Palit Group and Galax have announced that the latter's GPU brand will continue to operate and release hardware, despite reports to the contrary following an announcement of an internal restructuring at Palit Group. It follows reports of Galax ceasing operations. The initial announcement came from Ronaldo Buassali from TecLab, part of Galax Brazil, whose now-deleted X post suggested Galax had exited the market amidst the change. Both Palit and Galax have come forward to clarify that, apart from the internal restructuring, nothing is happening to the Galax brand.

Palit Group has owned Galax since 2007, but the manufacturer has operated independently. Now, it's moving under the direct control of Palit Group, consolidating support, logistics, and R&D to streamline the business and make it more efficient.

Galax's management will be centralized at Palit Group headquarters, where it will run alongside Palit. Its iconic GPUs, such as the Hall of Fame (HoF) lineup, don't seem to be going anywhere.

In its official statement, Palit said, "GALAX is not ceasing operations. We remain fully committed to the development, production, and support of our high-performance hardware. [...] The recent internal transitions are part of a pre-planned global initiative to integrate brand management for enhanced operational efficiency and cross-departmental synergy."

Galax has been headquartered in Hong Kong since its inception, but with the new management, it will now be run directly out of Palit in Taiwan. "Building upon the successful integration of internal operations between GALAX and Palit, the management of the “GALAX,” “KFA2,” and the flagship “HOF” (Hall of Fame) brands is now being centralized at the Palit Group headquarters," confirmed Palit.

To further back all this up, Galax came forward with its own statement clarifying that it is "continuing to develop, produce, and support [our] award-winning high-performance hardware."

If you go to Galax Brazil's website right now, an official communication notice is still up informing customers that Palit will now handle all RMA and warranty concerns; the global site hosts no such notice. "This move is designed to strengthen the brand’s global presence, not diminish it," according to Galax. It is unclear if any employees have been laid off in the process; however, the aforementioned note from Galax Brazil noted that employees had lost access to systems.

The Galax GeForce RTX 5090D Hall of Fame XOC, one of the most powerful GPUs from this generation, has now surfaced on eBay listings from China at prices that stretch far beyond what even a flagship graphics card usually commands. That being said, this card was never intended for mainstream use. It features an absurd level of power delivery, advanced overclocking headroom, and a theoretical power ceiling that goes as high as 2,000 watts when paired with Galax’s unofficial XOC BIOS.

The reason this GPU is now appearing on eBay is that it can no longer be sold in its intended market. The RTX 5090D was created specifically for China after U.S. restrictions barred Nvidia from selling the original RTX 5090 there. To get around those rules, the 5090D was introduced with the same gaming performance but reduced AI capabilities. It worked... until policy changed again, and even the 5090D now seems to have been swept up in the export ban, but the 5090D V2 is coming to fix that.

As a result, units that had already been produced and distributed to partners are now being offloaded online, with the Galax HOF XOC arguably the most interesting among them. Originally designed for extreme overclockers, it features a 12-layer PCB, 38-phase power delivery system, and two—that's right, two—16-pin power connectors. The card technically ships with the same 600W power limit that Nvidia has set for all variants of the 5090, but Galax provides an alternative BIOS through unofficial channels that unlocks up to 2,000W of headroom for serious competitive use, and it's already broken world records.

Originally spotted by PC Games Hardware, the GPU is now appearing in bulk on eBay, often with volume discounts for multiple purchases. Prices are around €4,739 for a single unit or roughly $5,500 USD, with discounts if you buy four or more. That’s more than double the MSRP of the standard RTX 5090 Founders Edition, yet the Galax 5090D HOF is arguably in a different class altogether, so it almost justifies its price. We know; we can't believe we just said that either.

Aside from Asus's gold-ridden 5090s that only "improve" aesthetics, Galax's variant is a different beast altogether that genuinely unlocks more performance. The card has already made appearances in global overclocking leaderboards, holding its own against other monsters like ASUS’s ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC, though Galax holds the edge thanks to its dual 12V-2×6 power setup and BIOS tuning options that no other card has. What adds an extra layer of exclusivity is that Galax has never released a Hall of Fame variant of the standard RTX 5090. This design is unique to the 5090D model, making it something of a collector’s piece even beyond its raw specs.

Ultimately, the Galax RTX 5090D HOF OC Lab XOC represents a strange intersection of geopolitics, hardware excess, and enthusiast obsession. It wasn’t supposed to leave China, and it wasn’t supposed to be available to just anyone. But now that it’s here, floating on eBay with a price tag that makes even high-end builds look modest, it’s become one of the most over-the-top GPU purchases money can buy. And this isn't even the only exorbitant 5090 Galax makes, as their 5090D Luna has a magnetic shroud that separates the fans from the cooler and PCB without a screwdriver.

Galax has unveiled a pair of new RTX 4070 Super graphics cards featuring a blower-style cooling solution. (The news was first reported by VideoCardz,) The two new cards come in RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4070 TI Super flavors, sporting a matte black finish and a dual-slot form factor featuring a blower-style fan at the rear. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.

Blower-style coolers have lost much of their appeal in the modern GPU era thanks to the ever-increasing power draw of the best graphics cards for gaming. However, the lowly blower-style cooler still has its own place and is used extensively in the professional/server GPU market, where you will find nothing but blower-style cards.

The key trait of blower-style solutions is their ability to eject all intake air out of the case through the GPU shroud and heatsink without any help from chassis fans. This makes them excellent cooler solutions for airflow-restricted chassis since the graphics card itself takes responsibility for ejecting all of its own hot air out of the case. This is very different from typical consumer gaming graphics cards, where the cooler will spit out hot air from all three sides of the card, forcing the chassis fans to deal with the heat.

The advantages afforded by blower-style coolers make them the de facto cooling solution for servers and high-end systems comprised of multiple GPUs. They allow server chassis to be optimized for space and prevent GPUs from overheating in multi-GPU configurations.

Galax' new RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4070 Ti Super blower-style graphics cards reportedly use the same cooler specs. Both feature a maximum length of 280 mm and a perfect two-slot thickness, making them the perfect GPUs for stacking two, three, or even four cards together in a single machine.

The blower-style cooler on both models utilizes a semi-flow-through design, where air can pass through the rear PCB via three cutouts. But the bulk of the airflow will be pushed onto the central heatsink, then exhausted out the back of the card where four large exhaust vents are located. At the rear, you will also find three DisplayPort connectors and a single HDMI connector.

While you can use these cards for gaming, obviously, these two new graphics cards are geared toward professionals who need the benefits of a blower-style cooler. The one key drawback of blower-style cards is their inability to outperform alternative dual-fan and triple-fan cooler designs. This is why blower-style fans are virtually non-existent in the consumer GPU landscape.

That said, we don't expect these GPUs to have serious cooling issues. Both GPUs run on Nvidia's power-efficient Ada Lovelace GPU architecture, with the 4070 Ti Super running at 285W, and the 4070 Super 220W. Both TDPs represent roughly the same power consumption as Nvidia's blower-style Titan cards from several years ago. The RTX 4070 Super variant boosts up to 2,475MHz and features 7,168 CUDA cores with 12GB of memory, while the RTX 4070 Ti Super variant boosts up to 2,610MHz and boasts 16GB of memory along with 8,448 CUDA cores.

Single-slot graphics cards aren’t easy to find, and the higher up the performance stack you go, the rarer they seem to be. We reported on the sighting of a single-slot GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB blower graphics card last October, and now it seems to have become available. Chinese tech site EXP Review got its hands on one of these slim GPUs and gave it a thorough testing and assessment.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti has been reviewed on Tom’s Hardware in both its 8GB and 16GB incarnations. Whatever the memory configuration, we have to grumble that these GPUs offer weak performance for the price, and the doubled VRAM model offers limited extra appeal. This slim blower design from Galax seems to be based on a 16GB model, as per the previous leak, and this choice may support any premium product pricing plans Galax might have.

Potential buyers of the slim new Galax card should expect reference specs, such as a 2,535 MHz boost clock, according to the data shared in the review. The 16GB model from Gigabyte we looked at had a slight factory overclock. EXP Review compared the Galax single-slot model against an overclocked iGame OC model (2,580 MHz) that wasn’t quite as speedy as the Gigabyte model in our review (2,595 MHz).

Noise is the product’s Achilles' heel

Benchmarking revealed the Galax launches single-slot RTX 4060 Ti performed very similarly to its fatter iGame rival (the OC advantage was very minor if present), which indicates that the slim cooler did its job pretty well. EXP Review notes that the slim Galax saw a maximum GPU temperature of 69.5°C, and maximum hot spot temperature of 81.9°C under testing at full load. 

Fan noise looks like it might be the most significant drawback of the Galax – the price you pay for the compactness – with 51.4dBA recorded in tests. The aforementioned iGame model only hit 32.2dBA in the same situation, and Nvidia’s FE model hit 28.4dBA.

It is interesting to see EXP Review take this Galax graphics card model apart, as it is quite different from many rivals. The long PCB with a trio of cutout arcs, the laptop-style fan, and its rectangular metal thermal module reveal quite a lot of thought has gone into making this product.

In conclusion, the slim blower fan construction helps Galax deliver the svelte 280 x 126 x 20mm design. Moreover, it doesn’t seem to impact the level of performance you might expect from a reference RTX 4060 Ti model. However, cooler noise might be an issue that you can’t live with, depending on your personal tolerance.

A few weeks ago, we reported about a single-slot GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, one of the best graphics cards, with a blower fan allegedly coming from Colorful. To our surprise, a very similarly looking graphics card is listed by Chinese Galax, a prominent graphics card maker. This could mean the product could eventually end up in retail in Europe or the U.S.

As far as specifications are concerned, the Galax GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Unparalleled Max is just yet another RTX 4060 Ti product. It carries Nvidia's AD106-351 GPU featuring 4,352 CUDA cores and operates at the recommended Nvidia boost clocks of up to 2,535 MHz (5 MHz lower than on the original model). The GPU is mated with 16 GB of 18 GT/s GDDR6 memory over a 128-bit interface, which is, again, what Nvidia recommends. The card has four display outputs, comprising three DisplayPorts and one HDMI connector, making it quite versatile for various display setups.

The key selling point of the product is its form factor and dimensions. The board is 267 mm x 107 mm x 20 mm and fits easily into most computer cases, provided they have a spare eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector. Meanwhile, with a power rating of 165W, that blower fan may be pretty busy when the product is under high loads, so beware of noise.

It should be noted that Nvidia dislikes when its partners install blower-type fans on consumer products. To a large degree, this is because such graphics boards may pose competition to workstation-grade cards supplied by Nvidia and select partners.

One could fit multiple Galax GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Unparalleled Max boards into one system and use it for applications typically reserved for professional and server workloads, including video walls (which require multiple GPUs) and various AI/ML training and inference tasks that can use multiple FP16/BF16-capable GPUs running in parallel.

Galax today announced its new HOF Extreme 50S PCIe 5.0 SSDs on Chinese social media site Weibo. What difference does the 'S' make? According to Galax's in-house testing, the new models deliver read and write speeds up to 12.4 GB/s and 11.8 GB/s, respectively. Reports also suggest that these drives are capable of 1,500K IOPS.

You might be thinking that you've already heard of these Galax Hall of Fame SSDs, as we covered the HOF Extreme 50 drives inMarch. But now the component-maker has added an 'S' suffix to the product name, which represents an upgrade to the line. And the increase in transfer speeds delivered by the HOF Extreme 50S is a pretty significant upgrade at nearly 25%.

The new Galax HOF Extreme 50S PCIe 5.0 SSDs look just like their predecessors and feature the same Phison controller, so it's natural to wonder how the 'S' models achieved such an impressive performance boost. The upgraded models appear to feature a new ECC algorithm technology and fifth-generation LDPC error correction capability. We don't see any other differences in the specs that have been shared so far; the controller, NAND, and cache all seem to be the same, but perhaps some other difference will become apparent once the SSD product pages are updated.

As long as we're talking about similarities, the upgraded SSD is definitely aesthetically identical to its predecessor — right down to the contoured, white metal, actively-cooled heatsink with HOF design flourishes.

The Galax HOF Extreme 50 was launched in a slower 1TB capacity, as well as a 2TB capacity (the 2TB model's performance is shown in the above table). Chinese tech media reports that the new HOF Extreme 50S will be initially made available in a 2TB capacity, and will eventually be followed by a 4TB model.

Galax did not reveal pricing and availability for the new PCIe 5.0 SSD. In its social media post, the company declared the  HOF Extreme 50S "released," but we have yet to see it show up online. 

PC graphics card, components, and peripherals maker Galax has entered the PSU market and isn’t pulling any punches with its first model to hit the market. It has confidently launched a new 1300W power supply into its premium flagship Hall of Fame family with the release of the new Galax Hall of Fame GH1300 PSU. In addition to the headlining 1300W of power, this all-white 80-Plus Platinum PSU features twin 16-pin power connectors. It's also both ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 ready.

The Galax RTX 4090 HOF caused a stir when it was first spotted in early November, but its power and potential really came into focus when it rampaged through the HWBot rankings later the same month. It took ten overclocking and benchmarking world records, as documented by an HWBot blog. But, in some ways, its superlative performance wasn’t surprising, and it remains one of the most powerful variants of the most powerful graphics cards available.

Among the key specs of the Galax RTX 4090 HOF are its custom PCB and BIOS design which provides up to a whopping 1000W. This is 300-400W more than any rival can muster. Also, Galax’s alluring white PCB constructed graphics card is the first so far to feature twin 16-pin power connectors to feed through the necessary watts. Thus, Galax has decided to make the neatest solution to its graphics card’s twin 16-pin power connector requirements, and added the GH1300 PSU to the HOF stables.

For a full breakdown of the modular connections available to owners of this new PSU, please check out the image and table below.

Galax boasts that “no expense was spared” when it put together the HOF GH1300 PSU – but what is the price for end users? In the Chinese retail listing, we spotted the PSU was listed at 1899 RMB ($275), and that figure is shown as a promotional price, with the full price usually being 3199 RMB ($465). Chinese consumer retail pricing should include 13% VAT. Unfortunately, there are no signs of this 1300W PSU in the US-facing official Galax store at the time of writing.

One of the great things about a popular gaming monitor category is that it spawns value models from less-visible manufacturers. Not only do these displays sell for low prices, but they also often come with excellent performance and solid build quality.

I rarely add a new company to my list of monitor reviews, but here, I have the Galax Vivance VI-01. It’s a 27-inch flat IPS panel with QHD resolution, 165 Hz, G-Sync certification, FreeSync compatibility, HDR and extended color. It checks all the important boxes for less than $300.

Galax Vivance VI-01 Specs

The VI-01 is similar to many of the best gaming monitors in this category, but it adds value as a prominent feature. The IPS panel has a claimed 1ms MPRT response, and my tests showed it draws the screen in 6ms, which is equal to nearly every other 165 Hz monitor I’ve experienced. It also has relatively low input lag with a slightly quicker-than-average total score of 29ms. It will undoubtedly deliver a snappy and smooth experience to a wide variety of gamer skill sets.

The panel is a 27-inch flat-screen with QHD resolution, meaning a very good pixel density of 109ppi. And you can reach its 165 Hz maximum refresh rate without spending a mint on a high-end video card. Adaptive-Sync comes in both forms with Nvidia G-Sync certification, a rarity at this price, and AMD FreeSync compatibility. They operate over a 48 to 165 Hz range. The VI-01 also includes a blur-reducing backlight strobe option that works instead of AS.

HDR10 is supported by an auto-switching mode and an extended color gamut. In my tests, I measured just over 88% coverage of DCI-P3, which is about average for the genre. Out-of-box color is a bit off the mark, but I was able to calibrate the VI-01 to a good standard. The picture is plenty colorful for both SDR and HDR content, although I did not find an included sRGB mode.

The only other gaming feature here is a selection of aiming points. There is no LED lighting though you can get an upgraded version of the VI-01 with LEDs in the back: the aptly named VI-01RGB. The stand is a solid piece with only a tilt adjustment. There are built-in speakers but no USB. And the input panel includes two HDMI and two DisplayPort inputs.

So, there aren’t a ton of bells and whistles, but the VI-01 seems to have the right tools for a solid gaming experience. Let’s take a look.

Assembly and Accessories of Galax Vivance VI-01

The VI-01 arrived in a slim box with its contents encased in crumbly foam. No tools are required for assembly and the base slips into the upright and is retained by a friction spring. The panel then snaps in place. 

A 100mm VESA lug pattern is provided, but you’ll need your own fasteners to use an arm or bracket. The only video cable provided is DisplayPort and there’s a small external power supply to feed the juice.

Product 360: Galax Vivance VI-01

The VI-01’s styling is very simple, with a thin flush bezel in front surrounding a matte screen. The image is free of grain, and reflections are managed well. Only a small Galax logo appears on the bottom trim. The OSD joystick is in an unusual place, just right of center. There’s also a button to toggle G-Sync/Adaptive-Sync on and off. In the photo, you can see a small lens above the upright. That’s the LED feature that comes on the VI-01RGB model. My sample did not have this.

