Wednesday, February 5th 2025
ASUS Unveils Gilded GeForce RTX 5090 ROG Astral Dhahab Edition
ASUS ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 was reviewed by us at launch, where we remarked that it is the most expensive custom-design, with a launch price of $2,800 against the NVIDIA baseline of $2,000 (a 40% premium). The card is further marked up by retailers, and is going for nearly $3,000. While this is going on, ASUS released its first halo variant, the ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Dhahab Edition. Probably targeting the MENA (Middle-East and North Africa) markets, the Dhahab Edition is a luxurious collector's edition item that's finished in gold. Dhahab is Arabic for gold, and you can see elements of this across the cooler shroud, backplate, and the GPU retention bracket. Even the heatsink underneath has gold color. We don't know the exact material of this card—whether it is a gold-like polish, or gold electroplated.
Contrasting all this gold is a turquoise-like stone embellishment that refracts light in a blue-green tone, just like the actual stone. There are several other cultural elements to this design, including Arabic calligraphy, and motifs representing "strength, courage, and unity." The gold backplate even has machined regional motifs representing the desert, and skyscrapers. Given that the regular ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC is already at around $3,000 on the streets, sky is the limit for what ASUS could ask for this collector's item.
Sources:
VideoCardz, VGA4A (Twitter)
Contrasting all this gold is a turquoise-like stone embellishment that refracts light in a blue-green tone, just like the actual stone. There are several other cultural elements to this design, including Arabic calligraphy, and motifs representing "strength, courage, and unity." The gold backplate even has machined regional motifs representing the desert, and skyscrapers. Given that the regular ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC is already at around $3,000 on the streets, sky is the limit for what ASUS could ask for this collector's item.
66 Comments on ASUS Unveils Gilded GeForce RTX 5090 ROG Astral Dhahab Edition
I will because there is no point in not doing so. The PC enthusiast/gamer market had a problem with industrial design and aesthetics for ages now - we have come from the utilitarian “PCB, chips and heatsinks” straight into the nonsense we had for the last decade and a half. It’s just what it is. At this point, saying “X PC part looks tacky” is like confirming that the sky is blue and the Pope is catholic. We are desensitized to it, unless some true abomination pops out like that sneaker PC.
This is a tool, the tool must be reliable, and do not attract to much attention...
P.S.: I'll just drop it here, no coments...
Too bad about the price and over-engineered (and over-sized) HSF and shroud though.
That chocolate really screwed the economy!