Recs.
Updated
Specs
Pros
Pro Features adjustable RGB lightning
The exterior of the ASUS GeForce RX 480 8 GB OC features some RGB lights and you can adjust the color of these lights via the included software package. This allows you to customize the look of the graphics card, which can be useful if your setup is built with a specific color scheme in mind. You can also use the RGB lights to reflect the temperatures of the card.
Pro Semi-passive cooling under idle
The ROG Strix card doesn't produce any noise at all under idle or overall less intensive situations, as the card uses semi-passive cooling under 60 degrees Celsius. This results in a completely inaudible operation at low temperatures when the extra power isn't needed.
Cons
Con Slight factory overclock isn't really noticeable
ASUS has only slightly adjusted the card's Boost Clock from 1266 MHz to 1310 MHz (+ 3.5%), while the normal GPU Clock and the Memory Clock haven't been increased at all. This small factory overclock evidently also results in a rather small performance increase that isn't really noticeable. As seen in this Fallout 4 test at 1080p resolution, the ROG Strix achieves an average FPS of 94.9, while a reference RX 480 only scores a little bit less at 93 average frames per second, a 2% increase. Although the Strix version is indeed faster than a reference RX 480 cards, other RX 480 models in the same or lower price category are equipped with better factory overclocks.
Con Quite long, won't fit in smaller cases
The ROG Strix cooler ASUS has used is equipped with three fans which makes the card longer than reference RX 480. The length measures at 11.73 inches (298 mm), which is significantly longer than the usual 9.5 inches (241 mm). Smaller enclosures will have trouble fitting the card comfortably and in some cases adjustments will have to be made such as removing an HDD bay.