One of the biggest claims by Nvidia is that the company’s new flagship RTX 3080 will have twice the performance of RTX 2080. However, true or not this does make me regret my decision of buying a 2080 just a couple of months ago.
It should be noted that in this review we will be keeping the technical jargon to a minimum and think like a consumer while focusing on the practical side of things. The reason for that is because it would be pointless to argue about the specs of the graphic card cause as it stands it is the best option in its current price range.
A huge thanks to Inno3D and Volted PC for providing us with this opportunity. For more details go to this link
IMPROVEMENT OVER THE PREVIOUS GENERATION
The new RTX 3080 not only has better performance than the last generation flagship RTX 2080 Ti but also shows improvements in various other aspects.
Inno3D RTX 3080 features an improved thermal design and 4 fans with the graphic card which keeps the GPU 20 degrees Celsius cooler than the RTX 2080. It should be noted that despite the additional fans it is a bit quieter compared to other graphic cards.
Now, this all might seem like a small change but in reality, would benefit consumers in the long run. However, this still feels a bit lacking as Nvidia’s GPU has a reputation of heating up a bit without a proper cooling system, a problem that persists in this product too.
Another major thing that made a big impression on me was finally having some cool looking RGB options for my graphic card. Inno3D RTX 3080 in particular has a great design and cool looking effects, which looks quite amazing if you have a proper tower PC with a transparent glass window. What’s even better is that you can sync the RGB for your graphic card directly from your motherboard.
PERFORMANCE
| Benchmark (Max Settings) | RTX 2080 | RTX 3080 | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Flight Simulator | 17fps | 29fps | up 70% |
| Control (DLSS quality + RT) | 50fps | 72fps | up 44% |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS) | 65fps | 94fps | up 44% |
| CoD: Warzone | 61fps | 85fps | up 39% |
| Metro Exodus (DLSS+RT) | 30fps | 49fps | up 63% |
| Gears 5 | 49fps | 80fps | up 63% |
| Fortnite | 53fps | 98fps | up 85% |
| CS:GO | 205fps | 261fps | up 27% |
| Destiny 2 | 63fps | 80fps | up 27% |
| Death Stranding | 66fps | 103fps | up 56% |
The performance offered by this graphic card makes it seem like the old RTX 2000 series were just mere beta versions for the new Ampere based RTX 3000 series. This has definitely lead to many poor RTX 2080 owners like me to drown in our sorrows with only memes to help us through this sad time.
According to our tests, RTX 3080 showed a 30-40% performance increase when compared to RTX 2080 Ti and a 60-70% performance increase when compared to RTX 2080. However, It should be noted that you might even see better performance based on your processor, so make sure that yours does not bottleneck.
Speaking of bottlenecks don’t run and buy a new processor just because you are getting 150 FPS in CSGO instead of 200. Probably wait for a sale or AMD and Intel to announce new processors which according to recent leaks shouldn’t take that long.
In terms of graphics and resolution, the RTX 3080 is built for 4K and possibly even 8K gaming. Previously, even if you had the best PC setup, you could only experience 4K gaming with ray tracing on by sacrificing your FPS considerably. However, with this beast of a graphic card playing games in 4K is much more viable option now.
It is a shame though that there aren’t many games on the market right now which can make use of advanced features such as ray tracing and DLSS.
PRICE
The launch price for this graphic card will cost you around Rs.70,000, give or take a few thousand. Which is not much considering the performance boost you can expect when compared to anything within this price range. However, you can expect some price fluctuations post-launch due to the difficulties involved in shipping the graphic card all over the world in these turbulent times.
Just recently when the card was launched in the US it didn’t take long for stocks to run out and entire websites to crash while taking orders which has become pretty common nowadays. So make sure to grab it while you can or have fun regretting later.
PC BUILDS
When building a gaming PC the general rule of thumb is to buy a graphic card which is around 30 to 40% of your budget. But considering the price of this beast of a graphic card, it seems more likely that you will have to sacrifice on some of the other parts of your PC to fit this in your budget.
Let’s assume you want some reasonable PC build with the new RTX 3080. It should be suffice to say you are going to be spending at least 1 to 1.3 lakh on your PC. So make sure to keep your budget in mind when building a PC with RTX 3080.
SPECS
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 10496 | 8704 | 5888 |
| Boost Clock | 1.7 GHz | 1.71 GHz | 1.73 GHz |
| Memory Config | 24GB GDDR6X | 10GB GDDR6X | 8GB GDDR6 |
| HDMI 2.1 Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Power Consumption | 350 W | 320 W | 220 W |
| Recommended PSU | 750 W | 750 W | 650 W |
| Dimensions (inches) | 12.3″ x 5.4″ (3-slots) | 11.2″ x 4.4″ (2-slot) | 9.5″ x 4.4″ (2-slot) |
| Launch Date | September 24, 2020 | September 17, 2020 | October 2020 |
| Price (USD) | Rs.152,000 | Rs. 71,000 | Rs. 51,000 |
VERDICT
Nvidia has clearly knocked it out of the park with their Ampere based RTX 3000 series graphic cards. Now even if AMD announces its competitor the BIG NAVI graphic cards, I doubt they will be as good as the RTX 3080. Even if the RTX 3080 may seem out of your budget do keep an eye out for future releases in the RTX 3070 which is supposed to release this October.
The bottom line is that this card is made for 4K gaming and even if you are not interested in that and only want better performance RTX 3080 is the card for you.
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