ASUS ROG Brings The Bling With A Stunning Gold Edition GeForce RTX 5090
Anyone remember the spoofed Apple iPhone 5s ad on the Conan O'Brien show a little over a decade ago? Pretend pitchman Raffi, dressed in a silk shirt and gold chains, enthusiastically declared, "Gold is best!" in reference to Apple's new (at the time) gold colorway. We haven't heard from Raffi since then, but if he were ever to make another commercial (real or fake), now would be the time. Only now, he would be pitching ASUS ROG's new Astral GeForce RTX 5090 OC Dhahab Edition graphics card.
ASUS has brought some major bling to NVIDIA's flagship consumer graphics card by dressing the GeForce RTX 5090 up in a gold-themed shroud. The renders look absolutely stunning. We also get a glimpse of the card in the flesh, courtesy of X/Twitter user @VGA4A. Have a look...
عاجل ‼️
— ڤيديو جيمز فور عرب | VGA4A (@VGA4A) February 5, 2025
إطلاق النسخة الخاصة بالشرق الاوسط بإسم:
ROG Astral GeForce RTX™ 5090
DHAHAB Edition pic.twitter.com/u5TCCA5iTE
The actual card that was shared on X/Twitter (as spotted by Videocardz) doesn't appear to have the same sheen as the renders (which is not unusual), though it could be the lighting. Even so, it's an impressive looking graphics card if you're a fan of the gaudy aesthetic.
Unfortunately, if you thought getting your hands on a GeForce RTX 5090 was a near impossible task, this one will be even harder to obtain. That's because it's only being released in the Middle East.
"The ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition is a celebration of the rapid evolution of the Middle East, featuring a unique skyline silhouette that signifies a transition from the sands to the skies. It also introduces ROG's first quad-fan design, coupled with a patented vapor chamber, increased heatsink fin density, a phase-change GPU thermal pad, towering default clock speeds, boosted power delivery, and more," ASUS states on the card's product page.
More than just a golden-colored shroud, the custom card aims to blend "modern technology and cultural heritage" with various accents, including Arabic calligraphy and images of towering skyscrapers to "illustrate the strength of contemporary Middle East." In other words, it's more of an homage than simply decking out NVIDIA's top GPU just for the sake of copious bling.
It's also a factory overclocked card. Whereas NVIDIA's reference design calls for a 2,407MHz boost clock, this card modestly boosts to 2,580MHz in default mode, and 2,610MHz in OC mode. Those represent 7.2% and 8.4% increases, respectively.
ASUS hasn't shared any details on pricing or availability, though after recent price hikes in its own online store, it's most expensive variant is the ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090 OC Edition, which is now priced at $3,409.99. It's most expensive air-cooled model is the ROG Astral RTX 5090 OC Edition, which now commands $3,079.99.