The stand is cast aluminum with a wrinkle finish that resists fingerprints and light in equal measure. The friction fit of the base and upright is something I haven’t seen before. It is very solid and does not pull apart easily. You can pick the VI-01 and move it around without fear of parts falling off. 

Unfortunately, the rubber feet leave marks behind on your desk. I often slide monitors around my white table that serves as a testing area, and this one left faint black streaks on the surface. They cleaned up easily, but this is also something I haven’t seen before. The stand offers only -5/20 degrees of tilt, but there is no height adjustment, swivel or portrait mode. The screen sits a bit low for my average desktop, so I had to angle it upward to my eyepoint.

The clearly labeled input panel has two DisplayPort and two HDMI 2.0 inputs. You also get a 3.5mm audio output. The built-in speakers sound tinny like most monitors but are relatively free of distortion. There are no USB ports.

OSD Features of Galax Vivance VI-01

Though the VI-01 includes an OSD joystick, its function is not immediately intuitive. For instance, to move between the sub-menus, you’d think left and right would be the way to do it. Incorrect; it’s up and down. Left is cancel/return. And adjusting sliders is also up and down even though the sliders are horizontal. It’s a little wonky, but I got used to it after a short time. To activate the OSD, press the joystick and click right. Clicking down cycles through the six available aiming points, three shapes and two colors.

The VI-01 has five main picture modes with another seven under the Game label. The easiest way to avoid confusion is to stick with the default one, Standard. It offers enough image controls to correct the out-of-box color errors I found.

The Picture menu has video processing options, including G-Sync toggle, AMBR (backlight strobe) and Response Time (overdrive). I found the best motion processing with this turned off. The three settings all create ghosting artifacts that break up the edges of moving objects. The AMBR is a viable alternative to Adaptive-Sync. It only has a slight phasing artifact and maxes the brightness to prevent the dimming that usually occurs. And it is the smoothest motion available from the VI-01.

You can calibrate using the User Color with its RGB sliders. I achieved excellent grayscale tracking, but there are no gamma presets, which are sorely needed. The default curve is too light. HDR is set by default to Auto and switches automatically when HDR10 signals are present. However, there’s no additional contrast in this mode.

Calibration Settings for Galax Vivance VI-01

In the default Standard mode, the VI-01 has a cool grayscale, light gamma and under-saturated color. A grayscale calibration fixes one and three, but there are no gamma presets. This means the picture will be a bit lighter in overall tone with slightly less perceived contrast. My instrumented calibration settings shown below will make a visible improvement, especially in color saturation. I also noticed some edge enhancement at the default Sharpness setting. That slider should be set to zero for the clearest image.

When HDR is set to Auto, the VI-01 switches without user intervention when an HDR10 signal is applied. Color accuracy is good with a neutral grayscale and correct luminance tracking. I noted a few color saturation errors, which you can read about on page five.

Gaming and Hands-on with Galax Vivance VI-01

I found the VI-01 looked a bit flat on the Windows desktop and when playing a few familiar games. It needs some tweaking to the grayscale and my visual observation suggested a light gamma. Tests and calibration confirmed that the gamma is indeed low, and grayscale runs cool by default. After calibration, the picture was much better with natural hues, greater color saturation and better-perceived contrast. Gamma still looked a little light, meaning the picture didn’t quite have the pop that comes with correct luminance tracking.

Moving on to work tasks, I found the VI-01 very competent for things like Word and Excel. Thanks to its sharp and detailed image, I could edit graphics without issue. I recommend setting Sharpness to zero to eliminate the slight edge enhancement I saw. It’s most visible when viewing black text against a gray background.

Gaming was a satisfying experience thanks to the VI-01’s smooth motion processing and low input lag. It is adequate for a gamer of my skills and will be a solid tool for nearly any player. G-Sync and FreeSync worked without issue, and I saw frame rates between 140 and 165 fps in both Doom Eternal and Call of Duty WWII. Overdrive was left off because any other setting created distracting ghosting artifacts, which broke up fine detail in moving objects and backgrounds. 

The backlight strobe, called AMBR, also worked well with no visible artifacts in gameplay. When you turn this feature on, it locks the brightness on maximum, so there is no dimming of the image. It cancels out Adaptive-Sync as most monitors do, but I only saw the occasional frame tear. It is a viable option.

Image-wise, HDR looked a little better than SDR. Highlights were brighter, and I could see greater color saturation. To make a practical comparison, the VI-01 in HDR mode looks as good as a premium display running in SDR mode. It’s at its best when playing HDR content. SDR games like Tomb Raider have good color and detail but the low gamma veils the image slightly.

Overall, the VI-01 performs as expected for the price. It’s a good value and delivers excellent gaming performance but image quality, while good, has room for improvement.

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I have no shortage of QHD 165 Hz monitors for the VI-01’s comparison charts. All were recently reviewed. The group includes the HyperX Armada 27, Gigabyte M27QP, Viotek GNV32DBE, NZXT Canvas 32Q and Cooler Master GM27-FQS.

Pixel Response and Input Lag

Click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.

The VI-01 is slightly quicker than average in total control lag. This is a good thing because most 165 Hz monitors are very responsive to the user and ideal for fast-paced gaming. Unless you have extreme skills, this display will provide an excellent feel and experience for all types of play

Most 165 Hz monitors, including the VI-01, draw a full white field pattern in 6ms. For this test, the Galax’s overdrive was turned off because any other setting produces ghosting and edge breakup of moving objects. Motion tests show the same level of smoothness as any other 165 Hz display. Adding in the backlight strobe option (AMBR) increases motion resolution at the cost of Adaptive-Sync.

Viewing Angles

The VI-01 is an inexpensive monitor, but its off-axis image quality equals a premium IPS screen. At 45 degrees horizontal, there is a slight light reduction but no change in color. Fine detail remains clear thanks to stable gamma. The top view is much darker with a green tint.

Screen Uniformity

To learn how we measure screen uniformity, click here.

The VI-01 has excellent off-axis performance with no color shift at 45 degrees horizontal and only a 10% reduction in brightness. There is also no change in gamma. This is one of the most shareable 27-inch monitors I’ve seen. The top view is typical of IPS screens with a green shift, 50% light falloff and washed-out detail. But the view to the sides is well above the norm for IPS panels.

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To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

The VI-01’s specs promise 350 nits, and my sample nearly delivered that. It’s off by 5 nits which is not noticeable to the naked eye. There is plenty of brightness here. Black levels are about average for the category, making contrast just a tad under my 1,000:1 benchmark.

After Calibration to 200 nits

Calibration increases contrast slightly to 1,001.1:1. While this is a seemingly small difference, the improved color saturation is not small. Coupled with a more neutral grayscale, calibration makes a significant and positive impact on image quality.

ANSI contrast is solid at 975.8:1. This speaks to the high quality of the VI-01’s build and component selection. Galax has not cut corners here. The price is low, but the build is excellent.

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One trait many value displays have in common is weak out-of-box color accuracy. The VI-01 is no exception, but it isn’t too hard to make it into a much better monitor.

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

Our grayscale and gamma tests use Calman calibration software from Portrait Displays. We describe our grayscale and gamma tests in detail here.

The VI-01 starts out with a very cool grayscale. You can see this as a flatter image with a two-dimensional quality. Because of the light gamma, the default picture lacks brilliance.

Calibration improves grayscale tracking enormously to where there are no visible errors at any point in the brightness scale. Gamma is still too light though. The picture is much better thanks to greater color saturation, which I’ll talk about below, but there is potential for more. A darker gamma preset would be welcome.

Comparisons

The VI-01’s default 6.59dE result is typical of value displays. While the error isn’t huge, the monitor will look much better with calibration. I recommend using the settings I posted on page one at a minimum. That will get you close to the mark. My sample finished at 0.90dE, which is excellent for this category and price point.

The VI-01’s light gamma is a flaw that cannot be fixed. A 0.25 range of values isn’t too bad relative to most monitors, but the 12.73% deviation from standard should be corrected with a firmware update. Galax could either adjust the gamma or add presets to the menu options. This affects both perceived contrast and color saturation.

Color Gamut Accuracy

Our color gamut and volume testing use Portrait Displays’ Calman software. For details on our color gamut testing and volume calculations, click here.

You can see what I’ve been talking about in the first color chart. The primaries, especially red, are significantly under-saturated. The hue errors in magenta and yellow are easy to fix with a grayscale calibration, but the only way to increase saturation is with a darker gamma option.

Luckily, my adjustments add color back in. The hue errors are fixed except for blue, which is a little off the mark. The lower points, 20-60%, are much closer to their targets which is a major visible improvement in quality. Calibration makes the VI-01 a lot better, but there is still some upward potential.

Comparisons

Though the VI-01 is last in the color gamut comparison, 3.50dE is a respectable score for the money. Remember that this monitor costs less than $300. It undercuts much of its competition while only sacrificing a little color accuracy and contrast. In other words, it’s still an outstanding deal.

Gamut volume is not a problem here with the VI-01’s 88.19% coverage of DCI-P3. My only complaint is that there’s no sRGB mode, but that won’t be a problem for most gamers. Like most wide gamut screens, the Galax comes up short in the green primary.

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Our HDR benchmarking uses Portrait Displays’ Calman software. To learn about our HDR testing, see our breakdown of how we test PC monitors.

The VI-01 correctly processes HDR10 signals with a dedicated picture mode and automatic switching. There are no picture options available, but I found decent accuracy and a picture that was slightly better than its SDR counterpart.

HDR Brightness and Contrast

The VI-01 delivers good brightness in HDR mode with just over 363 nits peak. That’s enough to make a little extra impact in the highlight areas of the image. But with no dynamic dimming feature, black levels are the same as they are in SDR mode. That means contrast is the same as well. HDR delivers a bit more color saturation but that is all.

Grayscale, EOTF and Color

I was happy to see that the VI-01 was very color accurate in HDR mode, especially in the grayscale test where I recorded no visible errors and a near-perfect EOTF. The only flaw in luminance tracking is a high reading at 5% black, which is too light. Fixing this parameter alone would increase HDR contrast by a good deal. The rest of the curve is right on the reference line with the tone-map transition point at 65%.

In the HDR gamut test, I noted over-saturation in red by around 15%. This isn’t a huge problem and given the VI-01’s light gamma, it makes color more vibrant at the expense of a little fine detail. Some bright areas show a bit of clipping, but you have to be looking for it. In the heat of an action game, you aren’t likely to notice a problem. 

Hue tracking is on point except for blue, which shows the same shift toward cyan that I observed in SDR mode. The VI-01 interprets Rec.2020 much the same way with over-saturation of the inner points. It manages to get up to around 88% red, but the other colors top out closer to 70%. This is typical performance when compared to all wide gamut monitors.

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With so many QHD 165 Hz screens to choose from, it makes sense to find value-oriented products in the mix. A lower price doesn’t have to mean less performance. However, it’s important to prioritize your wish list because you won’t always get it all. If gaming is the primary consideration, response and motion processing should be a priority.

The Galax Vivance VI-01 delivers excellent gaming performance. Panel response is on par with other 165 Hz screens and with quicker-than-average input lag, it makes a great tool for your favorite action titles. In my experience, it matched my every move perfectly and kept the picture sharp in all scenarios, fast or slow. With G-Sync certification, FreeSync compatibility and a well-done backlight strobe, video processing is as good as the best in class. Just make sure to turn off the overdrive to avoid artifacts.

The only flaw for me was image fidelity, and that was all due to the light gamma. It may seem like a minor point, but gamma impacts all aspects of the picture, especially color and contrast. Though the VI-01 has the 1,000:1 contrast ratio I expect from an IPS panel, the light gamma creates a subtle but visible veil. Calibration improves color saturation, and that is a good thing. But darker gamma would take this monitor to a higher level.

When considering what you get for the money, the VI-01 is a good choice. It’s one of the least-expensive 27-inch QHD 165 Hz monitors available and that partially excuses its downsides. If you’re looking for a solid budget-friendly gaming display, the Galax Vivance VI-01 is definitely worthy of consideration.

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According to a report by VideoCardz, Galax is introducing two RTX 4090 Hall of Fame graphics cards to the public, the OC Lab and OC Lab Plus. These cards are among the thickest and most powerful 4090s in the literal sense, featuring very thick triple fan cooling solutions, and a whopping 1200W of theoretical power output thanks to dual 16-pin power connectors. If history is anything to go by, these Hall of Fame cards should be the most overbuilt 4090s to date, with the goal of breaking world records. Pricing and availability are unknown at this time.

The most surprising addition to the 4090 Hall of Fame, is the fact there are two models instead of just one. With the baseline model being the OC Lab, and the more powerful version named the OC Lab Plus. Unfortunately differences between the two are very minor, with the OC Lab Plus model featuring a measly 30MHz boost over the other model. 

We reported in November on a leaked picture of one of these Galxy HoF cards that Swedish overclocker Rauf shared with Nordic hardware. According to Benchlife, an RTX 4090 HoF card set 20 overclocking records around the same time.

Just like previous models, both 4090 HoF cards pack a completely white color aesthetic, with the shroud, fans and even the PCB colored in pure white. But, the most noteworthy change between the previous gen 3090 Ti HoF and the new 4090 models, is the addition of a large RGB-lit crown coming out from the center fan. 

In its full form, the crown is so large that it physically increases the card's clearance requirements. But thankfully, the top part of the crown appears to be optional and can be removed if needed. 

Size wise, the RTX 4090 HoF cards are beefy cards - measuring in at 344 x 183 x 77mm. But depending on the way you view these cards, they aren't the largest 4090s on the market. Asus' ROG Strix model for instance, is still one of the largest cards to date, and is several mm longer than both 4090 HoF models. But the HoF models have the Strix beat in thickness and in height.

But, the real star of the show is the 4090 HoF's power capacity, which is the best out of any RTX 4090 to date. In each model's performance BIOS mode, the cards will have access to 666W of power consumption, 66 more than what a single 16-pin power connector can provide. 

It is a shame that the included BIOS is not equipped to handle anywhere near the limit of what two 16-pin connectors can provide, but don't be surprised to see 4090 HoF cards hitting that limit anyways thanks to modified BIOS firmware in the future.

Galax has taken to Twitter to boast of a new overclocking world record, achieved using one of its newest graphics cards. The Galax OC team turned their attention to the GeForce RTX 4080 and achieved a GPU clock of 3,615 MHz, which is claimed to be 40% faster than stock boost clocks. An ‘HOF’ (Hall of Fame) edition card wasn’t used for this terrific feat, as there's no such RTX 4080 SKU at this time. Instead, the OC team used a more ‘budget’ Galax RTX 4080 Serious Gamer (SG) 1-Click OC edition.

The source post is sadly lacking in details, with just the headlining world record clock speed compared to the factory and Galax preset 1-Click OC setting. About a fortnight ago, Galax was in the news due to its RTX 4090 HOF rampaging through the HWBot world records tables with clocks surpassing 3.8 GHz. We assume the GeForce RTX 4080 SG was subject to the same level of extreme cooling (LN2 pot on CPU and GPU), and perhaps even the return of the skill sets of both Rauf and OGS.

Galax currently markets four GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards: the SG and Metal Master, with both SKUs offering a normal and OC variant. The Galax RTX 4080 SG is a little more expensive than the Metal Master version, and that is likely due to its unusual cooler design.

A stock GeForce RTX 4080 SG / OC comes with a significant triple fan air cooler, so far so ordinary, but it sports an additional 102mm fan at the exhaust. Its marketing materials appear to describe the extra fan as the 1-Clip Booster 2.0. Without the additional fan the card is 66mm thick, but its addition will add maybe 20mm.

Whether Galax will produce an RTX 4080 HOF may depend on the fate of this second tier card in retail. We have seen reports that suggest consumer interest in the RTX 4080 is rather weak, even during what should be one of the best periods for the card. Nvidia and partners might have to adjust prices to make this product viable. Tech scalpers may also have been burned by the contrast in enthusiasm between the RTX 4090 and 4080. When and if this happens it might rule out Galax spending time and effort creating a HOF edition.

Of course the RTX 4080 is featured in our exhaustive GPU Hierachy, and you can check out our reviews if you want to learn more. However, it doesn’t make it into our coveted top 13 best graphics cards for gaming in 2022 list, even though its bigger brother claims the No. 1 spot.

Galax unexpectedly released a new mid-range part in its Hall of Fame graphics card lineup, the RTX 3060 Ti G6X HoF Pro. Interestingly, this new release marks the Hall of Fame brand's first entry into the mid-range segment since the GTX 1060. The RTX 3060 Ti G6X HoF Pro seemingly goes overboard with its cooling and power delivery setup, but this GPU could be your cup of tea if you are a fan of the brand or a hardcore overclocker. 

