ASUS quietly slipped in the GeForce GTX 1080 STRIX A8G graphics card (model: ROG STRIX-GTX1080-A8G-GAMING). This card is a variant of the original GTX 1080 STRIX O8G graphics card the company launched its GTX 1080 lineup with, and features a slightly lower factory-overclock. The card ships with clock speeds of 1670 MHz core and 1809 MHz GPU Boost out of the box, compared to the 1759 MHz core and 1898 MHz GPU Boost, which the original STRIX O8G ships with; and NVIDIA reference clocks of 1607 MHz core and 1733 MHz GPU Boost. The included GPUTweak II utility unlocks slightly higher clocks, of 1695 MHz core and 1835 MHz GPU Boost in OC mode, which are still lower than those of the O8G STRIX OC.
Clock-speeds aside, the ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 STRIX A8G is identical to the original STRIX OC. You get a strong 10-phase VRM which draws power from a combination of 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors; two 4-pin PWM fan headers that sync your case-fans to GPU temperatures; and the company’s signature DirectCU III cooling solution that features a massive aluminium fin-stack heatsink, with five copper heat pipes that make direct contact with the GPU; and ASUS Aura RGB LED lighting on the cooler shroud, which holds the three 100 mm fans. The ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 A8G is expected to be priced about 5-10% less than the original STRIX OC (O8G).