ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G Review

The RTX 40-series GPUs have been out for a few weeks and I have recently covered the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC. You can catch up on that review here where I put the card to the test with various benchmarks, DLSS 3 tests and more. This review is now based on the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix GPU which is also reasonably new. The card is based on the GeForce 4080 architecture meaning it too boasts DLSS 3 support, uses the new 12-pin power cable, has some insane performance and will also cost you a fortune.

This specific ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix GPU packs a shader engine clock frequency of 2.21GHz and a boost clock of 2.51GHz. It also includes 16GB of G6 memory, 9728 shading cores, 49 shader TFLOPS, 304 Fourth-Generation Tensor Cores and 76 Third-Generation Raytracing Cores. In short, this GPU is roughly twice as powerful as the 3080 Ti and it also used 10% less power.

The card is also ASUS’s GeForce RTX 4080 O16G Gaming variant meaning it is factory-overclocked out of the box. It also packs quite a striking design and some of the best cooling I have seen in a GPU to date. However, this all comes at quite a steep price tag. You’ll pay around R35,000 for this GPU.

It goes without saying that this ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G GPU is a 4K card. Even though it doesn’t have the overkill RAM found in the 4090 at 24GB, the 16GB and the Ada Lovelace tech found in this card will offer some of the best performance you can get. More importantly, this card outperforms the RTX 3080 tenfold and the addition of DLSS 3 is a substantial jump in performance too.

ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G Design

After reviewing many RTX 40-Series GPUs in the past few months, this ASUS Strix 4080 is the best-looking one I have seen. In fact, if you had to buy a card just on the looks, this model is fantastic. ASUS actually revamped the overall design of its 40-Series cards and it is a refreshing approach compared to the same copy-and-paste found elsewhere.

It packs a triple fan design and various cool-looking finishes across the card. There’s a large ROG logo at the bottom that boasts a mirror finish and the ROG eye logo is cut out of the vents. ASUS hasn’t included any RGB on the fans, the backplate or the side-facing plate. The Republic of Gamers logo lights up and ties into the other RGB lighting on the back end of the card.

Speaking of which, this main RGB area looks amazing. It features a translucent design with block cutouts that light up thanks to the RGB. It isn’t your average design which I really enjoy.

Like other 40-series cards, this model is also chunky. You’ll need to mount this card up with a support prong if you have a standard PC layout to avoid sagging the board. In terms of the ports on the ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G, you’ll find one HDMI 2.1 port and three DisplayPort 1.4 ports. This means you can get up to 8K 60Hz across all four ports.

ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G Performance

I ran a series of benchmarks using this ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G to put the card to the test. I combined this GPU with my current personal PC build which includes the following:

• CPU – AMD Ryzen 7700X CPU
• Cooler – Cooler Master ML360RGB AIO
• Motherboard – Gigabyte Aorus X670E Master  motherboard
• RAM – 32GB (2 x 16GB) Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 Memory 4800MT/s
• GPU – ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G
• NVME – Seagate Firecuda 1TB 5500MB/
• Chassis – Cooler Master Cosmos C700M
• PSU – Cooler Master 2000W PSU
• Monitor – MSI Optix MAG322CQR

I also need to mention that I currently have a 75-inch Hisense U80H 8K Mini-LED TV in the office so I have also tested these 40-Series GPUs on that display. Of course, the 4090 has been a dream to play 8K games with. The card doesn’t even bat an eyelid in most games. However, the 4080 also does a great job on its own too. Most modern titles, especially those with DLSS 3 support easily managing 8K 40-60Hz. Other titles without DLSS 3 struggle a bit to hit 8K 60Hz and sit somewhere at the 30Hz mark.

My point is, with these 40-series GPUs (hopefully) becoming mainstream, 8K isn’t too far away. Sure, most gamers will still opt for a higher refresh rate at a lower resolution but for those who are happy with 8K 60Hz, it is almost here.

Here are some results I got from various games I tested using this ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G.

Benchmarks

• 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme 4K
  • Graphics – 13390
  • Overall – 14401
• 3DMark TimeSpy 1440p
  • Graphics – 25970
  • Overall – 28560
• 3DMarck FireStrike Ultra 4K
  • Graphics – 17601
  • Overall – 17470

Gaming Benchmarks

DLSS3 disabled

• Cyberpunk 2077
  • 1080p
    • 1% Low FPS – 93
    • Average FPS – 165
  • 1440p
    • 1% Low FPS – 65
    • Average FPS – 122
  • 4K
    • 1% Low FPS – 40
    • Average FPS – 61
• Shadow of The Tomb Raider
  • 1080p
    • 1% Low FPS – 310
    • Average FPS – 420
  • 1440p
    • 1% Low FPS – 230
    • Average FPS – 300
  • 4K
    • 1% Low FPS – 140
    • Average FPS – 175

DLSS 3 enabled

• 3DMark DLSS Test
  • DLSS On – 110fps
  • DLSS Off – 40fps
• Cyberpunk 2077
  • 4K RT On – 103fps
  • 1440p RT On – 151fps
  • 1080p RT On – 145fps
• Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • 4K Ultra – 130fps
  • 1440p Ultra – 151fps
  • 1080p Ultra – 172
• F1 2022
  • 4K Max – 149fps
  • 1440p Max – 241fps
  • 1080p – 339fps

You can see from the tests that this ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G doesn’t have much of an issue running most games. Performance is as expected, “great” without DLSS 3 and when the mode is enabled across supported games, it delivers some incredible performance.

When it comes to the thermals, the card also holds up quite well. The chunky heatsink design and triple-fan layout keep the card cool. I measured a max of 74C during the hottest summer day and tested the card non-stop for over an hour. The fan settings were also on medium. You can likely push this up and bring temperatures down to 65C.

ASUS GeForce RTX 4080 Strix O16G Verdict

This is a powerhouse GPU with some fantastic performance and cooling. The impressive GPU boost clocks of 2.9GHz means that any game you throw at it will perform above standard. The downside is that this tech is still quite expensive. In fact, this ASUS GPU is one of the more expensive 4080 models on the market. It makes it an even tougher sell than other brands. You can pick up a Gigabyte 4080 for R30k. The same goes for the MSI Gaming X Trio model. I haven’t seen an ASUS 4080 GPU under R33k.