Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version Evaluation

In contrast to most issues on the planet of shopper hardware and software program, new graphics processing models should not launched in accordance with an annual improve cycle. A number of years typically move between main technology refreshes, and so every new sequence tends to introduce important adjustments and enhancements in efficiency. It is now been virtually precisely two years since Nvidia launched its GeForce RTX 20 lineup, and we have solely simply seen the launch of its successors, the GeForce RTX 3090, the GeForce RTX 3080, and the GeForce RTX 3070. As anticipated, these fashions are primarily based on a complete new structure, codenamed ‘Ampere’, which Nvidia says represents its “best ever generational efficiency leap”.

Nvidia after all has plenty to say about its new structure — the details are that RTX ray tracing is here to stay, energy effectivity is improved, and costs should not a lot larger contemplating what you get. The primary GPU within the GeForce RTX 30 sequence that we are able to get our arms on is the center of the three, the GeForce RTX 3080. It is aimed toward high-end avid gamers who need to push the best high quality settings and all the results turned on at 4K, in all probability whereas streaming every part.

As ordinary, Nvidia will sell its own Founders Version graphics playing cards primarily based on these new GPUs, and that is the model of the GeForce RTX 3080 that we’re reviewing in the present day. The corporate has give you a novel new hybrid cooling system and has additionally continued to refine its industrial design. Playing cards from associate manufacturers together with Asus, Zotac, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, Galax can even quickly be out there, with their very own coolers and customized tweaks.

There’s rather a lot in regards to the GeForce RTX 3080 GPU and the Founders Version graphics card to cowl right here, so let’s get began with a fast rundown of what is new.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version has a second fan on the rear with its personal airflow path

 

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080: Ampere structure overview

Final yr’s GeForce RTX 20 sequence, codenamed Turing, launched hardware ray tracing and AI-accelerated DLSS (Deep Studying Supersampling). For some time following the launch, these options weren’t extensively adopted by video games and appeared to supply little in the way in which of substantive enhancements however have each since turn into extra generally supported over the previous two years. Nvidia says that Ampere can course of some operations akin to shader algorithms over twice as quick.

We now have second-generation RTX ray tracing cores and third-generation Tensor cores for AI processing, plus sooner cache reminiscence and GDDR6X RAM. Efficiency enhancements are stated to be between 1.7X and a pair of.7X, plus new options have been added to leverage AI, akin to reside video and audio enhancements for streamers.

AI nonetheless primarily comes into play with DLSS, which is claimed to intelligently upscale frames in order that the GPU can goal a decrease rendering decision and work sooner, however high quality is not in the end compromised. Nvidia even says that DLSS can now assist ship smooth and crisp gameplay at 8K, and even produce sharper visuals than rendering at a local decision.

As for energy effectivity, Nvidia says the identical workload consumes simply over half as a lot energy as it might on an equal Turing-based GPU. Which means much less cooling is required and fewer noise is generated.

Nvidia is introducing just a few different new and up to date requirements. Ampere GPUs help PCIe four.zero for extra bandwidth with appropriate CPUs now and sooner or later. AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series helps PCIe four.zero and Intel is expected to adopt it with its subsequent technology. HDMI 2.1 permits for 8K 60Hz video by a single cable, and AVI hardware decoding permits for streams at that bandwidth in actual time.

RTX IO will leverage Microsoft’s upcoming DirectStorage API for Home windows 10 to permit big sport property to be transferred immediately from a quick PCIe SSD to a GPU’s VRAM with out going by the CPU or system reminiscence. That is probably a really huge deal, altering how video games themselves are designed and permitting for big environments to be streamed from storage relatively than loaded and buffered. It is just like issues we have been listening to about how next-gen consoles will handle storage, which makes it all of the extra attention-grabbing.

The GeForce RTX 3080 GPU particularly has been configured with Eight,704 execution models referred to as CUDA cores, organised into 68 “streaming multiprocessor” clusters, in comparison with three,072 and 48 respectively for its direct predecessor, the GeForce RTX 2080 Tremendous. You get 272 third-gen Tensor cores and 68 second-gen RTX cores as effectively. Apparently, this GPU would possibly reignite interest in cryptocurrency, which was as soon as chargeable for tying up the world’s entire stock of graphics cards however has died down of late because of diminishing returns on previous-gen hardware.

On the software program aspect, there are new capabilities as effectively. Nvidia Reflex which may work with appropriate screens and mice to assist optimise body supply and cut back enter latency. AI capabilities are additionally harnessed by Nvidia Broadcast to swap digital backgrounds, routinely body streamers, and cancel out background noise in actual time. Lastly, Omniverse Machinima targets content material creators, permitting sport engines and property for use to simply create high-quality animations, if builders help it.