As is customary for Hall of Fame GPU products, this RTX 3060 Ti G6X model comes with a mammoth triple fan solution designed to cool well over the GPU's reference 200W thermal target. The cooler measures just over two slots in thickness and 319mm in length, making it one of the largest RTX 3060 Ti's we've seen so far. In addition, the shroud sits quite high above the card's PCB, allowing the three fans to push air easily out of the sides of the card.

The card features a white PCB, white fans, and even a white PCB to match. The only non-illuminated colors you'll find on the GPU are black and blue, accenting the card's white shroud.

The blue accents come from four slats circling the central fan on four sides. They are accompanied by black sticks on each fan, featuring the HoF logo. But, the card can change its color theme very quickly, thanks to an RGB-illuminated central fan and an RGB-illuminated Hall of Fame banner on the card's side.

Unfortunately, Galax neglected to share details on the card's power delivery setup or much of the cooling system. Other than the fact it uses 6mm nickel-plated composited heat pipes. But, the card does come with a greatly increased 260W power target by default, which is 60W greater than the card's reference specs.

We also expect the card to reach even greater power targets if you head into overclocking software and push the power limit slider as high as it can. Reinforcing the card's high power limit are dual 8-pin supplementary power connectors instead of one 8-in or a single 8-pin and single 6-pin combo - as seen on other AIB partner cards.

Backing up the card's high power consumption is the card's default clock speed which comes at a whooping 1800MHz, making it one of the highest clocked 3060 Ti's on the market. Not to mention the GDDR6X model that comes with significantly faster 19Gbps memory modules (vs. 14Gbps on the standard 3060 Ti).

Unfortunately, we don't know what pricing will be like, but undoubtedly this will be both the fastest and one of the most expensive RTX 3060 Ti models you can buy.

Galax's GeForce RTX 4090 HOF graphics board with two 12VHPWR auxiliary power connectors isn't available yet, but the card has already become a legend after it managed to overclock Nvidia's AD102 graphics processor to an unprecedented 3.7 GHz. The add-in-board required liquid nitrogen (LN2) cooling to hit the world's highest GPU frequency. Yet, there seems to be a catch with AD102 overclocking. 

The Galax GeForce RTX 4090 Hall of Fame graphics card comes with extremely sophisticated power delivery accompanied by a BIOS which can set the power circuitry to deliver up to 1000W to enable extreme overclocking even without any significant volt modding (if any). The board can also be equipped with pots for liquid nitrogen or liquid helium for extreme overclocking. As a result, it was fairly easy for professional overclockers to start their experiments with the AIB once they obtained a sample. This greatly simplifies non-extreme overclocking for regular users, which will probably make this board the fastest device in our best graphics cards list. 

OGS, a renowned overclocker, pushed the Galax GeForce RTX 4090 HOF to 3705 MHz and ran the GPUPI benchmark (which is not exactly a graphics workload) at this frequency. This frequency is tangibly higher than the 3.45 GHz hit by a volt-modded Galax GeForce RTX 4090 Serious Gaming back in October. 

There is a major catch, though. To hit 31,096 points in 3DMark Port Royal (which is higher than the previous world's record by more than 1,000 points), OGS had to reduce the clock rate to 3570 MHz. That's still higher than the previous GPU frequency record. Furthermore, it is over 1000 MHz higher than the Nvidia-recommended boost clock for its GeForce RTX 4090. 

Unfortunately, OGS didn't disclose the power consumption when the card operates at 3570 MHz or 3705 MHz, though we can certainly make some guesses given the fact that the GPU can be fed with one kilowatt of power. 

The Galax GeForce RTX 4090 Hall of Fame graphics card is set to hit the market shortly. Its price is unknown, but it will be significantly higher than Nvidia's suggested retail price of $1,599.

Galax has a reputation for pushing Nvidia GPUs to extremes with its halo products. Among the best graphics cards, niche enthusiasts will be familiar with its Hall of Fame (HOF) line of products that sit at pinnacle of extreme performance. The latest Galax RTX 4090 HOF kicks things up a notch, an outlandish take on an already edgy product. Galax has the gall to fit this GeForce RTX 4090 with twin 16-pin power connectors and a BIOS ready to deliver up to 1000W to the GPU — hopefully without any potentially melting adapters.

Swedish tech site Nordic Hardware received the above images from their fellow countryman, overclocking legend Rauf, who is currently placed 5th in HWBot's world rankings. The images show an attractive icy white PCB featuring the best power design Galax can muster, as well as the two headlining 16-pin 12VHPWR connector ports.

If you count the components on the PCB, you'll tally the boxy chokes and determine this particular HOF design features 28 VRM phases for the GPU, plus another four for the memory. That's a substantial power delivery setup, designed to stably deliver a large amount of current under the most extreme of use cases, like liquid nitrogen.

The design of the Galax RTX 4090 HOF allows extreme overclockers to crank up to 1000W through the dual 16-pin power connectors for all sorts of overclocking hijinks. The 1000W allowed by the BIOS is considerably higher than the max wattage we've seen from any of the RTX 4090 cards we've reviewed, which achieved a maximum of around 600W with overclocking. Pushing that 400W higher makes us a little concerned, but then this is no ordinary card.

If you'd like to purchase a Galax GeForce RTX 4090 HOF, Rauf hasn't shared any details on pricing or availability. Apparently, the launch date will coincide with Rauf and a few other select extreme overclockers releasing a flurry of overclocking results and benchmark scores. We'll keep our eyes peeled for the expected toppling of a wide range of graphics card performance world records, so stay tuned.

Galax has quietly introduced its first GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus graphics cards equipped with 8GB of GDDR6X memory. The boards feature higher memory bandwidth than regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti boards and, therefore, offer somewhat higher performance than regular models in cases where memory bandwidth matters. In some situations, the Galax RTX 3060 Ti Plus could rival Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070. 

The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus is based on a GA103 or GA104 graphics processor with 4864 CUDA cores (just like the regular GeForce RTX 3060 Ti) that are mated with 8GB of 19 GT/s GDDR6X memory using a 256-bit interface (vs. 14 GT/s GDDR6 on regular models). As a result, the new graphics board can offer a peak memory bandwidth of 608 GB/s, which is 36% higher than standard GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3070 cards. 

Performance numbers demonstrated by Galax and republished by VideoCardz show that the RTX 3060 Ti Plus can indeed be faster than the model RTX 3070 in certain cases, though these numbers need independent verification. 

Meanwhile, since GDDR6X uses PAM4 encoding, this memory increases power consumption for both the GPU and memory. Furthermore, GDDR6X, which is exclusively available from Micron, tends to be more expensive than the regular GDDR6 that is sold by three major memory makers. 

Speaking of Galax's GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus graphics cards, the company has two models: the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus SG with a 1695 MHz boost clock and a triple-slot triple-fan cooler, as well as the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Plus with 1680 MHz boost clock and a dual-slot dual-fan cooler. In addition, both cards have one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector and four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 connector). 

Given the somewhat odd configuration of the Galax RTX 3060 Ti Plus, it remains to be seen how much the graphics cards will eventually cost. In theory, the model RTX 3060 Ti Plus should sit between the regular RTX 3060 Ti ($399) and RTX 3070 ($499), but since the product will rival the latter, at least in some cases, its pricing will probably fall closer to Nvidia's reference GeForce RTX 3070.

Galax-sponsored TecLab OC team from Brazil has managed to push Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4090 graphics processor to a record-breaking 3.45 GHz with the help of some modding and liquid nitrogen. 

This is the highest GPU clock speed ever achieved. 

But there is a catch. At such a high frequency the card started showing performance degradation — and the team had to reduce the clock speed before they were able to run benchmarks.

According to VideoCardz, the team of overclockers took Galax's upcoming GeForce RTX 4090 SG (Serious Gaming) graphics card — a likely contender for one of the best graphics cards — which uses a custom-printed circuit board that is designed to make graphics processors run at frequencies higher than those recommended by Nvidia. 

Using the card's quad-fan stock cooler, the Galax GeForce RTX 4090 SG can be overclocked to 3.075 GHz. But with higher voltages and extreme LN2 cooling, the GPU can hit speeds as high as 3.45 GHz, with memory data transfer rates hitting speeds of up to 24 GT/s (probably the default speed of Micron's latest 16GB GDDR6X chips). 

To prep the card for their overclocking session, the TecLab OC team had to remove the power limit controller, resolder some of the elements from the front side of the PCB to the backside of the PCB to install the liquid nitrogen pot, and add voltage probes to better understand the board's behavior. 

The TecLab OC team managed to get the Galax GeForce RTX 4090 SG to 3.45 GHz, which is the highest GPU clock speed ever achieved. However, at such a high frequency, and with liquid nitrogen, the GPU started to show degraded performance, and the team had to reduce the clock speed to 3.27 - 3.36 GHz to run benchmarks on the card. 

Even overclocked to ~3.3 GHz, the GeForce RTX 4090 still managed to break five benchmark records, achieving the world's highest performance scores in 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, 3DMark Port Royal, 3DMark Time Spy Extreme Graphics, Superposition 1080p Extreme, and Unigine Superposition 8.

When Nvidia introduced its AD102 graphics processor as well as its GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card, it said the GPU was designed to hit high clock speeds and claimed to have already run the AD102 GPU at 3.0 GHz in its labs.  And now the TecLab OC team has proven the GPU can hit even higher clock speeds outside of Nvidia's labs — once it's fed with enough power and cooled with liquid nitrogen, of course. 

At least three SSD makers — Corsair, Gigabyte, and Goodram — announced their SSDs based on Phison's E26 controller with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface over the past few weeks. Corsair's and Goodram's drives offer a maximum sequential read speed of 10 GBps, whereas Gigabyte's product is said to hit 12.4 GBps. There is a reason for that: No 3D NAND chips are currently fast enough to saturate the controller's capabilities.

Phison's PS5026-E26 controller has eight NAND channels, which is typical for client SSDs. These channels support different data transfer rates, but to saturate a PCIe 5.0 x4 (15.754 GBps in both directions), it needs 3D NAND memory with a 2400 MTps interface. Micron was first to announce such memory this July, SK Hynix followed in early August, then YMTC introduced its Xtacking 3.0 architecture enabling a 2400 MTps speed. All of Phison's E26 demonstrations were with SSDs featuring Micron's latest 3D NAND chips, and this is when those drives hit ~12 GBps sequential read speeds. Galax is also testing its HOF Extreme 50 SSDs with Micron's 232-layer 2400 MTps chips, according to ITHome.

Micron's 232-layer 3D NAND chips with a 2400 MTps interface are ahead of the rivals in mass production and maturity. But there is a problem. Yields of chips with 2400 MTps data transfer rates are low; they work perfectly at 1600 MTps, though. As a result, it will take the company some time to initiate mass production of chips that all work at 2400 MTps, which will presumably happen sometime early next year, according to Tom's Hardware sources.

In the meantime, SSDs based on Phison's E26 controller will only hit around 10,000 MBps. Gigabyte announced its Aorus Gen5 10000 SSD with a 12.4 GB/s sequential read speed with Micron's 2400 MTps memory, whereas Corsair and Goodram rated their drives at 10 GBps since they will have to use 3D NAND memory with a 1600 MTps interface.

Will Gigabyte be able to procure enough 2400 MTps chips for proper availability of its drive is something only time will tell. Corsair and Goodram are arguably more realistic with their performance targets, so expect their SSDs to be available widely, and these will be among the best SSDs this fall. Also, expect these companies to launch successors to their MP700 and IRDM Pro drives as soon as memory with a 2400 MTps interface is available widely. Finally, we have no idea when Galax plans to introduce its HOF Extreme 50 drive, but since it is testing it with Micron's 232-layer 2400 MTps chips, you can make some guesses.

Nvidia graphics card partner Galaxy has teamed up with some cartoon character designers and publishers to create a doggedly different limited edition. The partnership between Galaxy, Dodowo, Bemoe, and Station B has precipitated one of the most bizarre-looking GeForce RTX 30-series (Ampere) graphics cards we have ever seen. The design pays tribute to a cartoon dog with the body of a vegetable.

If you were a fan of this dog, which we think is a character called Caigu in the Dodowo animations, then this will be a very appealing package. There are plenty of supporting accessories in the box besides the pastel yellow GPU with red flourishes on the front and a happy Caigu shouting encouragement on the back. The package includes a 360 x 275mm mouse mat, an intelligent device stand with clock, a 55mm square die with six facial expressions posted by Caigu and the gift box.

We should look at the graphics card more closely, as that is our job here, but it is nothing special under the dog/cabbage-themed paint job. The GeForce RTX 3060 is suitable for playing mainstream AAA games at 1080p with smooth frame rates and support for graphics technologies like real-time raytracing, DLSS, and Nvidia Reflex. Regulars will know from one of several reviews RTX 3060 we have published. Coincidentally, we reviewed a Galaxy-made model, the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 EX, in November last year.

This new limited edition model is a triple fan model but won't be much different compared to the twin fan models we have reviewed. An RGB logo provides additional eye candy on the cooling shroud and RGB fans. We guess Dodowo fans will set them to a cabbage green and leave them like that.

You are probably desperate to buy one of these cute Galaxy GeForce RTX 3060 designs. However, it looks like this limited edition will be limited to China, where the Dodowo animation is created and has an established fan base. 

The dog/cabbage gift boxed and themed set has a limited edition of 500 and went on sale at 8 pm. They sell for 3,099 yuan in China, and if we change that to USD directly, at the time of writing, it would be equivalent to $460. That isn't much of a premium over competing branded standard RTX 3060 graphics cards when we checked online retailers in China today. Happily, even with the not terrible pricing, we don't think many of these cute graphics cards will go to the crypto miners. Cryptocurrencies are further declining this weekend, with ETH, for example, valued at under $950 at the time of writing.

If you are after a serious graphics card, feel free to review our famous GPU Hierarchy of 2022 and our list of Best Graphics Cards for Gaming in 2022.

When it comes to ultra-high-end graphics cards, manufacturers tend to start teasing them weeks if not months before actual availability, which to some degree steals the thunder when such boards become available. It is precisely what happened to Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Hall-of-Fame with a massive voltage regulating module and two 12-pin power connectors. In addition, the final version of the product got not only an enormous cooling system but also a substantial 4.3-inch LCD to monitor its parameters in real time.

Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF graphics card was designed from the ground up to be one of the industry's fastest boards in this generation, with formidable performance out-of-box and some serious additional overclocking potential. To do so, the manufacturer equipped its board with a 24+4-phase VRM and two 12-pin power connectors. The combination can theoretically deliver up to 1,200W to the board to feed the full-fat GA102 graphics processor featuring 10,752 CUDA cores with enough power to run at up to a whopping 1,935 MHz (up from 1,860 MHz recommended by Nvidia) with One-click OC feature.

In addition to its out-of-box performance and a formidable cooling system, one of the key selling points of Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF is its 4.3-inch display. It features a 480 x 272 resolution that connects to a USB interface and works with Galax's latest HOF software for overclocking. Besides displaying various helpful information, the display acts like a modding element that adds style to the system.

The board has an input power consumption of 516W, which Galax believes is the maximum it can safely cool down using its triple-fan triple-slot cooling system with an aluminum backplate. Those who want to feed the GPU more power and get higher clocks should wait for Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition, which will come with a water block and a custom XOC BIOS that can increase GPU and memory voltages to unprecedented values.  

OC Lab Edition is aimed at extreme overclockers and will probably be available in extremely limited quantities. But even the 'regular' Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF is not a product for everyone. The product sells for ¥398,200 in Japan ($2,845 without VAT), according to Hermitage Akihabara, which is significantly higher than Nvidia's recommended price for its GeForce RTX 3090 Ti.

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti already resides quite comfortably at the summit of consumer graphics card performance, particularly if you like to play your games with real-time raytracing effects. However, there are always graphics card partners looking to grab the halo from such a product for their own marketing ends. Today momomo_us spotted a third party pictorial extravaganza showing off such a graphics card from all angles – the glistening white Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF OC Labs Edition Limited Edition.

We first became aware of the RTX 3090 Ti HOF OC Labs Edition back in April, when its bright white PCB was shared by an overclocking enthusiast and Twitter user based in Japan. We knew some aspects of the design and features, like the PCB's 24+4 phase VRM and two 12-pin power connectors that can theoretically deliver up to 1200W. This spec is quite an upgrade on the reference card with its 18+3 phase VRM and either a single 12-pin power connector or a trio of 8-pin connectors (for up to 450W). We also learned of the custom XOC BIOS and got our first glance of the custom waterblock.

In today's pictorial from EXPReview, we don't get much extra in the way of technical details, nor the all-important pricing and availability info. However, we do get plenty of third-party pictures of the product, along with the full range of accessories and packaging. Because sharing other sites' exclusive images is a no-no, without permission, please check out some official Galax imagery below. If the source allows it, we will update our gallery with some additional images in due course. The only major things missing from our gallery are  photos of the packaging and custom waterblock, which are exclusive to the OC Labs Edition.

