Creative GPU modding is nothing new at this point, and as it has always been the case, some modders tend to take things a step too far. For one gamer and Redditor, they decided to take their ASUS ROG Astral RTX 5080 and transform it into a small yet functioning skateboard.
Redditor ashleysaidwhat posted a short clip of their breathe-into-a-bag, anxiety-inducing project on Reddit, and the initial responses are what you’d expect: equally filled with flabbergasted visitors.
She's a 5080 Astral but she looks like a 5090, and she handles like a TUF
byu/ashleysaidwhat inpcmasterrace
For the uninitiated, ASUS’ ROG Astral Series is considered the brand’s top-tier lineup; since the advent of NVIDIA’s RTX 50 Series, the PC brand has released several variations of the card, mostly limited edition models, ranging from a gold-plated RTX 5090 to a Doom: The Dark Ages-themed RTX 5080.
The problem with ashleysaidwhat’s post is that they don’t specify why they modded their Astral RTX 5080 into a skateboard: was the card defective or broken? Was it beyond repair and if it was, was that the reason why they decided to do what they did? Sadly, we’ll never know.
At this point, it’s probably safer to assume that their Astral RTX 5080 is dead, or even just a dummy card, the latter making more sense and also being less stressful to the hearts of gearheads, including this writer.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware, Reddit)
