improves on the Founders Edition in every way.

So while it is certainly not good value, at the moment if you want the best of the best, and ultimate bragging rights for your PC, then the ASUS ROG RTX 2080 Ti Strix OC is right up there.

You can pre-order the Strix 2080 Ti from Overclockers UK for £1499.99 HERE.

Pros

• Looks good.
• Very cool using performance BIOS.
• Very quiet using quiet BIOS.
• Faster than Founders Edition by 2-5FPS at 4K.
• Overclocked well.

Cons

• Very expensive.
• Multi-colour fan cable.

KitGuru says: While its price certainly limits this card to the cash-rich enthusiast gamers out there, we have to stand back and say this is one the best graphics cards we've ever tested.

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