Galax has fitted its gleaming white RTX 3090 Ti PCB with a triple spinner cooler, as standard. The outer fans are 10cm and the middle one is 9cm in diameter. This constitutes what Galax calls the 'white phantom cooling system', alongside a multitude of fins and heatpipes. EXPReview says that the fans support intelligent stop/start, and there's a button on the IO bracket to engage full fan power.

The white fans are embedded in a white shroud, and this design wraps around the back, as well as the end of the graphics card. On the IO bracket there are three DP1.4 interfaces and one HDMI2.1 interface, as well as some sizable cutout vents and the aforementioned turbo fan button. This is a multi-function button which can also be used to toggle the RGB lighting of the card and some status lights. Another switch on the body of the card toggles the BIOS between performance and silent modes. The twin 12-pin power connectors are on the top rear of the card.

The riches of the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF OC Labs Edition box received by Chinese tech media outlets like EXPReview don't end there. As well as the triple fan graphics card and all its charms, the package contains the following:

• A matching white custom made HOF waterblock from cooling specialist Bitspower
• The HOF Panel III full-color display with built-in kickstand for real-time system monitoring, or use as a photo frame (connects via USB data cable)
• An aRGB motherboard cable
• Replacement thermal pads in various sizes and thicknesses
• A GPU support structure hewn from aluminum
• An OC Labs dogtag, in case your remains are hard to recognize after an overclocking mishap
• Washers, standoffs, ties, etc.

As mentioned previously, we don't have pricing and availability for the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Ti HOF OC Labs Edition as yet. With Galax turning up the PR machine and distributing the cards to media, perhaps we'll see it launch in a week or two. Pricing is going to be steep, with a regular GeForce RTX 3090 Ti priced in the region of $2,000, we'd guess this limited edition could easily be $3,000-ish.

Those interested in Nvidia's fastest gaming graphics card should take a look at our GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Roundup: Go Big or Go Liquid. We also published an extensive review of the Asus TUF GeForce RTX 3090 Ti in mid-April.

Galax has issued a statement to Chinese tech magazine IT Home, denying that it has been repackaging and reselling used or refurbished graphics cards as new. The graphics card company, known as Galaxy – with the added 'y' - on its home turf, insisted that all consumer retail parts were completely new. It explained that any PCB gold contact marks found by customers are attributable to wear from its extensive product testing process.

The source article contains the images shown above. Sadly, the source images don't contain very clear close-ups of the part of the PCB.

Let us look at the story in a chronologically sensible manner. What seems to have happened is that IT Home reported on complaints by its readers about receiving Galax graphics cards from consumer outlets that didn't appear to be brand new.

One reader ordered a Galax RTX 3070 Ti Metal Master OC from Taobao in China. Upon receipt, the person didn't open the anti-static bag immediately as they were aware of previous Galax complaints. Instead, he looked carefully through the bag and saw signs on the gold contacts of the PCB that the card was previously plugged/unplugged. Moreover, he made comments about "black marks" on the gold contacts, which are likely to result from oxidization. Thus the customer returned his RTX 3070 Ti without further unpacking and made his tale known to the media.

Galax noticed these reports and was obviously concerned about bad publicity, so it took some time to investigate the returned product. In several pages of analysis, which took place across several company departments, Galax determined that the GPU under scrutiny had a very recent factory production date of April 19, 2022. In addition, it found no issues in functionality and the RTX 3070 Ti performed as expected.

Importantly, Galax explained that "the full-featured test of the graphics card product before shipment may cause the product gold finger to wear." This would explain the scratches on the shiny gold, but it is less convincing that oxidization would occur from a relatively brief test period.

Galax chose to self-investigate customer concerns, which isn't the most satisfactory or convincing type of investigation. To clear itself of suspicion concerning refurbishing or reselling old mining cards, it would have done better to hire a respected third party to look at its production and processes.

If you are interested in acquiring a graphics card at this time, there are signs that AMD is preparing a refresh of its Radeon RX 6000 series shortly. Intel is also preparing to enter the desktop market with its first Arc Alchemist discrete GPUs, and many graphics cards are at long last priced at or very close to MSRP.

We have hit an odd point in which some GPU vendors may have too many cards on hand. Galax today kicked off a price guarantee promotion in partnership with JD.com, one of China's largest online retailers for electronics. The promotion, spotted by ITHome, spans from today to June 18, so one could secure a guarantee of a refund if a GPU drops over the next two months.

With many graphics card model prices falling precipitously this year, it seems that potential buyers are waiting to see where prices will land. It seems gamers and enthusiasts are holding strong, resisting temptation in the hope that the cards eventually come close to the manufacturers' suggested retail price. This cool standoffishness appears to be working.

You can see we have chopped up and translated the Galax promotional infographic above. In case you don't want to flick through the slides, here they are:

• Galax RTX graphics cards can be bought in a price guarantee promotion event via JD.com from April 15 until June 18, 2022.
• Purchase the designated models during the sale event to enjoy up to two months price guarantee.
• In the JD app, find the Galax GPU products with one click price protection. Purchase them to enjoy the price guarantee. If there is any difficulty you can contact customer service.

The promotional infographic shares the list of graphics cards that qualify for the promotion, which appears to include most of Galax's current GeForce Ampere graphics cards starting from RTX 3060 models all the way up to the newest and most powerful RTX 3090 Ti graphics cards. Interestingly, there are no RTX 3070 GPUs in the promotion, and this SKU seems to have been harder to come by in many regions.

Should Graphics Card Buyers Give in Yet?

This promotion is only occurring in China, and we don't know if anything similar will come to retailers in the west. 

Graphics card makers must see pricing charts as clearly as we do, and will be highly motivated to sell now, before further drops occur. In much the same way as mail-in rebates can attract buyers who then forget or don't bother with the rebate for some reason – vendors could benefit from the same behavior.

We don't know much about JD.com's customer service quality, so be careful if you attempt to buy, especially from outside of China. Comments on ITHome regarding JD.com and qualifying for the price guarantee aren't very positive. Moreover many cynically predict sizable price cuts arriving on June 19.

Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is already a top tier GPU. Costing around $2000, and consuming over 450W, this is not a card to squeeze into a compact chassis. Some of Nvidia's partners are creative enough to build something even more exclusive.
Galax wants to stand out even from its rivals, so it is prepping a version of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. The Galax RTX 3090Ti OC LAB Edition features an enhanced voltage regulating module and two 12-pin power connectors along with a pre-installed custom water block. 

To supply enough power to feed Nvidia's fully-fledged GA102 GPU along with its 24GB GDDR6X memory, Galax installed a 24+4-phase VRM and two 12-pin power connectors that can theoretically deliver up to 1200W (this of course depends on the cards BIOS and capabilities of the PSU that feeds it), according to a picture published by Duck OC, a Japanese overclocker (via VideoCardz). To put it into context, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti designs use a 18+3-phase power delivery and pulls external power from either one 12-pin connector or three eight-pin connectors capable of delivering around 450W.

The GeForce RTX Ti Hall of Fame OC Lab Edition graphics card uses a white printed circuit board that has various headers to attach voltage monitoring tools.

For a card that can draw up to 1200W of power (for a short time and under a very high load), an air cooler might not be the best choice, so Galax intends to equip its GeForce RTX Ti Hall of Fame OC Lab Edition with a custom water block from its OC Lab division.  

But it is not enough to have a very capable graphics card and a cooling system to set overclocking records, which is why Galax supplies the GeForce RTX Ti Hall of Fame OC Lab Edition board with a custom XOC BIOS that can increase GPU and memory voltages to unprecedented values. To take advantage of such BIOS one needs to use unconventional cooling methods, such as liquid nitrogen or liquid helium. Such methods cannot be used for real-world applications, but for extreme overclocking and record they are just what the doctor ordered.

Since Duck OC is not a representative of Galax, they did not mention when the company intends to ship its GeForce RTX Ti Hall of Fame OC Lab Edition products commercially and how much this one is going to cost. While we have no idea about the time, we are sure that we are looking at a price way above the $2000 for the reference card. 

Nvidia yet has to formally announce its GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card presumably due later this month, but details about custom boards are beginning to emerge already. Well-known leaker @wxnod has published an alleged image of Galax's custom GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card that features the next-generation 12+4-pin (12VHPWR) PCIe 5.0 auxiliary power connector.  Hat tip to VideoCardz for highlighting the connection. As ever with leaks, take the news with a pinch of salt until official confirmation is announced.

Galax's custom GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Boomstar graphics card will allegedly use a triple-wide cooling system and a 12+4-pin (12VHPWR) auxiliary power connector, according to a picture published by @wxnod (note that other pictures published here are the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 Boomstar from the company's website). The new ATX 3.0/PCIe 5.0 power connector can deliver from 150W to 600W of power to an add-in-board (AIB), so we can only make guesses about power consumption of the Galax product.  

Galax's Boomstar series is exclusive to China, notes VideoCardz, so it is hard to say whether all of Galax's GeForce RTX 3090 Ti will use the next-generation 12VHPWR power connector, or some will keep using an eight-pin PCIe auxiliary power plugs.  

Nvidia itself has been using a 12-pin power connector on premium GeForce RTX 30-series Founders Edition graphics boards since September 2020. While the 12-pin power plug is considered to be one of Nvidia's proprietary technologies, the key difference from industry-standard 12+4-pin (12VHPWR) auxiliary power connectors is the lack of four sensing lines. In fact, Nvidia's Founders Edition boards work perfectly with next-generation PSUs featuring next-gen auxiliary PCIe 5.0 power cables. 

Nvidia is expected to announce its GeForce RTX 3090 Ti flagship graphics card on March 29 and start its sales immediately. The new top-of-the-range product is reportedly based on the GA102 GPU with 10,752 CUDA cores (up from 10,496 on the RTX 3090) that is connected to 24GB of Micron's GDDR6X memory using a 384-bit interface. With specifications like these, the board will likely top our list of the best graphics cards for gaming in the first half of 2022. Power consumption of the unit is expected to be about 450W.

Due to the high power consumption of Nvidia's GPUs based on the Ampere architecture, there aren't many GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards for Mini-ITX systems. This week, Galax introduced its gamer focused GeForce RTX 3060 Metal Master Mini card that can fit into even the smallest Mini-ITX systems.

According to VideoCardz, [FG] refers to "For Gamers" and is essentially an LHR card designed to reduce the hash rates of crypto-mining, but gamers enjoy the full benefits of the card.

Measuring 168 × 115 × 40 mm, The Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Metal Master Mini [FG] is a typical GA106-based graphics card with a GPU featuring 3584 CUDA cores that operates at recommended 1320 MHz – 1777 MHz and is accompanied by 12GB of 15GT/s GDDR6 memory. The board requires a single eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector, and has four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4a sockets, and one HDMI 2.1). 

Mini-ITX form-factor aside, the key feature of the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Metal Master Mini [FG] is its single-fan cooling system with a metal cover on top. A properly made metal shroud promises to vibrate less than one made of plastic, and also serves as an additional heat spreader. As an added bonus, the fan stops spinning when the load is light and temperatures are low, so the card promises to be quiet, at least when working with productivity applications.

Since the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Metal Master Mini [FG] is not factory overclocked, its performance is in line with basic GeForce RTX 3060 boards. Given its modest cooling systems we are not sure whether the card is even a candidate for significant overclocking.

So far, Galax has announced the Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Metal Master Mini [FG] only in China, and did not disclose its price. Keeping in mind the fact that Mini-ITX gaming systems are rather popular worldwide, chances are high that the company will offer something similar in other markets. 

Nvidia launched the GeForce RTX 3060 way back in March 2021, with an extremely optimistic price target of just $329. Eight months later, we've got the Galax RTX 3060 EX in hand, which gives us a great opportunity to revisit how Nvidia's GPU stacks up against the AMD Radeon RX 6600 and  Radeon RX 6600 XT cards that have launched in the past couple of months. Eight months means a lot of potential changes, not just in the competitive landscape and retail market but also in terms of drivers and game patches. We've retested both the EVGA RTX 3060 XC Black we used in the original 3060 launch review as well as the Galax RTX 3060 EX using the latest Nvidia 496.49 drivers and latest game updates to see how things have — and haven't — changed.

All of the mainstream GPUs remain hard to find in stock, unless you're willing to deal with eBay GPU prices (and potentially no manufacturer warranty). It's not hard to see why people might throw in the towel and pay exorbitant markups, sadly. It's been well over a year since the first RTX 30-series cards launched, and about a year since AMD's RX 6000-series first saw the light of day, and neither lineup has ever come close to meeting the market demand — from gamers or cryptocurrency miners. We likely won't see a return to the GPU prices of yesteryear until after the next generation Lovelace and RDNA3 GPUs launch — if ever.

Galax meanwhile hopes to at least sell cards to a few of our US readers, and to that end it's putting more effort into its online Galaxstore.net website — or at least, that's what we've been told. The site has been revamped a bit, and Galax says it will be doing giveaways, but it won't have anything like the Newegg Shuffle — just a normal first come, first served approach to selling products. There also won't be any sign-up queues, which we wouldn't necessarily call a good thing, but when some queues can last more than a year (i.e. EVGA), you start to wonder what the point is.

A few GPUs even show up as being available at the time of writing. Well, one GPU does at least, the RTX 3070 Ti, priced at an even $1,000 in a bundle that includes a Galax-branded RTX 3070 Ti, gaming headset, and mouse. The RTX 3080 SG bundle has unfortunately (and predictably) already sold out. You do need to be a registered user at the Galax store, and there's a limit of one per customer.

Strangely, the Galax RTX 3060 EX we're reviewing doesn't even show up on the Galax store. There's a page for a generic RTX 3060, and it looks pretty similar to the EX card we have for review, but the RTX 3060 EX (1-Click OC) has clear fans and RGB lighting. Also, the 3060 page doesn't even show an out of stock notification, specs, or any way to potentially buy the card. Hopefully that gets addressed in the near future, as it would be great to see another option for buying hard-to-find GPUs. We should note, for those that might not be familiar with the Galax brand, that its parent company is Palit, who also sells cards under its own name along with the KFA2 brand overseas. Palit's actually one of the largest graphics card manufacturers in the world, but still hasn't quite cracked the US market. But it's working to improve name recognition here. 

Above, you can see Nvidia's reference specifications for its RTX 3060 along with the specs for the Galax and EVGA cards we've tested. The EVGA XC Black runs at the reference clocks, while the Galax card has a slightly higher 1807 MHz boost clock. It also has a 1-click overclock to 1822 MHz, provided you install the Xtreme Tuner Plus software and proceed to click. Sigh.

Pardon me while I rant for a moment, but I really despise having to install extra software just to access an advertised feature. I also think putting "(1-Click OC)" into the product name is silly in the extreme. How much does the extra 15 MHz boost offered by the software matter? Less than one percent, which is pretty much within the margin of error for any benchmarks we might run. There's not even a boost to power targets or anything else, so there's very little reason to lock it away behind a software install. Asus and ASRock do this as well, but at least the power limits usually increase by 10%. Anyway, let's be clear: I don't like it. Just give us one defined set of clocks and let the users who care enough to tweak things do so.

In practice, Nvidia's GPUs almost always exceed the official boost clock specs while gaming, which means cooling and power limits end up playing a bigger part in determining performance than just looking at the specifications. So let's take a closer look at the Galax RTX 3060 EX. 

Meet the Galax RTX 3060 EX

The Galax RTX 3060 EX aims for a middle ground between the larger triple-fan cards and more compact dual-fan models. It has two fans, but they're moderately large 102mm models — with customizable RGB lighting, if you like the bling. The card measures 287x127x48mm — about a 2.5-slot width — and weighs 859g. In contrast, the EVGA 3060 card has a relatively compact design that measures 202x110x38mm and weighs 653g, with two smaller 87mm fans. In the world of GPU coolers and fans, larger generally means better, and while the RTX 3060 only has a 170W TDP, well within the capabilities of either cooler, we'd expect the Galax card to be a few percent faster while running cooler and quieter.

Video ports consist of the typical three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.1 outputs, which we see on virtually all modern graphics cards. A few models may opt for a dual HDMI and DisplayPort configuration, and higher-end models might even go with three DP and two HDMI, but most people will be fine with the maximum four monitor outputs.

As you'd expect, the Galax card has a single 8-pin power connector, which should be more than enough for the card's needs. Near the power connector, Galax also includes RGB connections that allow you to synchronize the lighting with your motherboard and other peripherals if desired. Or if you prefer, you can install the Galax software suite to control the lighting effects.

Aesthetically, there's not much else to say. The Galax design follows well established norms, with a partially cut-out backplate that allows air to flow through the rear fan and heatsink area, and some white accents. There's also a "Caution, hot surface" warning label, though it's probably not necessary on the RTX 3060 — probably a holdover from the designs on the RTX 3070 and above. This is a relatively generic-looking card, but as the saying goes: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. As we'll see later, the cooling and design work well, and for those who just want a graphics card that gets the job done with minimal fuss, this will suffice.

