Customers will be paying nearly 90% more than the official price of the GeForce RTX 5080 for what appears to be gold on the surface, but in reality, it's all metal.
ASUS's ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE Launches at Nearly RTX 5090's MSRP; Appearance Similar to RTX 5090 Dhahab But No Real Gold
It's incredible that ASUS comes up with wild ideas when it comes to selling GPUs. Most of its premium RTX 50 series GPUs cost way more than the competitors and once again, we are seeing a hefty price tag on its newly launched ROG Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE, which was previously launched for the Middle East region only. We did see a UAE retailer shipping the card to other parts of the world at a price tag of nearly $2600, but it appears that this doesn't have a real Gold since ASUS's official website doesn't mention it.
ASUS's website advertises all the fancy features of the Astral RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE, but unlike how it mentions 6.5 grams of real Gold for the Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab OC edition, the details of real Gold plating are totally absent from the page. This definitely means there is no real Gold plating on the GPU's shroud and it will be all metal, just glittering like gold. You will have the same Middle-Eastern theme on the GPU and a factory-overclocked chip with a boost clock of up to 2790 MHz in the OC mode.
However, the (un-) surprising part isn't that it doesn't have real gold plating, but its hefty price tag of $1,899 (and $2300 in China). This is just $100 lower than the official MSRP of the GeForce RTX 5090 FE and nearly 90% higher than the official MSRP of the GeForce RTX 5080. It is really shocking how a $1000 card is able to sell at nearly twice its price officially, but it appears that ASUS wants to focus more on the premium designs than offering decently-priced cards to gamers.
A few weeks back, it showcased an RTX 5090 with 5kg of Real Gold, valued at over $500,000. Thankfully, it's not planned for the masses! But the Astral ROG RTX 5090 Dhahab is already available at a whopping $9000+. Its regular ROG Astral RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 also sell at a premium price, but the new RTX 5080 Dhahab CORE might be its most expensive edition at the moment. The GPU is available for purchase on official ASUS's store and Micro Center.
News Source: @realVictor_M
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
