The Asus ROG Strix RX 5500 XT O8G Gaming proved to be a competent card for 1080p ultra across most titles in our test suite. The large heatsink and axial fans kept the card cool and quiet throughout testing, even during longer gaming sessions. In fact, it was coolest running RX 5500 XT we’ve tested. That's thanks largely to the 2.9-slot cooling solution.
With the premium options comes a higher price compared to the other AMD RX 5500 XT’s tested. The Asus O8G Gaming is priced at $229.99 with the Gigabyte Gaming OC at $219.99, the ASRock Phantom Gaming at $199.99 and the slower Sapphire Pulse 4GB the least expensive at $179.99. The $10 premium over the Gigabyte card isn’t much, considering the effective cooling solution, additional fan header, dual BIOS option and tasteful RGB lighting. However, some may opt for the ASRock card for $30 less to save some money and get effectively the same performance. For budget and mid-range graphics cards, it's difficult to justify paying 10-15% more for the same performance.
Performance difference between the Asus 5500 XT O8G Gaming and both the Gigabyte Gaming OC and ASRock Phantom Gaming were negligible in most cases. Select titles may show more than a few percent difference, but that is a two-way street leading to a virtual tie in overall performance. Expanding the scope to include the Zotac GTX 1650 Super ($159.99) and Zotac GTX 1660 Amp ($239.99), things become even muddier. The GTX 1650 Super is around 3% slower, and the GTX 1660 Amp is almost 7% faster for $10 more. Either GPU is also viable for 1080p gaming, though the GTX 1660 Super at $230 still wins our pick as the best graphics card for the mid-range segment.
In the end, the Asus ROG Strix RX 5500 XT O8G Gaming is a solid graphics card for 1080p ultra and 1080p medium gaming. Users will benefit from the larger cooler temperature-wise but need to make sure their case can support the full-size card. The ASRock Phantom Gaming D is less expensive, has similar performance and is a smaller card that may fit into a more compact chassis. Overall, the Asus ROG Strix RX 5500 XT is a good option for those looking for a superior cooling solution while not sacrificing performance.
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