Test Setup for Galax GeForce RTX 3060

We're nearing the end of 2021, and we plan on switching things up on the hardware and software side once 2022 rolls in. For now, our test hardware remains the same. We're running Windows 10 (21H1, build 19043.1237), with an MSI Z390 Ace motherboard that has resizable BAR support enabled. Our test platform doesn't support PCIe Gen4, which is one of the changes we'll be making next year, but in previous testing that we've conducted the relatively old Core i9-9900K and DDR4-3600 memory continue to do just fine.

We're sticking with the same 13 games we've been using since the RTX 3080 launch, all with DXR (DirectX Raytracing) disabled. While our GPU launch reviews also look at ray tracing and even DLSS performance, for our third-party partner card reviews we trim things down a bit. The gaming test suite consists of a mix of genres and includes both AMD and Nvidia promoted games, which should mostly keep things equal.

If you do have any specific requests for tests that we've omitted, please let us know in the comments. 

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Galax RTX 3060 1080p Gaming Performance

Like the RX 6600 and RX 6600 XT, the RTX 3060 works best for 1080p gaming, and maybe 1440p. That's for more demanding games, of course, so lighter fare like esports games or anything that's more than a few years old should run quite well at higher resolutions. Performance from the RTX 3060 tends to be a bit higher than the previous-generation RTX 2070, and just behind the RX 5700 XT (not accounting for ray tracing or DLSS). Here's how the Galax looks, compared to the EVGA reference clocks as well as other mainstream to high-end GPUs. You can see the full rankings for the various cards in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy.

We've got three entries for the RTX 3060 in the charts, and you can see how things have — and haven't — changed since launch. Overall performance of the Galax card ended up being just 1% faster than the EVGA card running the latest drivers and updates, while the EVGA card improved about 2% over the past eight months. The RTX 3060 also comes in ahead of the similarly priced RX 6600, but behind the RX 6600 XT. The overall score tends to hide some of the bigger differences, though.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla favors AMD's GPUs by quite a bit, but Nvidia's driver updates have narrowed the gap some — the EVGA card for example improved by 10% since launch. Forza Horizon 4 improved by 6% as well, while most of the remaining games showed less than a 2% change. Several games performed a bit slower as well: Metro Exodus, Red Dead Redemption 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Strange Brigade, and Watch Dogs Legion were all 1–3% slower than at launch, though we didn't try to determine whether that's from drivers or game patches. Using the latest drivers, the Galax and EVGA cards perform within about 2% of each other in every one of the tests, which is what we expected to see.

As for AMD vs. Nvidia, the Galax card only ended up noticeably behind the XFX RX 6600 in two games: Borderlands 3 and Forza Horizon 4. It was tied or led in the other 11 games, giving it a net 5% victory. Against the RX 6600 XT, however, it's a net 9% deficit, and an even larger 18% deficit compared to the RTX 3060 Ti. Unfortunately, while the RTX 3060 Ti has an MSRP of $400, in practice it tends to sell for closer to $800–$900, while the RX 6600 XT 'only' costs about $600–$650. That's actually less than the going rate on the RTX 3060, so unless you can find a reasonable deal on the Nvidia card, AMD ends up being the better buy right now (provided you're not concerned with ray tracing or DLSS).

Galax RTX 3060 1440p Gaming Performance

Running games at 1440p will often require tuning the settings a bit to maintain 60 fps on a GPU like the RTX 3060. Five of the games we tested fall below 60 fps at ultra quality settings, but only one of those (Watch Dogs Legion) was below 50 fps. Using high quality settings should get most of those over the hump, and a few of the games support DLSS, where the quality mode should boost performance by at least 15%. Maintaining a steady 60 fps or more — meaning, keeping the minimums above 60 — might be a bit more difficult in some games, but the RTX 3060 generally gets close enough that it shouldn't matter.

Looking at the Galax and EVGA cards, Galax comes out 1–3% ahead in the individual game tests, with an average lead of 1.2% — not something you'd notice in normal gaming, in other words. Performance improvements since launch averaged just 0.7%, with Valhalla and Forza being the only games to see more than a 2% improvement in framerates, while the same five games as before showed a slight regression of 1–3%.

Nvidia's RTX 3060 lead over the RX 6600 grew to 11% overall, and only Borderlands 3 and Forza had AMD leading, by 4% and 7% respectively. Seven of the games gave the Galax RTX 3060 more than a double-digit percentage lead over the XFX RX 6600. Were the cards actually selling for the same price, it wouldn't even be a close competition, but of course they're not priced the same. The Galax card also trails the RX 6600 XT by 6% overall, and the RTX 3060 Ti by 21%, so it's not just VRAM capacity helping the RTX 3060 relative to the AMD GPUs.

Galax RTX 3060 4K Gaming Performance

Testing performance at 4K is mostly a formality, as mainstream GPUs like the RTX 3060 aren't really designed for such workloads. Unless you're okay with anything over 30 fps, in which case the Galax card managed that hurdle in 12 of the 13 games, with Watch Dogs Legion being the sole exception — and DLSS would fix that. But the overall average at 4K ultra was only 42 fps, and six of the games average less than 40 fps. Forza Horizon 4 and Strange Brigade were the only titles to break 60 fps at ultra settings.

The Galax card maintains its 1% lead over the EVGA card, and it's now 22% faster than the RX 6600 and even manages to beat the RX 6600 XT by 2%. It's still 23% slower than the RTX 3060 Ti, so it's really the lack of scaling on the 32MB Infinity Cache and the lack of memory bandwidth that's holding the AMD GPUs back. The next step up from AMD, the RX 6700 XT, fixes both of those things and is 34% faster than the Galax card.

It's not that you can't play games at 4K on the RTX 3060, but it will definitely require compromise on settings and fps targets, depending on the game. Lighter games and older releases should be fine, but while 12GB VRAM should be more than sufficient for 4K gaming, the GPU itself isn't quite potent enough to handle that resolution in newer releases.

Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Power, Temps, Noise, Etc.

The Galax GeForce RTX 3060 sticks to Nvidia's 170W TDP rating, and our Powenetics testing equipment that measures in-line GPU power consumption proves that point. We also check other aspects of the cards, including clock speeds, fan speeds, noise, and temperatures. We collect data while running Metro Exodus at 1440p ultra and FurMark stress test at 900p.

Power use during the Metro Exodus benchmark loop averaged 172.5W, just a hair more than the 170W TDP, but nothing to worry about. Most of that comes via the 8-pin power connector, with peak power use of 57W from the PCIe slot. FurMark used a few watts more, which is pretty typical behavior. That puts the Galax card below the RX 6600 XT by 5–10W, but about 35W above the RX 6600. Since all of those cards typically use a single 8-pin power connector, any PC capable of using one card should be able to work with any of the three.

Nvidia's GPU clocks with Ampere are quite a bit lower than AMD's RDNA2 clocks. The Galax card averaged just over 1900 MHz in Metro Exodus, while the RX 6600 ran close to 2.5 GHz and the 6600 XT topped the charts at over 2.6GHz. Clock speeds on their own aren't super useful, of course, unless you're looking at the same GPU. The Galax card was about 30 MHz faster than the EVGA card in our tests, which coincides with the ~1.5% difference in performance that we measured.

Fan speeds and temperatures go hand in hand, so we need to consider both metrics when looking at cooling performance. The Galax card ran a few degrees warmer than the EVGA card, 66C vs. 63C in Metro, but the fan speed was also substantially lower: around 1075 RPM vs. close to 1800 RPM on EVGA. In FurMark, the fan speed gap widens, with the Galax card at around 1100 RPM and the EVGA at around 1950 RPM, with less than a 1C difference in temperature. It's pretty obvious that the larger Galax cooler and fans lead to better cooling performance.

We also measure noise levels at 10cm using an SPL (sound pressure level) meter. It's aimed right at the GPU fans, in order to minimize the impact of other fans like those on the CPU cooler. The noise floor of our test environment and equipment measures 33 dB(A), and the Galax card ran at a very quiet 39.6 dB(A) — again, from extremely close range. Even with the fan speed set to a fixed 75%, the card only generated 51.5 dB of noise. The EVGA card by comparison ran at about 44 dB in our gaming tests, and there wasn't a lot of headroom to go higher as the fans were already running at 71%.

Galax GeForce RTX 3060 Mining Performance

Ethereum mining continues to have an impact on GPU prices, and while the original RTX 3060 was the first series of Nvidia Ampere GPUs to come with a hashrate limiter, that was later cracked. The Galax card includes the updated firmware that locks things down again, but updated versions of various mining software have at least partially overcome those limits. We ran some tests to see how the Galax 3060 fares, using NiceHashMiner to check mining performance with a variety of algorithms.

At stock clocks, KAWPOW mining using NBMiner delivered the best profitability, of around $2.60 per day (minus power). The Ethereum hashrate with NBMiner was around 28 MH/s. Setting the memory clocks to +1000 MHz (16.6 Gbps effective while mining) and putting the power limit at 75% resulted in Ethereum hashrates of 32.4 MH/s, which was quite a bit lower than the 48 MH/s we achieved with a non-LHR 3060. A bit more tuning, with the VRAM at 17.6 Gbps effective (+1500 MHz, the maximum allowed) and a 70% power limit got us to 34.2 MH/s while drawing an average (real power measurement via Powenetics) of 107W.

Basically, mining performance was slightly higher than the RX 6600 XT, while using a bit more power. Considering the going price of RTX 3060 cards on eBay (around $700 right now), it would take about 250 days to break even — assuming prices and difficulty don't change, which of course will never be correct. Unfortunately, it's pretty clear that mining continues to have a strong impact on GPU prices and availability.

Galax GeForce RTX 3060: A Good Card That's Hard to Find

If the GeForce RTX 3060 were available at anything close to Nvidia's official starting price of $329, it would be an excellent bargain. Performance that's better than the previous generation RTX 2070 for about $170 less money? Sign us up! But then the miners came along and decided that was just too good a deal to pass up, and now virtually all the cards get sold at more than double the official MSRP.

AMD's competing RX 6600 isn't doing much better, with worse performance but lower street prices. The average price on eBay during the past week was 'only' $555, a real bargain compared to $700 for the RTX 3060, but gamers shouldn't pay more than maybe $400 for this level of hardware. Just wait it out, try to borrow an older model GPU if necessary, and at some point the situation should improve.

It's a shame, because other than real-world pricing and availability, there's a lot to like in the Galax RTX 3060 EX. It runs cool and quiet and performs slightly better than other RTX 3060 cards, and it has RGB lighting on both fans for people that want that sort of thing. Galax informed us it will be doing giveaways and prizes on GalaxStore.net, but I haven't seen any prizes so far. It's free to register if you want yet another account, and you can currently find the RTX 3070 Ti bundle in stock for $1,000, but the RTX 3060 we're reviewing isn't currently listed.

Updated test results for the RTX 3060 did improve a bit compared to launch performance, which was also good to see. That was mostly in a few games that favored AMD GPUs more, at least for our test suite, but if you happen to be an Nvidia user and currently play one of those games — Assassin's Creed Valhalla in particular — you can feel a bit better about how team green stacks up to its competition. Not that it really matters, as the best graphics card right now is the one you can actually find for a reasonable price, and that eliminates pretty much everything.

When will things change, to the point where it's possible to shop at Amazon or Newegg or some other website and find cards priced at MSRP in stock and ready for purchase? If I were a betting man, I wouldn't count on that happening before 2023. By then we should have the successors to both Ampere and RDNA2, but don't be shocked when those launch at higher price points than the current models.

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When you think of LEGO, PC components aren’t typically the first thing to come to mind. However, Galax has LEGO on the brain with its new Gamer RGB DDR5 memory modules, which will allegedly arrive just in time for the launch of Intel’s Alder Lake platform, according to Expreview. But we must take this news with a pinch of salt as we were unable to source any official confirmation of these modules on Galax's website.

While unconfirmed, it appears that the Chinese PC peripheral manufacturer designed the Gamer RGB DDR5 modules with an ARGB light strip integrated into the top of the heatsink. The light strip takes the shape of a traditional LEGO system brick (1x18), which is an interesting touch. The integrated brick allows you to add your own LEGO pieces atop the module to bring some flair to your gaming rig. However, it’s probably best to use transparent or translucent LEGO to take full advantage of the ARGB lighting.

Once you get past the frills afforded by the LEGO connection, it’s reported that the modules will run at baseline DDR5-4800 speeds and will be available in 16GB (2x8GB), 32GB (2x16GB) and 64GB (2x32GB) kits. Additionally, the kits will come in either red or blue flavors, with the Gamer logo emblazoned in the middle.

However, we must note that this information is coming only from Expreview, and there is no mention of the new DDR5 modules on Galax's website. We also have not been able to independently verify the authenticity of these Gamer RGB DDR5 module renders. But this isn’t an unprecedented move from Galax. In 2020, the peripheral maker unleashed the GeForce RTX 3090 Gamer graphics card with two (2x6) stud sections to add your own LEGO bricks.

So, while it’s advisable to take this news with a small spoonful of salt given no official confirmation from Galax, we see no reason why someone would take the time to fake these renders. With that said, it appears that the Gamer RGB DDR5 modules are a China-only product for now, which is likely disappointing news for the millions of LEGO fans around the globe.

Last week, we reported about a finding that Nvidia was using its cut-down GA104 graphics processing units (GPUs) for GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards that are supposed to be based on the GA106 GPU. The 'new' boards have the same performance characteristics and power consumption, as the 'old' ones. This week two suppliers of graphics cards — Gainward and Galax — listed appropriate products, which is an indicator that such GA104-powered GeForce RTX 3060 boards are coming to retail. 

Only in China. For Now

For now, Gainward and Galax only list GA104-150-based GeForce RTX 3060 graphics cards in China, so this version of the product may end up as a yet another exclusive offering for the country. Meanwhile, previously Nvidia switched GPUs on the GeForce RTX 1650 and on at least one GeForce RTX 2060 model, so it would not be a surprise if Nvidia decides to use the GA104-150 for GeForce RTX 3060 boards sold in other parts of the world. 

Using a cut-down GA104 GPU instead of the GA106 for the GeForce RTX 3060 only makes sense if the silicon is not good enough to power GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/3070/3070 Ti graphics cards since it has too many defects. The GA104 is a pretty large 392 mm² chip that packs 17.4 billion transistors and up to 6144 CUDA cores that is rather expensive to make. By contrast, the GA106 is considerably cheaper, it is 276 mm² and integrates 13.25 billion transistors as well as up to 3584 CUDA cores. 

Normally, chip developers like AMD and Nvidia try to sell batches of chips with defects (but which can still work perfectly with a few non-functional units deactivated) through OEMs and/or on specific markets via select vendors since it is not easy to support a huge number of SKUs across the world. 

Yet, if a company has a significant number of dies that cannot work in proper configurations because of defects, they have to either invent new models or repurpose silicon for lower-end SKUs that are available globally. It remains to be seen whether Nvidia has enough GA104 chips that cannot be used even for GeForce RTX 3060 Ti boards (that carry GPUs with 4864 CUDA cores) and the company will have to sell them outside of China.

Six Cards

Gainward has two (or four, depending how you count) GeForce RTX 3060 12GB graphics cards that can be based on either GA106-300, GA106-302, or GA104-150: the GeForce RTX OC/OCG with a massive triple-slot cooling system with three fans and the GeForce RTX 3060 DU/DUG with a dual-fan dual-slot cooler, as discovered by @momomo_us. Although Gainward does not indicate this explicitly, it looks like the letter 'G' in the part number points to usage of the GA104-150 GPU. 

Galax, which is Gainward's close relative, has four (or eight) GeForce RTX 3060 12GB add-in boards (AIBs) that may be based either on the GA104 or the GA106: the GeForce RTX 3060 Gamer MAX OC[FG], the GeForce RTX 3060 Golden Master MAX OC[FG], the GeForce RTX 3060 Xing Yao MAX OC Forever Edition [FG], and the GeForce RTX 3060 MAX Xing Yao [FG], according to @momomo_us. In Galax's case, it looks like the letters FG in the part number indicate that the board is powered by the GA104, yet we cannot be 100% sure since the vendor does not specify this clearly. 

The graphics boards from Gainward and Galax use large printed circuit boards (PCBs), yet we do not know whether they use the same PCBs both for GA106 and GA104-based GeForce RTX 3060 12GB graphics cards. Meanwhile, if PCBs are the same, this would mean that Nvidia's GA104 and GA106 are pin-to-pin compatible. The good news is that at least it looks like GA106 and GA104-powered GeForce RTX 3060 AIBs have different part numbers. 

A Blessing in Disguise?

While for now a GeForce RTX 3060 with a GA104-150 GPU is hard to find, there might a motive for customers to get these boards. 

