GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming
August, 2025Type
Graphics CardPrice
TBDGALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF White Unboxing & Closeup
The GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming White graphics card comes inside a large cardboard box. The front has a picture of a hooded figure with a diamond-style mask. The details for the HOF Gaming model are listed in a small box in the lower left corner.
The packaging has put a large emphasis on the RTX side of things, as the first feature enlisted by AIBs will be NVIDIA Blackwell architecture, Ray Tracing & DLSS support. NVIDIA has bet the future of their gaming GPUs on AI & Ray Tracing support, as they were the first to add these features to their GPUs.
The back of the box is very typical, highlighting the main features and specifications of the cards. The key highlights listed by GALAX include the Custom-Made PCB, a Dual BIOS design, HOF Extreme Cooling, and Wings 3.0 fans.
There's also a focus towards GeForce.com on each AIB card through which users can download the latest drivers and GeForce Experience application, which are a must for gamers to access all feature sets of the new cards.
Once again, the sides of the box greet us with the large GeForce RTX branding. There's also the mention of 16 GB GDDR7 (RTX 5080) memory available on the card. The internal packaging has the HOF logo and the "Only For Performance" quote.
Inside the box, the graphics card and the accessory package are held firmly by foam packaging. The graphics card comes with a few accessories and manuals, which might not be of much use for hardcore enthusiasts but can be useful for the mainstream gaming audience. The only two useful accessories are the GPU mounting anti-sag bar and the 16-pin to 3x 8-pin power adapter, which comes in a matching white color scheme. The card is nicely wrapped within an anti-static cover, which is useful to prevent any unwanted static discharges on various surfaces that might harm the graphics card.
After the package is taken care of, I can finally start talking about the card itself. We can see that HOF is just as grand as ever and looks amazing. We last tested the HOF with the RTX 3080 series.
The GALAX HOF series is now in its 8th iteration, with the first outing of the HOF series back in the GeForce 600 series. The card retains its white-colored cooler and white-colored PCB, which has now become iconic. This year, GALAX is also offering the HOF Gaming series in an all-Black flavor, which I glanced upon back at Computex 2025.
The GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming is a massive graphics card. It measures 354 x 160 x 66.7mm. We are looking at a triple-slot graphics card with a triple-fan cooling system.
You would have to keep in mind the height when going for a triple or quad-slot card solution, as your case or motherboard PCIe slot combination may not allow such a setup. The cooling shroud extends to the back of the PCB, and it requires a casing with good interior space for proper installation.
The back of the card features a white finish with a gold HOF logo and emblem. There are also a few black-colored labels. The backplate offers a lot more functionality than just looks, which I will get back to in a bit.
The card is very thick and has some massive cooling underneath the top shroud.
The card is full of RGB Lighting, which isn't too over the top and blends in nicely with the design of the card, as you will see in our RGB gallery.
The side features large "GeForce RTX" & "Hall of Fame" logos.
Coming to the fans, the card features the latest fan designs based on the Wings 3.0 design. These fans feature 7 blades, which are larger and offer enhanced air pressure by 15% while reducing the noise levels by -5%.
Two of the fans are 102mm designs, while the one in the middle is a 92mm design. All three feature the new ring-blade design. These fans also come with a 0dB noise feature, which makes sure that the fans do not spin when the temperatures haven't reached the 60 °C threshold.
I am back to talking about the full-coverage, full-metal-based backplate that the card uses. The whole plate is made of solid metal with rounded edges that add to the durability of this card. There's also a crown-shaped cut-out which helps dissipate some heat from the third fan.
The graphics card also comes with a compact PCB design, which means that the shroud, heatsink, and backplate are all extended beyond the PCB.
There are cutouts in screw placements to easily reach the points on the graphics card. There's also a magnet on the sides, which is used to connect a larger "Crown" add-on (sold separately).
With the outside of the card done, I will now start taking a glance at what's beneath the hood of this premium graphics card. The first thing to catch my eye is the humongous fin stack that's part of the beefy heatsink that the cards utilize.
GALAX doesn't compromise on cooling in its HOF series. The new materials deliver lots of cooling performance.
The heatsink uses a premium thermal compound for the GPU, thermal pads for the VRAM, and VRMs.
GALAX makes use of a large nickel-plated vapor chamber with several composite heat pipes. There are a total of 8 of these heatpipes, which make contact with the nickel-plated baseplate. The heatsink is made up of two aluminum fin blocks, which offer a denser and wider coverage for heat dissipation.
GALAX has improved upon this heatsink design for years, and this is currently their best implementation.
I/O on the graphics card sticks with the reference scheme, which includes three Display Port 2.1b & a single HDMI 2.1 port.
The card is powered by a single 16-pin connector with a power rating of 420W. There's also a BIOS switch that lets you switch between OC and Gaming modes. The Gaming mode has balanced performance and power, while the OC mode goes for Ultimate performance and power. Another cool feature that GALAX adds to its HOF series is the HOF Debug Safety Indicator. When the 16-pin cable isn't connected properly, the card will emit a Yellow light. When the cable is showing abnormalities, then a red light will be emitted from the LEDs.
Of all the areas that we mentioned above, it's the PCB on the HOF series that stands out the most. GALAX has gone with an 18+3 phase design, which is made using Platinum-Grade ENIG "Electroless Nickel Immersion Gold" components. This PCB design ensures excellent surface planarity, good oxidation resistance, and prevents copper migration.
The HOF inductors are also custom-made for the HOF series GPUs, providing less noise, higher current, and producing less heat. GALAX is using a BPD93136 Buck Digital PWM controller and a single shunt resistor for 12V-2x6 power readings. There are also a few spaces left out for further inductors and caps; these might be used on the HOF OC LAB series or 5090 HOF designs.
GALAX also provides several voltage reading points and a white LED on the back next to the power connector, which displays the connection status (White = Good / Red = Bad).
GALAX GeForce RTX 5080 HOF Gaming Lighting Gallery:
GALAX implements several LED zones on the RTX 5080 HOF Gaming, which include the middle-fan, the HOF Crown on the front, the "Hall of Fame" logo on the sides, and the "HOF" logo on the back. These can be controlled and configured easily using the Xtreme Tuner / HOF AI applications.
Following is how the card looks in a PC setup:
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