By Every graphics card available seems to come in a million different varieties. There aren’t, however, based on the Amazon search results for “4070,” you may assume that there are.
Speaking of which, Asus debuted the new Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs at CES 2025 in five different flavors. Adam from PCWorld managed to obtain them all for your enjoyment. (To be clear, the film below was sponsored by Asus. It costs a lot to send a group of live reporters and videographers to Las Vegas.)
Let me simplify the list of Asus RTX GPU branding choices for your convenience and expediency:
- The Asus RTX Dual is an entry-level card that simply means “dual fan.” No fancy cooling technology, no factory overclocking, and no extra LEDs.
- The Asus RTX Prime is an improvement. No illumination, but larger and more expansive cooling (triple fan on the 50-series).
- The mid-range gaming brand from Asus, the RTX TUF, is a little more “rugged” and has less illumination. Unlike ruggedized phones or laptops, TUF gadgets are a bit chunkier but often do not have any form of impact or dust resistance rating. Even though the label is mid-range, there will be up to 5090 SKUs available.
- Once Asus’ flagship model, the RTX Strix is currently sold under the enthusiast brand. An updated power plug with LED status messages and additional illumination for all your desktop bling needs.
- The new Asus RTX Astral is a tippy-top card that comes in 5080 and 5090 varieties and has four cooling fans, including one on the back. With the LED illumination and power connector improvements above, even the heatsink fins are blacked out. The card contains an internal software-accessible heatmap for the PCB, and the connector can even provide you with a per-pin power readout.
Additionally, Asus demonstrated the new Thor Strix Platinum power supply, which has a “sense pin” connection on the GPU rail, LED lights, and a small black-and-white display. With the updated 12V-2×6 connection, it should operate with any GPU from any brand, and you may adjust the transient power loads.