Since the GA104 is considerably bigger than the GA106, yet has many unused parts, it is easier to cool it down to normal temperatures, which means that these parts could be quite good overclockers when compared to regular GeForce RTX 3060 cards carrying the GA106. 

Still, an overclocker has to keep in mind that overclockability also depends on PCB design and power delivery. Meanwhile, GeForce RTX 3060 AIBs are designed to be inexpensive to build, so setting GPU frequency records was not a goal that engineers intended to achieve with these products.

Colorful has introduced its new GeForce RTX 3070 LHR graphics card that resembles Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition: it has a signature cooling system with two fans and a 12-pin power connector. Formally, Colorful calls the board the Bilibili edition and it's unclear whether it will be available outside of China.

Nvidia's Founders Edition graphics cards are meant to be quiet and reliable, which is why the GPU developer makes no compromises to save some money on design or change components used for these cards during their lifecycle. Makers of graphics cards have some different priorities, so for their basic products they use Nvidia's reference designs (which differ from Founders Edition cards), whereas for premium products they develop design in house. 

It Looks like Colorful has decided to change its typical approach and develop a Founders Edition-like GeForce RTX 3070 LHR with its dual-fan cooling and a 12-pin power connector, reports VideoCardz. 

From a specifications point of view, Colorful's GeForce RTX 3070 LHR iGame Bilbili E-Sports Edition is a pretty typical device. It carries Nvidia's GA104 GPU with 5888 CUDA cores that is clocked at 1500 MHz ~ 1785 MHz (which is 60 MHz higher when compared to Nvidia's recommendations) and is accompanied by 8GB of 14GT/s GDDR6 memory. The card has a 10+2-phase voltage regulating module (VRM) and four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4a, one HDMI 2.1).

Designed to compete with the best graphics cards, Colorful's GeForce RTX 3070 LHR iGame Bilbili E-Sports Edition is not an exact copy of Nvidia's Founders Edition board based on the same chip, yet it uses a cooling system that is based on the same principles. Furthermore, it uses a 12-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector. 

Speaking of the 12-pin PCIe power connector, it should be noted that very few makers of graphics cards have adopted it so far. From Nvidia's standpoint, it made great sense to invent a connector that can deliver up to 648W of power to a graphics card. Considering that power consumption of graphics boards is gradually increasing, such a connector simplifies development. 

While Colorful's GeForce RTX 3070 LHR iGame Bilbili E-Sports Edition is without any doubts aimed primarily at Chinese market, it remains to be seen whether Colorful uses design of this board for products designed for other markets. Unfortunately, we do not know this for sure and have no idea about potential pricing of such graphics cards.

The Galax GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SG — the SG is for "Serious Gamer," if you're wondering — looks to compete with the best graphics cards by offering a unique extra: a fourth clip-on fan to boost cooling performance. That's double the fans of Nvidia's reference GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition, if you're keeping track. The 3080 Ti currently ranks as the second fastest GPU overall in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy, just a couple percent behind the RTX 3090, and less than one percent ahead of AMD's competing RX 6900 XT — though those results don't include ray tracing, DLSS, or FSR performance comparisons. How does Galax fare against the competition, and more importantly, will you be able to find one in stock anywhere? The answer to the latter, unfortunately, is generally no, though readers over in Europe might have better luck.

Galax products are also sold under the KFA2 brand overseas, but other than slight differences in the box art, the cards are the same. The parent company for both brands is Palit, which by volume is one of the largest graphics card companies in the world. Despite the name, the Serious Gamer edition is basically equivalent to Nvidia's reference model. Out of the box, it sports a boost clock of 1695MHz, just 30MHz higher than the Founders Edition. If you install Galax's Xtreme Tuner Plus Software and use the 1-Click OC option, you'll get a mostly meaningless bump to a 1710MHz boost clock — that's less than a 1% difference. Still, we've used the factory overclock for testing, and we'll use that for the specs table below.

We've now tested three different RTX 3080 Ti cards, with the two custom cards having identical specs. But specs don't tell the whole store, as card design and cooling can also factor into the equation. The Zotac Amp Holo is the largest of the three cards, at least by certain metrics. It measures 317.8mm x 131.8mm x 64.6mm and weighs just over 1500g. The Galax SG card measures 317mm x 113mm x 61mm by comparison, so it's a bit longer but not as tall or as thick.

However, the Galax card also includes a support bracket that adds 12mm to the length and 17mm to the height of the card, and then there's the extra clip-on fan. That's 25mm thick, though it's only at the end of the card and sits on the back. The Galax RTX 3080 Ti SG weighs 1424g, including the extra fan but not the support bracket. In other words, it's a rather large card and definitely not something you'd want to try to cram into a smaller case.

As far as clock speeds go, even compared to the reference 1665MHz, the theoretical difference in performance is only 2.7%. In practice, all of the Nvidia Ampere GPUs we've tested tend to run well above the official boost clocks, and it's not uncommon to see cards with lower official boost clocks actually run at higher speeds in practice. As with the Zotac 3080 Ti, most differences between the GPUs can be chalked up to margin of error in testing, or differences between driver revisions and/or game patches.

The biggest problems with all of the RTX 3080 Ti cards are price and availability. Given current demand, one could argue that the RTX 3080 official launch price of $699 was simply far too low. That's mostly because cryptocurrency mining profitability basically quadrupled after the GPU launched, which meant every miner and their dog wanted to buy as many 3080 cards as possible. But absent cryptomining (see best mining GPUs) and component shortages, $699 was still the right price. Asking $1,199 for the RTX 3080 Ti for an extra 5–10% performance was too much, and third-party cards are taking things even further. Galax informed us there's a lot of variability in pricing right now, but that it expects the retail price for the RTX 3080 Ti SG to be around $1,500 — or £1,150 or €1,350. That's too high in our book, but unfortunately there are apparently plenty of people willing to pay such prices still, as the GPU price index indicates.

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Galax packs in a few extras with the SG model of their card, specifically the fourth clip-on fan and a mounting bracket that doubles as extra RGB lighting. The design is otherwise pretty standard, with triple 92mm fans and a metal plate that covers the back of the card. The fans will stop completely when GPU temperatures are below about 50C, at which point the card is entirely silent.

The end of the plate has cutouts to let air flow through, which we've seen on many of the Ampere cards, and the fourth clip-on fan attaches over the cutouts, operating in a push-pull configuration. In testing, the extra fan does improve temperatures a bit, and GDDR6X temperatures in particular were much better on the Galax card than on Nvidia's Founder's Edition.

Above is a shot of mining performance with the Galax card, which tends to be the best way to stress test the memory. Here we've let NiceHashMiner run for over 15 minutes mining Octopus, after doing the initial 'precise' benchmarking of the algorithms. Octopus at the time was the most profitable algorithm, and it also generally hit the highest memory temperatures — 96C in this case. Kawpow also tends to be more profitable than Ethereum mining on the 3080 Ti, depending on the day, and memory temperatures were 8C lower in that case.

The RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition by comparison quickly hit 110C on the memory before fan speeds went to 100% and GPU clocks dropped. GDDR6X temperatures while gaming were about 10C lower than the worst mining temps we recorded, however, so outside of mining, the cards tend to do okay. Still, we'd much rather have the Galax cooling and fans than those of the Founders Edition. Not only does it keep the memory temps in check, but it also ran quieter — both desirable traits.

While we're on the subject of mining, the best case right now — even after the recent bump in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices — was around $5 to $6 per day in net profits. That might sound decent, but for a GPU that costs at least $1,200 and often goes for closer to $2,000, that means a minimum of 200 days to break even, and potentially more than a year. The Ethash limiter Nvidia has imposed on all RTX 30-series GPUs other than the RTX 3090 at least seems to be working so far, but there are almost certainly miners still buying these cards — either in hope of a hack to remove the limiter, or simply because other hashing algorithms still work fine.

The Galax card includes two 8-pin power connectors, which is pretty typical of high-end RTX 30-series GPUs — only a few models have opted to go with triple 8-pin connectors. It also features three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs and a single HDMI 2.1 port. The TDP sticks with Nvidia's reference 350W value, and in practice, the Galax card tended to come in slightly below that mark.

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Our test configuration for the hardware and software remains unchanged from other recent reviews. We're using an 8-core/16-thread Core i9-9900K running stock clocks, but with DDR4-3600 memory and the XMP profile enabled. The CPU generally runs at 4.7 GHz during our gaming benchmarks, though the slightly older Coffee Lake architecture can be a bit of a bottleneck at lower resolutions.

We already tested ray tracing and DLSS performance in the reference RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition review, and for third-party cards, we're only going to look at our standard 13 game test suite, running at 4K, 1440p, and 1080p and ultra settings. Each test setting gets run multiple times, to ensure the consistency of our results. Considering the similar specs on the Galax card and other 3080 Ti models, we should see very little difference between the offerings.

Performance from the Galax card was right where we'd expect, though a few games show a slight drop or gain in performance that we believe comes from game updates (drivers could also be a factor). The Galax card came in less than 1% behind the other two 3080 Ti cards we've tested in our overall metric, and all of the individual results are within margin of error. We tested the Galax with Nvidia's latest 471.41 drivers, while the other two cards were tested with the launch drivers.

In short, we didn't see anything particularly worrisome with the Galax card. Slight variations between benchmarks are the norm, particularly for cards that were tested two months apart from each other. Anything less than a 5% difference in performance certainly isn't noticeable when actually playing games, and we'd say even 10% differences are right at the threshold of perceptibility. That doesn't mean one card isn't slightly faster, but small differences in performance aren't nearly as important as other aspects, like aesthetics or price — or just finding a GPU in stock.

At 1440p, the overall results from the three RTX 3080 Ti cards are even closer, with the usual variations in the individual games. Sometimes the Galax card is the 'slowest' of the three 3080 Ti cards; other times it's the 'fastest' option. Practically speaking, the cards are all basically tied. Do note that Red Dead Redemption 2 got a recent update that enables DLSS support, and that may have dropped the non-DLSS results a bit.

Finally, 1080p ultra puts more of a load on the Core i9-9900K, and performance ended up as a tie between the three 3080 Ti cards. Also note that AMD's RX 6800 XT now places ahead of the 3080 Ti, though just barely — another tie. We'd generally skip buying a card like the RTX 3080 Ti for 1080p gaming, as 'slower' GPUs end up performing just as well. Even if you have a high refresh rate eSports monitor, usually the game matters more than the GPU. CSGO and LOL don't need a 3080 Ti any more than a 3080 or even a 3060, for example.

You can of course make the argument that maxed out ray tracing effects at 1080p could benefit, but the most demanding ray tracing games — like Cyberpunk 2077 as an example — also tend to support DLSS 2.0, which means 1440p and 4K are still within reach of GPUs like the 3080 Ti. There's nothing stopping you from using an extreme GPU at 1080p, but overall the 3080 Ti was only 6% faster than the RTX 3080, and plenty of games run into CPU bottlenecks. 

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Performance isn't the only important metric when it comes to graphics cards. We also test power consumption using in-line monitoring tools and Powenetics software. We log power, clock speeds, temperatures, and fan speeds. We loop the Metro Exodus benchmark five times at 1440p ultra settings, and then run FurMark at 1600x900 for over 10 minutes.

In a bit of a surprise, power consumption for the Galax 3080 Ti came in slightly lower than the other two RTX 3080 Ti cards. It's only 3W less than the Zotac card in Metro Exodus, but it's also about 10W less than the 3080 Ti Founders Edition. FurMark is more prone to kicking in varying levels of throttling, so while the Galax card used 20W less than the Zotac in that test, we have to look at clocks as well to determine what exactly was going on.

All of the 3080 Ti cards have the same 350W TDP, but the clocks and performance can be quite different. The Galax card averaged slightly lower clocks than the Zotac and Founders Edition cards in Metro Exodus, while in FurMark it landed between the Zotac and Founders Edition. The GPUs all exceed their stated boost clocks in Metro, but not by the same margins. The Founders Edition ran at 136 MHz over its nominal boost clock and the Zotac was 123 MHz above boost, but the Galax card only ran about 80 MHz higher than its boost clock.

We had a problem collecting fan speeds on the 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti cards initially, but we've since sorted that out. Unfortunately, the Zotac card has moved on to other pastures (it will now be used for case testing), so it's not part of the fan speed results. Anyway, the temperature and fan speed results go hand in hand: Higher fan speeds yield lower temperatures, and vice versa. The Zotac and Galax cards are both substantially larger than the Founders Edition, and end up with similar temperatures, with lower fan speeds as well. In Metro, the Galax fans ran about 350 rpm lower than the Founders Edition, while the gap was 800 rpm in Furmark — though with lower clocks on the Galax card, so there are other factors at play.

The other part of the equation is VRAM temperatures. The larger coolers on the Galax and Zotac cards reduced temperatures a few degrees overall, but more importantly, peak GDDR6X temperatures were in the 90–92C range on the Galax card. The Zotac by comparison hovered at around 96C–98C, and the Founders Edition consistently hit 100C–104C.

We noise tested all three RTX 3080 Ti cards in the same test PC, with the SPL meter sitting about 10cm from the GPU fans. (Note that the testing environment has changed, so noise comparisons aren't necessarily identical to previous testing.) This was done to focus on the sound coming from just the GPU, rather than picking up other noise sources like that of the CPU cooler and case fans.

The Galax RTX 3080 Ti SG while running Metro Exodus settled down at 48.5 dB, while the Founders Edition ran at 52.0 dB (the Zotac, as already noted, was unavailable for retesting). Fan speeds for the two cards were 55% on the Galax and 66% on the Founders Edition — as we noted in the initial GeForce RTX 3080 Ti review, the Founders Edition definitely seems to struggle a bit with balancing cooling and fan speeds. As another point of reference, we used MSI Afterburner to set the fan speed to 75% on the cards, which is perhaps similar to what you'd need if you were doing 24/7 cryptomining. That gave noise levels of 56.3 dB on the Galax and 56.5 dB on the Founders Edition — though the Galax temperatures, particularly on the GDDR6X, would be lower based on our testing. 

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Finding any GeForce RTX 3080 Ti card in stock, at least in the U.S., continues to be an exercise in futility — unless you want to pay eBay prices, in which case you can find RTX 3080 Ti cards for around $1,800. Yeah, thanks but no thanks. At present, there's only one Galax card listed on eBay, and it ships from overseas for $2,200, which we hopefully don't need to point out is an even worse deal. You can try to find a card for sale on the Galax Store, but right now the RTX 3080 Ti doesn't even show up as an option there. U.K. readers might have better luck, though, as there are currently three Palit / KFA2 RTX 3080 Ti cards in stock at Scan — at higher-than-MSRP prices, naturally.

If you're in the market for an RTX 3080 Ti, can find the Galax card in stock, and are willing to pay the high asking price, the Galax card works quite well and might even be able to justify its MSRP of $1,500. That's a lot of qualifiers, and at that price we'd be more inclined to shop around for an RTX 3090 — or, you know, just give the whole Ampere family a pass and wait for Lovelace, and pray that pricing and availability will be better by then.

As we said in the Zotac RTX 3080 Ti review, it's unfortunately still difficult to find any of the top graphics cards in stock, even at inflated prices. It's not clear whether the cards are still going into the hands of miners (unlikely, given the hash rate limiter), or if there simply aren't enough to meet demand. It's probably the latter, and given the widespread reports of continuing shortages — even Intel now says it expects to not be able to manufacture as many chips as it would like this quarter — that's not likely to change until 2022.

For PC gamers, it's been a terrible year for graphics card upgrades. Console gamers aren't doing that hot either, with PS5 and Xbox Series X still routinely out of stock and overpriced, but at least Sony says it has now sold over 10 million PlayStation 5 consoles, and Microsoft says the latest Xbox is its fastest selling console ever — which means maybe 5.6 million Xbox Series S or X consoles sold since launch. We don't know for sure how many RTX 30-series cards have been sold, but it's almost certainly far less than 10 million, across all models.

The one thing Galax appears to get right with the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti SG is memory cooling. We haven't tested that many other 3080 Ti cards, but the Galax card kept the GDDR6X memory running at less than 100C, regardless of what we threw at it. That might not sound like much, but it's better than 110C while mining on the Founders Edition. Meanwhile, we recommend gamers continue to wait for GPU prices to drop and inventory to improve. What goes up must come down, eventually.

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UPDATE 7/29 03:27 PT: 

This graphics card was developed by Galax. Galax even lists a similar non-LHR graphics card on its website. The original story incorrectly named Palit as the developer of Galakuro’s GeForce RTX 3070 LHR graphics card. While Galakuro, Galax, Gainward, KFA2, and Palit brands belong to one owner and share engineering and manufacturing resources, they are different business entities. The focus of the story still stands: there is a short version of Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3070 LHR that is available in Japan and will likely hit other markets under different brands.

