Let’s face it: unless you’re uber rich, you probably can’t afford ASUS’s new ROG Astral RTX 5090 GPUs with an insane $2,800 price tag. It seems like the company has decided to full send the idea of luxury to its fullest extent by announcing a special version with gold plating, exclusive to the Middle East markets. No word on whether actual gold is involved, though.
ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition
Officially, this special spin-off has a unique name called “Dhahab Edition”. Dhahab means ‘gold’ in Arabic, which definitely describes this card sufficiently – the card is covered entirely in gold-plated materials, be it shroud, PCIe bracket, or even the heatsink fins. Blue accents aside, the only things not painted gold is the fan blades and the PCB itself.
Specs-wise, it’s identical to the standard version, and this means you get the unique quad-fan configuration consisting of three conventional axial fans and a fourth one acting as the exhaust fan for the flow-through section. This gigantic quad-slot card will certainly take up a lot of space in your case and makes its presence known (it’s gold after all), on top of being extremely heavy for a GPU.
We’ll leave it to ASUS to describe this card in their own words, and here’s the text in its press release:
“The card pairs a stunning Arabesque design that showcases the rapid evolution of the Middle East, with a dazzling gold colorway that will shine at the heart of any PC. Certain visual elements and Arabic calligraphy communicate the elegant design’s core thematic pillars: strength, courage, and unity. These pillars represent the soul of the Middle East as it melds tradition and culture with cutting-edge tech of the future. Far-reaching skyscrapers extend high on the backplate of the graphics card, illustrating the strength of the region as it embraces today’s high-tech landscape.”
Well, you definitely need a lot of courage to buy this card (provided you live in the Middle East) – don’t expect this card to be anywhere near the word “cheap”, given the sheer upcharge the card already comes with over the Founders Edition MSRPs in its standard form.
Pokdepinion: Not going to lie, I like its looks. Not the price, though.