You get a 12-pin to 2×8-pin PCIe energy adapter within the field to make use of with the tiny new connector

 

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version design

For the previous few years, Nvidia has been competing with its companions and promoting its personal graphics playing cards, referred to as “Founders Editions”. These have sometimes been extraordinarily polished and trendy, however do not trouble with manufacturing facility overclocking or tricked-out RGB LED results. With this technology, Nvidia has actually upped its sport in relation to design. Earlier efforts really have felt premium in a sea of plastic coolers and shrouds, however the RTX 30 sequence takes that to a complete new stage.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version is totally stunning. It feels heavy and costly, like a chunk of finely crafted equipment, with its uncovered heatsink fins and steel body. There is no RGB lighting right here however you do get an illuminated GeForce RTX brand on the highest and white accents lining the center of the body. All of it feels concurrently industrial but subtle. The design actually stands out, and that is earlier than we even get to the utterly novel fan placement.

This can be a massive, chunky card. It is longer than ordinary however really is not taller or wider, occupying a comparatively modest two slots. The principle body is a darkish steel strip that is rounded on the corners. It kinds a type of figure-Eight with an elongated mid-section, with practically your complete floor space that it encloses lined in uncovered heatsink fins. That is additionally a really heavy card, and you’ll actually really feel the load of the cooling system while you choose it up.

The port choice is pretty customary, leaving room on the backplate for a big vent

 

You could be stunned to see just one fan on the entrance, and that is as a result of there really is a second one on the rear. Nvidia has give you a unique twin-chamber design, through which the higher fan acts extra like a conventional blower and exhausts air by the again of your case, whereas the decrease one has its personal airflow path that expels scorching air upwards, to be sucked out by a case fan or radiator.

Trying intently, you may see that the precise circuit board of the RTX 3080 Founders Version ends earlier than the second fan, and you’ll look proper by the fins and out the opposite aspect of the steel enclosure. Nvidia says an enormous quantity of engineering went into decreasing board dimension to permit for this type of airflow, and it was all mandatory to attain the form of efficiency in addition to acoustics that it focused. The one draw back we see is potential mud accumulation within the big expanses of uncovered fins.

The whole lot has been packed in denser and redesigned to cut back digital interference. One of many adjustments required is a new 12-pin power connector which is mounted perpendicular to the board and angled forwards. Nvidia features a brief adapter with the RTX 3080 Founders Version. You may want two Eight-pin PCIe energy connectors, and sadly cable routing could be a problem, which considerably takes away from the hanging look of the cardboard itself. It would not seem that a lot of Nvidia’s companions have adopted the identical connector, and so it could be some time earlier than energy provides undertake it natively. Some PSU manufacturers have already got their very own adapters on the market, or will ship them to verified homeowners without cost.

The rear of Nvidia’s Founders Version card has one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a connectors. The VirtualLink Type-C port for VR headsets seen on previous-generation playing cards has been dropped, since the usual has did not catch on. For this and non-overclocked third-party choices, the reference GPU base clock is 1440MHz and the increase pace is 1710MHz. All playing cards will characteristic 10GB of GDDR6X reminiscence operating at 9500MHz on a 320-bit bus, for a complete 760GBps reminiscence bandwidth. PCIe four.zero is supported. Complete board energy is rated at 320W which is sort of excessive – previous-gen playing cards had been rated for 225-250W.

The location of the 12-pin energy connector might make cable administration troublesome

 

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version efficiency

The take a look at setup for our GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version is unchanged in comparison with what we have used to check earlier generations. We have got an AMD Ryzen 2 2700X CPU, a Gigabyte Aorus X470 Gaming 7 Wifi motherboard, 2x8GB of G.Talent F4-3400C16D-16GSXW DDR4 RAM, a 1TB Samsung 860 Evo SSD, and a Corsair RM650 energy provide. The monitor is an Asus PB287Q, which has a 4K decision however sadly would not help HDR or variable refresh charges. We used Home windows 10 with all the newest updates and patches. Nvidia provided a pre-release driver, model 456.16.

Beginning with 3DMark as ordinary, we noticed the GeForce RTX 3080 handily defeat the Zotac GeForce RTX 2080 Amp by 45-60 p.c. The brand new DLSS Characteristic take a look at in 3DMark indicated efficiency at 50.33fps with it off and 69.41fps with it on. The Port Royal ray tracing take a look at put up a rating of 10,721. We additionally ran the standalone Unigine Superposition take a look at, which managed 13,708 factors utilizing the 4K Optimised preset.

AMD at the moment would not have any providing that may put up such numbers, however that may change quickly with the impending launch of the Radeon RX 6000 series, primarily based on its “huge Navi” GPU. The Radeon 5700XT is in a a lot cheaper price and efficiency class, so we have left it out of this comparability desk.

Transferring on to gameplay and sport engine benchmarks, we determined to deal with efficiency at 4K, primarily based on Nvidia’s claims and projections. Beginning with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we set it to run at 4K utilizing the Highest high quality preset and TAA enabled. For this primary run, RTX ray tracing and DLSS had been turned off. The in-game benchmark confirmed intermittent tearing with its pans by expansive surroundings, however movement was in any other case crisp, and we received a median of 66fps. With RTX DLSS turned on, textures had been nonetheless nice, and no big variations had been instantly distinguishable. Nonetheless, the typical rose solely to 69fps.