Original Article:

Gone are the days when add-in-board (AIBs) makers would introduce Mini-ITX graphics cards based on top-of-the-range GPUs. Today, virtually all premium graphics AIBs are large and can barely fit into many typical desktops. To address such systems, Galax's partner in Japan this week introduced a GeForce RTX 3070 LHR graphics card that is shorter than other RTX 3070 boards on the market, including Nvidia's own RTX 3070 Founders Edition. 

Galakuro's GeForce RTX 3070 LHR (GG-RTX3070-E8GBOC/DF/LHR) carries Nvidia's GA104 GPU with 5888 CUDA cores clocked at up to 1725 MHz as well as 8GB of 14 GT/s GDDR6 memory that connect to the processor using a 256-bit interface. The card has four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4a, one HDMI 2.1) as well as one eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connector. Like other products designed by Galax, this one is compatible with Galax's XtremeTuner software. 

The AIB does not feature an extreme GPU clock or an enhanced VRM to ensure superior overclocking potential of the card. Its main selling point is a 238 mm length: this is 4 mm shorter when compared to Nvidia's own GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition and is about 120mm shorter when compared to typical GeForce RTX 3070 boards from AIB makers. Lower length of the card will allow its installation into PCs that cannot house a 400-mm graphics card, such as smaller ATX, Micro-ATX, or even larger Mini-ITX systems.  

There is a catch though. Galax's GeForce RTX 3070 LHR has a rather massive cooling system with two 102mm Wings fans that makes it 54 mm thick and 128mm high, which will likely make it incompatible with certain PCs. 

The 238mm GeForce RTX 3070 LHR made by Galax is currently available only in Japan from its partner Galakuro Gaming. Hermitage Akihabara reports that the board has been announced, but it does not say anything about its price.  

What remains to be seen is when (and if) the Galax-made 238mm GeForce RTX 3070 LHR board is set to arrive to the U.S. and Europe. There are loads of cases that cannot comfortably accommodate a full-size 400mm graphics card and many of their owners are looking forward to upgrading their graphics cards, so chances that Galax will bring the board to these markets are fairly high.

Galax is finding new ways to add even more bling to your system. The brand's latest creation consists of a soft tube cover that adds RGB lighting to your AIO liquid cooler's tubing.

The Galax Soft Tube ARGB Vest, which sells for $57.40 at watercooling retailer FormulaMod, is made of silicon, boasts excellent flexibility and is also resistant to high temperatures. The cover measures 330mm in length so it should be more than sufficient to coat the best AIO CPU coolers on the market.

Galax sells the Soft Tube ARGB Vest in both 10mm and 12mm variants. Therefore, you'll have to measure the outer diameter of your tubing to see which one fits best for you. Installation is quick and easy since all you have to do is wrap the cover around your tubing and secure it in place with the six included transparent clips.

Each cover communicates with your system through a standard 3-pin 5V ARGB connector. Most modern motherboards should have a few of these connectors laying around. If yours doesn't, you may need to pick up an ARGB controller hub.

The Galax Soft Tube ARGB Vest features ARGB illumination so you can personalize it to your liking. Galax doesn't provide a piece of software to control the lighting, which is a plus since you don't have to install a separate program to just control the cover. However, the Galax Soft Tube ARGB Vest's packaging show that it's only compatible with three motherboard ecosystems: Asus Aura Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion and MSI Mystic Light Sync. Apparently, ASRock and Biostar motherboard owners are out of luck on this one.

Overclocking group OGS just achieved the highest overclock on record for the RTX 3080 Ti to date with a 2.8GHz core frequency and an 18,726 3D Mark Port Royal score. The graphics card used was a Galax RTX 3080 Ti HoF OC Lab Edition XOC Special.

Just like other Hall of Fame (HoF) cards in Galax's lineup, the 3080 Ti variant is aimed at wringing the maximum amount of performance possible out of the 3080 Ti core. It's armed with a 450W TDP and a thick triple-slot, triple-fan cooler.

Unfortunately, we don't have full details on the entire HoF lineup for the 3080 Ti, but we expect it to be very similar to the RTX 3090 variants. Those had six different models, with three of those being sold exclusively in China. One of those exclusives was the OC Lab Edtion as well.

The 2.8GHz overclock is very respectable for an RTX 3080 Ti, but we're sure it can be pushed much higher, with RTX 3090's already hitting the 3GHz mark. Perhaps the 3080 Ti's slightly lower core count will allow the GPU to beat its bigger brother once overclockers get more experienced with the 3080 Ti's limits.

Palit Microsystems' Galax OC Lab has introduced its upcoming Galax GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition graphics card that traditionally brings together impressive looks and extreme performance. 

Being one of the world's largest suppliers of graphics cards, and thus one of Nvidia's biggest customers, has benefits for Palit Microsystems. The company can get more GPUs and offer a wider range of models than many of its rivals, particularly factory-overclocked boards with unique designs and enhanced performance.

With its Hall of Fame (HOF) family, Palit's Galax OC Lab brand goes above and beyond when it comes to power delivery circuity and cooling subsystems, so it isn't surprising that the Hall of Fame-series boards are among the fastest GeForce cards in the industry.

The Galax GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition looks just as impressive as other members of the Hall of Fame lineup and certainly packs a punch, too. It is big, which usually points to an advanced voltage regulating module (VRM), and has three eight-pin auxiliary PCIe power connectors that can deliver up to 450W of power. The card also has a simply gargantuan cooling system with three fans that should be able to remove massive amounts of thermal energy. 

Galax OC Lab hasn't disclosed all the specifications of its GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition graphics cards, but the board looks very similar to its GeForce RTX 3090 HOF boards. That means we may be dealing with a card that features a rather monstrous 14+8+4 phase VRM for additional overclocking potential. With the Galax GeForce RTX 3090 HOF Limited Edition, the manufacturer managed to push the GA102 GPU to 1875 MHz out-of-box (from 1695 MHz recommended by Nvidia), which is impressive.

The Galax GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition doesn't have the full trimmings, though — The card doesn't have a 4.3-inch LCD panel that can display information about the card or just playback some animated graphics as we saw with its first GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF. Perhaps the company wanted to reduce costs, but there's still a chance that subsequent versions of the board could have an LCD.  

Palit Microsystems has not announced the pricing or availability of the Galax GeForce RTX 3080 Ti HOF OC Lab Edition graphics card yet, but we'll update as we learn more. 

When Nvidia and its partners introduced their Light Hash Rate versions of the latest GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards, they wanted these boards to be cheaper than original products because of lower demand from miners. Palit Microsystems is among the first to start selling its Galax-branded GeForce RTX 3060 LHR products in South Korea, but it looks like these cards are not exactly cheap. 

Oversystem, a South Korean store, this week started to sell Galax's GeForce RTX 3060 LHR graphics cards with 12GB of GDDR6 memory at a discount price of 1,080,000 KRW ($966), reports VideoCardz. The card carries Nvidia's GA106-302 GPU with up to 1792 MHz clock, which is in line with developer's recommendation.  

Nvidia's official MSRP of its GeForce RTX 3060 is $329, so at $966 Oversystem are selling the board at almost three times the MSRP. Of course, prices in South Korea differ from those in the U.S., but it is still evident that the price of Galax's GeForce RTX 3060 LHR is indeed very high. 

Many market observers attributed recent price hikes of graphics cards to strong demand by Ethereum miners. While miners did worsen shortages of graphics boards, the price of LHR-series 'anti-mining' products demonstrate that supply still cannot meet demand even for products that pose no interest for miners.

Palit Microsystems, which owns Galax, Gainward and KFA2, is reportedly working on a range of GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards that feature cryptocurrency mining limiters which severely degrade the financial viability of using the cards for mining. Last week, we learned that Palit was prepping GeForce RTX 3070 and 3080 graphics cards with limited hash rates (LHR), and this week VideoCardz reported that the GeForce RTX 3060/3060 Ti LHR boards are also on the way from Galax. 

The new Galax GeForce RTX 3060/3060 Ti For Gamers boards will be based on Nvidia's LHR GA106 and GA104 GPUs featuring new IDs and paired with appropriate firmware, according to VideoCardz, which cited Galax as its source; however, the cards aren’t currently listed on the vendor’s site. 

Palit's FG-series GeForce RTX 3060 will reportedly carry 12GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit interface; whereas, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti will come with 8GB of GDDR6 memory with a 256-bit interface. Both will be equipped with custom triple-fan cooling systems, but their clock rates will be in line with Nvidia's recommendations: up to 1,777 MHz for the RTX 3060 and up to 1,665 MHz for the RTX 3060 Ti.

Unofficial reports claim Nvidia is quietly rolling out its existing graphics processors with cryptomining limiters enabled by a combination of a new GPU ID, firmware and driver. In particular, it is expected that Nvidia's lineup of crypto-limited graphics cards will include both existing and new models, such as the RTX 3090 (GA102-302), RTX 3080 Ti (GA102-225), RTX 3080 (GA102-202), RTX 3070 Ti (GA104-400), RTX 3070 (GA104-302), RTX 3060 Ti (GA104-200), RTX 3060 (GA106-302), and GeForce RTX 3050/3050 Ti.

There is a good reason why Nvidia and its graphics card partners reportedly want to deny usage of GeForce GPUs, some of the best graphics cards for gaming, for cryptomining. Mining obviously uses a GPU at around 100% load 24/7, something that a chip for a client PC is not meant for. As a result, failure rates because of mining are almost guaranteed to be growing. 

Keeping in mind that Nvidia controls over 80% of the market of discrete desktop graphics cards selling around 9 million GPUs per quarter, increased failure rates would clearly hit the company and partners badly. Just 1% of 9,000,000 is 90,000 RMA cases, and makers of graphics cards (and possibly Nvidia itself) may not be ready to process an overwhelming number of RMA cases in a timely manner. Still, very few GeForce RTX LHR graphics cards have been officially announced so far.

Galax (via VideoCardz) has re-released the brand's GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 Black General graphics cards with Nvidia's revamped Ampere silicon, which cracks down on Ethereum mining.

The new graphics cards with the anti-mining limiter are identical to the previous revisions in every way, starting from the packaging to the graphics card's aesthetics. According to the previous rumors, Nvidia has reportedly asked its AIB partners to differentiate the fresh variants from the prior ones to avoid confusion among consumers. The Lite Hash Rate (LHR) moniker was rumored to be the internal codename for the new series. 

We don't know for sure if Nvidia has specific guidelines in place of how vendors should label the new graphics cards or if they have the freedom to market the graphics cards as they please. In Galax's case, the manufacturer is adding the "FG" termination to the model name. The suffix could denote something, or it could just be a set of randomly chosen letters.

Obviously, manufacturers will have to update or release new product pages for the revised graphics cards. For example, Galax specifically mentions that the GeForce RTX 3080 Black General [FG] uses the GA102-202 (LHR) silicon, and the Ethereum mining performance is capped to around 43 MH/s. The GeForce RTX 3070 Black General [FG], on the other hand, now employs the GA104-302 (LHR) with a restricted Ethereum hash rate of 25 MH/s.

Word on the street is that Nvidia will ship its partners the new Ampere silicon in the middle of May, so we could see a potential release in June at the latest. Thus far, the GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3070, and RTX 3060 are the only SKUs that will get the anti-mining treatment. Nvidia has allegedly forsaken the GeForce RTX 3090 because the flagship part is simply too expensive to be a key player in the cryptomining game. On the contrary, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has proven to be a mining monster in a previous leak. Fortunately, the approaching Ampere graphics card should also be equipped with the reworked Ampere silicon if the rumblings are to be believed.

Galax is now warning users on its Chinese website that mining cryptocurrency with the companies SSDs will void your warranty with that product. This comes as no surprise with miners getting ready to start farming the new Chia Coin cryptocurrency which focuses on storage to mine coins rather than requiring the best mining GPUs.

Chia is a very new cryptocurrency that isn't even available to trade just yet, but it's already gaining in popularity. The main attraction for this new crypto is the way you can mine the cryptocurrency. Chia relies on a 'proof of time and space' algorithm to mine the currency on hard drives and SSDs, so there's no need to optimize your GPU for mining. In fact, after you build the plots on a PC, you can use a Raspberry Pi to farm Chia Coin and save on electricity.

The developers of Chia designed Chia to be mined this way so mining the cryptocurrency is more accessible to the end-user and won't penalize you with big electricity bills or the purchasing of single-use hardware (i.e. ASICs). But, on the negative side of things, this mining technique could severely affect storage supply and demand.

If Chia gets popular at all, we will probably see the same shortages we're seeing on GPUs applied to hard drives and SSDs as well. At present, Chia already has over 950 petabytes of storage, consisting of 101.4GiB plots. That's a lot of hard drives and SSDs, and that space remains occupied as long as a miner wants to try to harvest Chia. And the cryptocoin isn't even a month old yet!

Given how much data writes it takes to create a Chia plot, it's no surprise that Galax is already preventing users from using their warranty on its SSDs when it comes to mining workloads. If Chia is demanding enough on write performance, we could see all other SSD manufacturers following suit.

As DDR5 memory and supported platforms are approaching their launch, more makers of sophisticated DRAM modules are teasing their upcoming DDR5 products. Galax did exactly this today. 

"DDR5 memory module is coming soon," a statement over Galax OC Lab on Facebook reads.  

The post also shows a palette of Micron's DRAM chips marked as ICA45 D8BNJ R6KB, which are not currently listed at the company's website, but which we understand are the devices that Galax OC Lab is playing with at the moment. 

 Galax OC Lab is known for its rather exotic Hall of Fame (HOF) components, with overengineered PCBs and cooling systems that are designed to enable great out-of-box performance along with some extra overclocking potential. With DDR5, Galax HOF engineers are going to have a lot of things to play with. 

As we noted in our coverage of Team Group's upcoming DDR5 modules for overclockers, one of the innovative features of DDR5 DIMMs is that they can be equipped with their own voltage regulating modules (VRMs) and power management ICs (PMICs) to lower voltage fluctuation ranges, decrease power consumption, potentially increase DRAM yields, and boost performance.  

Memory modules with onboard VRMs and PMICs will be particularly important for servers that use up to 4TB of memory per socket (and with DDR5 this number might grow to 32TB in the coming years), where power consumption of the DRAM can surpass that of processors.  

Meanwhile, makers of memory modules for client PCs can also take advantage of this capability and equip their DIMMs with sophisticated VRMs and PMICs to amplify performance, differentiate from rivals, and maximize overclocking potential.  

Right now, makers of memory modules for enthusiasts are improving performance by improving PCB design, cherry-picking DRAM (after sourcing the 'right' devices from IC vendors), playing with voltages, and tweaking timers. With DDR5, the game will get a bit tougher and easier at the same time as companies will be able to choose and tweak VRMs and PMICs. 

That said, so far neither Galax nor Team Group confirmed that they will use onboard VRMs and PMICs for their first overclockable DDR5 modules. Still, we do know that the specification supports this capability.  

Intel's Alder Lake-S, expected at some point later this year, promises to be the industry's first desktop platform to support DDR5 memory.

Update 03/05/2021 9:00pm PT: Galax has confirmed to us that the GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Classic is effectively EOLed. The company has no further comment.

Original Article:

Following a report of Gigabyte canceling its GeForce RTX 3090 Turbo, other graphics card manufacturers have also delisted their GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards with blower designs.

In an age with fancy shrouds and flashy RGB lighting, graphics cards with blower designs are hard to find. But as old as it may be, this kind of cooler still has a place in modern systems, especially those SFF builds where the graphics card's heat needs to be expelled out the back rather than circulating inside a cramped case. But system integrators had found another use for the GeForce RTX 3090 blower models, which could be the main reason this cancellation.

A previous report from China claims that system integrators were incorporating Gigabyte's GeForce RTX 3090 Turbo into their server products. It certainly wasn't good for business, at least from Nvidia's perspective. The chipmaker might not have been too happy finding out that vendors are preferring the GeForce RTX 3090 over some of its more luxurious models, such as the A100 or some other Quadro offering. GeForce and Titan graphics cards aren't designed for servers or data centers, but system integrators have found the GeForce RTX 3090's traits to be too attractive from a price-to-performance standpoint.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Blower GPUs

News outlet VideoCardz has noticed that other manufacturers, including Asus, MSI and Galax have also removed the product pages for their respective GeForce RTX 3090 blower designs. Galax has reportedly confirmed to the publication that it has canceled the GeForce RTX 3090 24GB Classic, and the GeForce RTX 3080 Classic as well. No reasons were given as to why the brand retired a graphics card that has been on the market for only two months.

Asus, on the other hand, has only disbarred the Turbo GeForce RTX 3090. The company is still offering the Turbo GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 blower cards, so not all is lost. However, it's still a hit to gamers who want to put together a SFF system with a GeForce RTX 3090 blower design. There might still be some leftover stock of the graphics cards on the market though.

We've reached out to the different vendors to see if they can provide some insight on the cancellations.

