GALAX GeForce RTX 3080 HOF is a huge graphics card, one that even eclipses the RTX 3090 FE. It comes in a three-slot design and measures 339x133x68mm. Given the weight of the card, it can be advised to use the included support bracket to make sure the PCB doesn’t sag.
You would have to keep in mind the height when going for a dual card solution as your case or motherboard PCIe slot combination may not allow such setup. The cooling shroud extends all the way to the back of the PCB and it requires a casing with good interior space for proper installation.
The back of the card features a solid backplate that looks stunning in an all-white color scheme with polygonal textures. The backplate offers a lot more functionality than just looks which I will get back to in a bit.
GALAX celebrated its 10th Anniversary of the HOF brand with the previous GeForce RTX 20 series cards. This means that this is the 6th generation of the HOF design that we are getting and it all started back with the GeForce 600 series cards. GALAX has maintained its classic white-colored PCB and cooler design and improved upon it over the generations.
The new heatsink looks like a beefed-up version of the one that was featured on the RTX 20 series HOF cards with the main changes being the shroud and heatsink design that features an aggressive shroud design on the front, featuring a full-white color with RGB emitting hexagonal design in the middle fan. The backside also comes with a large RGB accent bar which lights up the HOF Logo.
Coming to the fans, the card actually features two different fan designs with the one in the middle measuring 92mm with 11 blades and two on the sides measuring 120mm with 11 blades too. All fans deploy a double ball bearing design and can last a long time while operating silently. The fans come with white-colored blades too which blends in nicely with the entire theme of the card.
GALAX also features their 0db technology on the HOF heatsink. This feature won’t spin the fans on the card unless they reach a certain threshold.
In the case of the GALAX HOF heatsink, that limit is set to 60C. If the card is operating under 60C, the fans won’t spin which means no extra noise would be generated.
I am back at talking about the full-coverage, full metal-based backplate which the card uses. The whole plate is made of solid metal with angular edges that add to the durability of this card. The white finish with polygonal elements on the backplate gives a unique aesthetic. The graphics card also comes with a compact PCB design which means that the shroud, heatsink, and backplate are all extended beyond the PCB. The third fan blows air through the heatsink and blows it out from the cutouts that are situated at the very end of the backplate.
There are cutouts in screw placements to easily reach the points on the graphics card. We can also see the GALAX HOF logo on the back which looks stunning. GALAX is also using heat pads beneath the backplate which offer more cooling to the electrical circuitry on the PCB. GALAX has also placed voltage measuring points on the back of the PCB.
With the outsides of the card done, I will now start taking a glance at what’s beneath the hood of these monster graphics cards. The first thing to catch my eye is the humungous fin stack that’s part of the beefy heatsink which the cards utilize.
The large fin stack runs all the way from the front and to the back of the PCB and is so thick that you can barely see-through.
The heatsink has been designed to be denser by incorporating both standard and dense aluminum fins. There’s far more surface area for the GPU, VRAM and VRMs to dissipate heat to than the last-gen cards.
Talking about the heatsink, the massive block is comprised of six copper squared-shaped heat pipes with a more concentrated design to transfer heat from the copper base to the heatsink more effectively. The base itself is a solid nickel-plated base plate, transferring heat to the heat pipes in a very effective manner.
Furthermore, the top layer of the PCB has two aluminum fin stacks running at the sides which offer extra durability and better cooling on the components too.
I/O on the graphics card sticks with the reference scheme which includes three Display Port 1.4a & a single HDMI 2.1 port. You can also note that there’s a button on the I/O panel which is part of the Hyper Boost functionality that allows the fan speed to be maximized with a single push of a button.
There’s also a dual-BIOS switch on the card which comes pre-configured with Silent (S-Mode) & Gaming (P-Mode) modes. The performance mode not only unlocks higher clocks but also enables a higher power limit. There’s also an ARGB Sync header next to the BIOS switch.
GALAX GeForce RTX 3080 HOF Teardown:
GALAX makes use of a 24 phase (14+6+4) PWM design that includes its premium components.
The card also uses the GDDR6 memory from Micron that operates at 19.0 Gbps alongside a 320-bit wide memory interface.
The GALAX HOF series has always been aimed at extreme overclockers. Being so, the card utilizes a triple 8-pin connector configuration as opposed to a single 12-pin EPS configuration that the FE variant features. The card is rated at 400W TGP.
GALAX GeForce RTX 3080 HOF RGB Lighting Gallery:
GALAX lets you customize RGB accents on the fan, side, and back using their Xtreme Tuner App. You can fully customize the RGB lights to your preference using the app from GALAX’s web page. Additionally, there’s an ARGB header on the back of the card which you can see above.