Center Earth: Shadow of Conflict additionally has an in-game benchmark and might be pushed fairly far. With the decision at 4K, graphical high quality set to Extremely, TAA enabled, and all different settings at Extremely or Excessive, we received a snug and really playable common of 86fps.

Far Cry 5 pushed out a median of 73fps at 4K utilizing its Extremely preset, and every part regarded smooth. We took the decision right down to 2560×1440 to see the distinction that may make, and received a pleasant bump as much as 95fps. Metro: Final Gentle Redux managed to push out 58.79fps at 4K at Very Top quality with SSAA on and 4X AF.

The Witcher three: Wild Hunt pushed out a really constant 85fps common with little variance, as measured by FRAPS in a guide runthrough. The decision was set to 4K, with graphics high quality at Extremely and post-processing set to Excessive. Subsequent up, we tried the zombie shooter World Conflict Z at 4K utilizing its Extremely preset. The built-in benchmark ran at a super-smooth 110fps with out breaking a sweat.

Murderer’s Creed Odyssey is pretty current and demanding. We measured 47fps at 4K with the graphics high quality set to Extremely Excessive. Taking that down a notch to Very Excessive pushed our rating as much as 53fps. A decrease decision will probably be essential to run this sport at a smooth 60+ fps.

To place the GeForce RTX 3080’s ray tracing and DLSS 2.zero capabilities to the take a look at, we fired up Management. The decision was set to 4K and show high quality to Excessive. Beginning with each options disabled, we famous a median of 77fps in a selected motion sequence utilizing Nvidia’s personal overlay. Turning Ray Tracing on and selecting the Top quality setting instantly pulled our common right down to about 47fps. DLSS ought to compensate for this, and now you can select your rendering and goal resolutions independently. With the latter set to 2560×1440, we really famous a bounce as much as 80fps. By way of high quality, issues are trying good for DLSS – every part was sharp and we had no complaints about picture high quality. That is the expertise we had in only one sport, and that too on a really high-end GPU, but it surely does present that there are extra methods to enhance high quality than simply brute pressure rendering.

Only for enjoyable we fired up Quake II with Nvidia’s RTX renderer. This historical title actually should not look so good, but it surely’s able to utilizing ray tracing for lighting results which makes it really feel considerably recent. We pushed the decision all the way in which as much as 4K and managed a median of 42fps.

All of the engineering that went into the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version card appears to have paid off – it hardly makes any sound, even beneath very heavy load. The “dustbuster” designs of the previous are lengthy behind us – you will solely hear a boring whoosh when operating heavy video games or exams. Nonetheless this card does push out loads of scorching air, and does so fairly forcefully. On our open take a look at bench, we had been capable of really feel it even two ft away from the rear vents. The steel body additionally received too scorching to the touch for quite a lot of seconds. This card will doubtless run hotter and louder inside a small, cramped desktop enclosure, and it will likely be attention-grabbing to see how extra conventional triple-fan blowers on associate playing cards fare.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version has minimal lighting for a really understated look

 

Verdict

The Ampere structure appears to be one more feather in Nvidia’s cap, persevering with an extended string of successes and placing some extreme pressure on AMD. After all we mustn’t overlook that Intel can also be arising with an enthusiast-class discrete GPU early subsequent yr, so issues are about to get very, very attention-grabbing for PC avid gamers. The GeForce RTX 3080 delivers glorious efficiency in in the present day’s video games – it is greater than sufficient for 1440p and it’s best to be capable of push smooth 4K visuals with out a lot bother.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version is an outstanding piece of hardware by way of design. This card and the GPU it is primarily based round are nonetheless not with out some flaws – warmth is more likely to be a problem, energy consumption is sort of excessive, and 10GB of VRAM is not as a lot as many individuals had been anticipating this technology to have. Efficiency is great, and a lot better than what you could get for this price a yr or two in the past.

All of because of this whereas Rs. 71,000 will not be a foul worth in any respect for the efficiency that you simply get, it is nonetheless approach out of attain for the overwhelming majority of avid gamers and fans in India. Glorious efficiency at 4K is tantalising, however that is nonetheless a really area of interest goal decision right here, and we all know that individuals would a lot relatively see how Nvidia will use its expertise to serve the decrease finish of the market. The GeForce RTX 30 sequence fashions introduced up to now are additionally nonetheless too costly to take ray tracing and DLSS mainstream.

There is no telling but what Nvidia has in retailer for lower-priced fashions — we do not know whether or not the GeForce GTX sequence will proceed to serve budget-conscious consumers or if there’ll now be a full unfold of RTX fashions overlaying all tiers. We’ll have to attend at the very least just a few months for the inevitable GeForce RTX 3060 and no matter else follows.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Version
Value: Rs. 71,000

Professionals

• Glorious efficiency at 1440p and 4K
• DLSS is beneficial. insupported video games
• Seems unbelievable

Cons

• Runs fairly scorching
• Comparatively excessive energy requirement

Scores (out of 5)

• Efficiency: four.5
• Worth for Cash: four
• Total: four.5