February 22, 2021 You can now pre-order the standard Galax RTX 3090 HOF without a screen and crown at select retailers, and it comes with swag.
Nvidia’s RTX 3090 is already one of the best graphics cards on the market, and completely overkill when you compare it to the price-to-performance of an RTX 3080, but Galax has taken things a step further. Its Hall of Fame series is designed from the ground up for overclocking your GPU to extreme levels thanks to pre-binned chips giving maximum performance, and the RTX 3090 HOF Premium is no exception, except its got its own screen.
While it has extreme overclocking records in mind rather than your average consumer, we’re quite intrigued by the ridiculous 4.3-inch LCD screen that Galax has stuck on the side. This is primarily for displaying GPU stats like fan speeds, temperature, and clock speeds, although, as it connects to your PC via USB, it can be used for video and photo playback. A GIF on our graphics card? Yes please. There’s a crown-shaped RGB unit on the card, too, for added garishness.
The same GPU has already broken 16 overclocking records, but these, of course, used liquid nitrogen instead of the standard cooler. The 3GHz milestone has been reached already, whereas it took the RTX 2080 two years from release to pass that record, according to Videocardz.
Australian hardware retailer Mwave has three variations of the card listed, starting at $3,899 AUD (approx. $3,100 USD or £2,225), which is more than double the MSRP Nvidia set for the RTX 3090. At this price, however, it’s doubtful many enthusiasts will scoff at the extra $100 AUD it costs for the HOF Premium model that packs a screen and crown.
Pre-orders for the screenless standard version are now live in select countries, offering a few bits of swag to make swallowing the hefty price tag that little bit easier. By getting your foot in the door early, you’ll net yourself a white HOF hoodie and an exclusive RGB light-up figure that you can sync with your graphics card.
Currently, there’s no sign when pre-orders will go live in the US for the original or premium models, or whether it’ll also come with some merch. Since the £2399.99 starting price is even higher than expected in the UK, it’s worth bracing yourself for when it does, though.
If this has interested you in squeezing some performance out of your current card, here’s our guide on how to overclock your GPU.
It’s not the first internal hardware component we’ve seen with its own screen. NZXT released a Kraken Z73 liquid cooler with its own screen for showing GIFs or temps, based on its smaller Kraken X63 – one of the best AIO coolers you can buy. There have also been a few graphics cards with more basic screens released, too, similarly for enthusiast markets.