Extravagant DIY builds have long become mainstream, so many people are looking for hardware that matches design of their existing rigs. Those with a snow-white PC want to use white components, which are sometimes hard to find. Of the many GeForce RTX 3060-based graphics boards announced thus far, there is only one white card, spotted by Hermitage Akihabara and made by Galax. This card is currently not even listed on Galax's website and appears to be only available in one Japanese store.

The graphics board is called the Galax Galakuro GeForce RTX 3060 12GB (GK-RTX3060-E12GB/OC/White) and it carries Nvidia's GA106-A300 GPU with 3584 CUDA cores clocked at up to 1807 MHz (slightly up from 1780 recommended by Nvidia) in boost mode as well as 12GB of 15 Gbps GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit interface. 

The GPU is cooled down by a rather massive cooling system incorporating an aluminum heatsink, heat pipes, and two fans which occupy 2.5 slots. Keeping in mind that the board is rated for a 170W TDP, it is not surprising that it comes with a rather advanced cooler. On the one hand, the massive cooler will improve the card's overclocking potential. On the other hand, not every PC can actually accommodate the white Galax Galakuro GeForce RTX 3060 12GB.

The board has one 8-pin PCIe power connector as well as four display outputs (three DisplayPort 1.4, one HDMI), which is now the standard configuration for performance mainstream graphics boards.

Given that white builds are getting traction, a GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card in white would gain quite some popularity among modders and DIY enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Galax currently does not list the board on its website and for now it will be available only from one store in Japan for ¥57,980 without tax ($546).

The Galax RTX 3090 HOF (Hall of Fame) is a super-built graphics card designed for hitting the highest frequencies possible on Ampere. However, with that super over-engineered piece of machinery comes a super high MSRP: E-tailer MWave has released pricing for its stock of RTX 3090 HOF cards, and the lineup starts at just over $3,007 USD (AUD 3800) and tops out at $3,999 USD (AUD 4,499).

The three models listed on MWave's site are global variants of the RTX 3090 HOF (not the Chinese exclusives): The vanilla HOF, HOF Limited Edition, and HOF Premium. We don't know the differences between the three; all we know is the premium and vanilla HOF models feature identical boost frequencies of 1815 MHz. Meanwhile, the Limited Edition SKU increases its boost clock to 1875 MHz.  

For pricing, the RTX 3090 HOF starts at AUD 3,899, the HOF Premium lands at AUD 3,999, and HOF Limited Edition SKU lands at a whopping $4,499. Converting directly to USD would be $3,007 for the HOF, $3,470 for the HOF Limited Edition, and $3,999 for the HOF Premium.

But keep in mind that this is a direct conversion, so it's a very rough estimate of what these cards might cost in the United States. Things like tariffs and taxes can significantly change graphics card prices once they reach your closest retailer. Presumably, these cards will be much cheaper in the United States.

Nevertheless, these crazy prices for the RTX 3090 HOF lineup will make them the most expensive 3090s on the market, even ahead of the RTX 3090 Kingpin (which costs AUD 3399). But you should never expect a good deal with a HOF card in the first place. The Hall of Fame graphics cards are optimized towards high-end overclockers and go all out with the best components you can put in a GPU. 

Galax has launched the brand's much-coveted GeForce RTX 3090 HOF graphics cards, which will arrive in six different variants. The HOF, HOF Premium and HOF Limited Edition are available globally, while the HOF Extreme, HOF Extreme Limited Edition and HOF OC Lab Edition are reserved strictly for the Chinese market.

The GeForce RTX 3090 HOF may be the most over-engineered custom GeForce RTX 3090 graphics card on the market today. As usual, the HOF SKUs feature a white theme from the PCB up, with the typical shot of RGB lighting. Galax's latest creation comes equipped with a custom 12-layer PCB and a powerful 14+8+4-phase power delivery subsystem. There's no doubt that the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF was conceived to break world records.

Regardless of the variant, the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF sports dimensions of 352 x 160 x 68mm. For those that are worried about GPU sag, Galax includes an aluminium support bracket to remedy that problem. The graphics card's cooling system is comprised of six composite heat pipes, which are 8mm in diameter, that connect to the large vapor-chamber heatsink. Three semi-passive cooling fans are responsable for heat dissipation. The unique setup consistes of a 92mm middle fan and two 102mm fans on each side of it. A beautiful white backplate rounds out the design.

One of the biggest novelties is the inclusion of the HOF Panel III, which is basically a 4.3-inch TFT LCD monitor with a 480 x 272 resolution that displays the graphics card's vitals. The HOF Panel III can function as a standalone monitor that sits on your desk or you can attach it to the graphics card thanks to the integrated magnet. The panel communicates via a standard USB connection and the HOF crown on top of it even has snazzy RGB lighting.

Sadly, Galax doesn't bundle the HOF Panel III with all the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF SKUs. The standard HOF and HOF Extreme models don't come with Galax's little toy.

Galax GeForce RTX 3090 HOF Specifications

The GeForce RTX 3090 HOF OC Lab Edition, which has a 1,905 MHz boost clock, is the fastest one out of the lot. At 1,875 MHz, the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF Limited Edition is the second fastest model, and it's the one that's available worldwide.

All GeForce RTX 3090 HOF graphics cards come with two vBIOS profiles that you can pick on the fly through the physical button that's located on the graphics card. The P-mode prioritizes performance, while the S-mode provides a quieter operation.

The graphics cards command three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. However, the power thermal limits are different, according to each model. For example, the HOF OC Lab Edition has a maximum TGP of 500W and the other two China-exclusive models are rated for 450W. Galax didn't reveal the TGP values for the global models. Either way, Galax recommends a 1000W power supply unit to feed the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF. As for display outputs, there are three DisplayPirt 1.4a outputs and one HDMI 2.1 port.

Pricing and availability for the GeForce RTX 3090 HOF graphics cards are unknown at this point.

Video games are great for doing things you can't do in real life. Fight robot dinosaurs, rob banks, drive too fast, and buy RTX 30-series graphics cards without waiting in line. 

With that in mind, Galax built an online shopping mall with various outlets in it, and at the heart of it, you'll find the company's RTX 30-series GPUs, including various HOF models.

Of course, all the models are rendered in low graphics because practically nobody has an RTX 30-series GPU to run anything in any realistic fashion.

The demo is quite simple and can be found here, so go on and have a walk around there and do what you can't do in real life. You'll find cases and coolers from Fractal Design, PSUs from Antec, Intel and AMD-based motherboards, and more. You can click on the items to launch pop-ups that lead to the web pages of the respective parts with 360-degree photos of them.

Is that... the RTX 3060 we see here?

While walking around, we also spotted packaging for the RTX 3060, which at this time, hasn't been announced by Nvidia. Of course, there are no specs, and clicking on it doesn't lead to any useful product pages, so there's not much to go by. Realistically, I'm sure it'll come at some point, so this is probably just a placeholder, and we shouldn't make more of it than it is. 

The RTX 3070 launch is almost upon us, and graphics card manufacturer Galax is pumping out tons of RTX 3070 models in preparation. Galax is releasing four RTX 3070 graphics cards that will be exclusive to that Chinese martket, the Boomstar, Metaltop, Gamer, and the Black. As spotted by VideoCardz, all four models feature triple-fan cooler designs and unique aesthetics not found in Galax's international models. 

The RTX 3070 Boomstar appears to be an "Anime" inspired design with a character featuring prominently on the packaging. The card is huge with a triple-slot cooler and a white themed aesthetic for the shroud. The Boost clock has been factory overclocked to 1785MHz.

The RTX 3070 Metaltop, like its namesake, has a metallic design for the shroud with black fans. Out of all the cards listed, this is the only model that features a dual-slot cooler. The PCB length makes up just three quarters of the cooler size, making the last quarter all backplate and heatsink. The card comes with just a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. The boost clock is rated at 1755MHz.

The RTX 3070 Gamer is probably the most unique out of the four, just like the RTX 3090 model, this card features a Leg-style theme with red and blue accents at the ends of the card, plus a lego-like plastic themed shroud. The Gamer also features a cut-back PCB that extends to most of overall cooler length. This allows the cooler at the end of the card to pass air right thru the backplate, improving airflow. The factory OC on this card is the highest of the four with a 1800MHz boost clock.

Finally, we have the RTX 3070 Black, this card looks to be the biggest of them all, featuring a full fat triple-slot cooler with three PCIe brackets to match. The color theme is a brownish silver paired with matt black accents. Despite its huge size, you only get a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, which might hinder overclocking performance. The boost frequency for this card is 1755Mhz.

The RTX 3070 will be Nvidia's mid-range GPU on the Ampere architecture with 5888 CUDA cores and 8GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. Be sure to check out our review of the RTX 3070 for more details. If you want to snag a 3070 for yourself, tomorrow is the official launch for the RTX 3070 and all its AIB partner cards. It's just unfortunate that you won't be able to buy one of these four RTX 3070 SKUs outside of China.

Are you a big fan of Legos? Do you want to build a building block-themed PC? As spotted by Expreview, Galax has something right up your alley with the Lego-themed GeForce RTX 3090 Gamer graphics card. 

Galax is no stranger to unusual designs, like the RTX 2080 Super EX Pink Edition, or the all-white design (PCB and shroud) of an RTX 2080 Ti Hall of Fame Edition. But while the company has been doing those designs for years, the design language of the RTX 3090 GAMER is something we have not seen before.

Looking at the card from the front, you can see a see-through plastic shroud with a triple-fan cooler design. Red and blue accents flank the sides. On the top, you can see LEGO-like patterns that could possibly fit real LEGO pieces. (Perhaps we need to add a LEGO test to our GPU stress testing equipment.)

Fortunately, the cooler is very well ventilated; you can clearly see the heatsink with almost no obstruction from the shroud. This should make cooling very effective.

As usual with most aftermarket RTX 3080 and 3090 cards we've seen, the PCB does not extend all the way to the edge of the cooler. Instead, it stops 5/6ths of the way to make room for a ventilated backplate, which allows air to pass through the rear of the card. The backplate is very colorful with blue and red accents and a big Gamer logo from Galax. 

In keeping with the colorfulness of the card, it natively supports ARGB lighting with a four-pin interface you can plug your ARGB products into. Power-wise, it features two 8-pin supplementary power connectors.

The official RTX 3090 launch is coming in under two days. However, pricing and availability for this specific card are unknown. Galax cards are somewhat hard to come by in western markets, so be prepared to purchase this card overseas if you really want one.

Galax has expanded its HOF (Hall Of Fame) line with not one, not two, but three new series of high-performance memory kits. Meet the HOF OC Lab Diamond, HOF OC Lab Diamond RGB and HOF OC Lab Phantom RGB product lines.

The trio of RAM kits stay true to their HOF roots. They come equipped with a black PCB that's passively cooled by all-white heat spreaders. In the case of the Diamond series, the heat spreaders are adorned with a diamond-shaped pattern, which is available with or without RGB lighting. The Phantom RGB series' heat spreader, meanwhile, boasts a light bar with customizable RGB lighting. 

Regardless of the series, Galax's memory modules are compatible with popular motherboard ecosystems, including Asus Aura Sync, MSI Mystic Light Sync, Gigabyte RGB Fusion 2.0 and ASRock RGB Sync.

Specs

Galax builds HOF OC Lab Diamond (RGB) and HOF OC Lab Phantom RGB memory modules with an eight-layer PCB featuring Samsung B-die ICs. The company only sells dual-channel 16GB DDR4 memory kits that are comprised of two 8GB memory modules.

The DDR4-5000 memory kit comes equipped with 19-26-26-46 CL timings, and it's only available under the HOF OC Lab Diamond series. However, both series offer memory kits with varying memory speeds between DDR4-4000 and DDR4-4800 with identical timings.

The HOF OC Lab Phantom RGB is the only series out of the three that have lower-clocked offerings. The memory speeds span from DDR4-3600 up to DDR4-4000.

Like any other memory vendor, Galax backs its memory products with a limited lifetime warranty. At the moment, it's unknown of the new memory kits will be available outside of Asia.

Galax has expanded its Turing-powered arsenal with two unique models. The GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super EX Pink Edition arrive with an attractive theme that's flushed with pink.  

The two new graphics cards are identical on the outside. Both are 295mm in length and employ the same dual-slot cooling solution as Galax's other EX models. However, the EX Pink Edition features an all-white PCB underneath the pink shroud. A similarly colored aluminum back plate rounds out the graphics card's design. A pair of 100mm EX-branded cooling fans with translucent fan blades and pink lighting provide the Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super EX Pink Edition with constant cooling. 

Galax is touting a maximum airflow of up to 70.1 CFM and air pressure up to 4.31 mmH₂O for its EX fans. Like most modern graphics cards, the EX fans remains inactive during idle and will only spin up when the GPU's temperature exceeds the programmed threshold.

In terms of specifications, Galax's offerings adhere to Nvidia's reference specifications for the GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super.The major difference is that Galax ships its graphics card with a generous factory overclock.

The GeForce RTX 2080 Super EX Pink Edition is equipped with a 1,845 MHz boost clock but can be overclocked to 1,860 MHz with a single click through Galax's Xtreme Tuner Plus software. On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 2070 Super EX Pink Edition comes with a 1,815 MHz boost clock and can hit 1,830 MHz through the same procedure.

• Best graphics cards of 2020
• The official GPU Hierarchy 

As for display outputs, both EX Pink Edition graphics cards supply three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs and one HDMI 2.0b port (you can see the difference in our DisplayPort vs. HDMI article). They also draw external power from the same combination of a 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors. Galax recommends a power supply with minimum capacity of 650W.

Galax didn't reveal the availability or pricing for the GeForce RTX 2080 Super or RTX 2070 Super EX Pink Edition. But with those bright colors, we'll be sure to see the cards when they hit shelves. 

Galax has introduced a new series of graphics cards under the Work The Frames branding. The initial lineup includes custom models for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super.

Both the Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super Work The Frames cards measure 328 x 150 x 53mm and employ a beefy cooler with triple 90mm cooling fans. The fans have 11 translucent "WINGS" fan blades that allegedly provide high airflow and air pressure at low noise levels. They also feature Fan Stop technology, which turns the fans off when the graphics card is idling.

The Galax GeForce RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super Work the Frames edition cards employ custom PCB with high-quality components. The first utilizes an 8+2 phase power delivery subsystem, while the latter employs a 7+2 design.

Work The Frames graphics cards possess four different individually controllable light zones. There are 23 predefined lighting effects to choose from. The fancy backplate sticks to a galaxy theme with an RGB-lit Galax logo. Apart from being eye candy, the backplate also cools and protects. 

The graphics cards are equipped with three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs and one HDMI 2.0b port (Galax didn't equip them with Nvidia's VirtualLink connectors). In terms of power requirements, the graphics cards rely on one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

The reference RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super have 1,815 MHz and 1,770 MHz boost clocks, respectively. Galax's Work The Frames offerings come with decent factory overclocks. The RTX 2080 Super Work The Frames has a 1,860 MHz boost clock, while the RTX 2070 Super Work The Frames boasts a 1,830 MHz boost clock.

Galax didn't reveal U.S. or UK pricing or availability. For countries with availability, pre-orders comes with a free Galax Xanova Ocala gaming headset and Work The Frames T-shirt and magnet.

Have you ever wanted to customize your graphics card with your own design? Well, Galax has launched the brand's new GeForce RTX 2060 Super, dubbed 'Star,' that allows you to do just that.

The Galax GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star features a translucent, plastic shroud with a pair of matching fans. It measures 283 x 139 x 42mm. Like your typical modern gaming graphics card, the GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star features customizable RGB lighting. However, the graphics card's selling point is that it allows you to personalize its shroud and backplate to your heart's liking.

Credit: Tmall

Tmall, a leading Chinese e-commerce website, currently offers a couple of design options for the GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star. Furthermore, you can send in your own design, and the Chinese retailer will print and implement it onto the graphics card for you. Being a personalized design and all, you won't be able to return your purchase to Tmall. However, the Galax's limited three-year warranty remains intact. Tmall doesn't mention what type of material it's using, but we're guessing the skins are probably vinyl stickers. If Galax releases the design file, you can probably print your own skins and slap them on the graphics card.

Credit: Tmall

In terms of specifications, the GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star retains the majority of Nvidia's reference GeForce RTX 2060 Super's specifications. You still get 2,176 CUDA cores, 272 Tensor cores and 34 RT cores. The graphics card's 8GB of GDDR6 memory still runs at 1,750 MHz (14,000 MHz) across a 256-bit memory interface to output up to 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star has the same 1,470 MHz base clock as a reference model. However, it boasts a 1,695 MHz boost clock, which is 45 MHz higher.

The GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star relies on one 8-pin PCIe power connector for external power. It also provides one HDMI 2.0b port and three DisplayPort 1.4 outputs for connecting your displays.

Tmall sells the GeForce RTX 2060 Super Star for 3,499 yuan, which is equivalent to $493.40.