Image credit: Pixabay
Since Nvidia announced the RTX 3000 series line up in September, the entire gaming world has been waiting for the arrival of the Ultimate Gaming GPU. While many people were hyped for the RTX 3080, there was some skepticism about whether it would live up to the hype.
The RTX 3080 finally arrived, and we are beyond impressed. We, as gamers and hardware testers, are blown away by the performance that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 delivers. If playing 4K games at very playable framerates has been your dream, consider your dream a reality now.
Specifications
Nvidia CUDA Cores: 8704
Boost Clock: 1.71 GHz
Base Clock: 1.44GHz
Memory Configuration: 10GB of GDDR6X RAM
Nvidia Architecture: Ampere
Maximum Digital Resolution: 7680 x 4320 (8K Resolution)
Monitor Support: Up to four (4) Monitors
Standard Display Connectors: 3 x Display port 1.4a and HDMI 2.1
Required System Power: 750W
Starting price: $699
Design
The RTX 3080 is bigger and more powerful than the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Super in every way. The only place where the RTX 3080 hardware lacks is in its Tensor cores and default boost clock. However, it is safe to say every other hardware in the RTX 3080 was designed to compensate for the lower default boost clock in every way.
On looking at the RTX 3080 for the first time, the time thing anyone would notice is the new design that was made specifically to improve the cooling features of the card significantly. The new design also makes the card look like something that could power a spaceship from the future.
Cooling
The new design is elegant, modern, and very futuristic. The angular cooling system with its dual and opposite facing fans allows the GPU to pull air from one side and blow hot air out of the other. The design is very effective in keeping the GPU cool and quiet, even under maximum working loads.
The GPU does a good job of cooling itself and not heating up the CPU in the process.
Specs design
While the RTX 3080 has fewer Tensor cores than the previous RTX 20 series lineups, it is stated that Nvidia that the Tensor cores on the RTX 3080 are twice as powerful as those found on the previous generation of Nvidia GPUs. This means that even with fewer Tensor cores, the RTX 3080 has the power to perform DLSS operations faster than the previous generation GPUS.
The new graphics card also offers up to 1.9 times more performance per watt over the previous generations. The RTX 3080, however, requires more power than the last generation. While the RTX 2080 needed 225 watts for its operation, the RTX 3080 requires 320 watts. This significant jump in power requirement required that power be delivered to the GPU more efficiently without any performance loss. The card is only 10 to 15 percent slower than RTX 3090.
It is the need for efficient power delivery that led Nvidia to make use of a 12-pin connector to deliver the kind of power required by the GPU effectively. The 12-pin connector separates into two 8-pin connectors and is still smaller than any previous connector used for power delivery in the past.
The recommended power supply unit to be used in conjunction with the RTX 3080 is one with at least a 750-Watt rating.
Gaming Performance
Oh! This is where this GPU shines the most. There is absolutely no graphics card like the RTX 3080 at the price point delivered, delivering the kind of performance that it does. The only GPU more powerful than the RTX 3080 is the RTX 3090, which is a graphics card with specs that are out of this world already. How do you explain 24GB of GDDR6X video RAM on a GPU?
While the RTX 3080 is the king of gaming at 4K at 60fps, the RTX 3090 pushes for 8K gaming at 60fps in supported games.
According to the test performed on Pcmag.com using a 10th Gen Intel Core i9-10900K processor, 16GB of DDR4 memory, Asus ROG Maximum XII Hero Motherboard, and a solid-state drive as the boot drive combined with the ultimate RTX 3080 founders edition, the gaming results are mind-blowing.
The RTX 3080 obliterates the performance recorded by any Nvidia GPU of the previous generation by a large margin. The lowest performance of the RTX 3080 Founders edition is the best performance of the RTX 2080 Ti Founders edition.
All through the gaming test performed, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders edition played every game on the highest settings at 4K resolution at around 60fps.
Final Verdict
It is safe to say that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is the new king of 4K gaming. The RTX 3080 delivers a lot of performance boost for the same price as the RTX 2080 super of the previous generation. There is just nothing more to say here.
