Asus has just announced what appears to be the first third party Vega video card we’ve seen – the Strix RX Vega64.
Asus’ take on AMD’s latest GPU uses a new cooling technology, MaxContact (which actually sounds like a really sleazy private eye’s name, but hey), which uses a copper heat spreader with a surface ten times flatter than the competition for extra-serious contact with the graphics chip itself. This is combined with three fans, and the total performance of the cooling setup is, Asus claims, 30 per cent cooler and three times quieter than the reference card.
And there’s a mess of other Asus bits and bobs. It’s packed with LEDs and Aura Sync enabled for customisable lighting, features GPU Tweak II for optimised cooling and performance, and Super Alloy Power II components for increased reliability.
There’ll also be Asus iterations of both air and water-cooled reference cards. Asus hasn’t provided pricing up front, but we’re waiting to hear back from them. The Strix card will be available in Australia in September, while the reference versions will be released on the 14th of August.
Interestingly, one thing we can guess at is the card’s RAM, because otherwise Asus has not mentioned any other specs. What gives it away – possibly – is the filename of image of the card: ROG-STRIX-RXVEGA-O8G-GAMING. So… does that mean this is an 8GB card?