Nvidia RTX 3080 Founders Edition Review

[AlienALX]

To be fair Mark, the only positive from this launch is the pricing, well that's to say what the prices are meant to be not what they will in point of fact end up at.

There have been more positive things than that. I figured I should post them.

I like the cooler. I love how it looks, the design is amazing and a real technical feat. Cooling 360 odd watts of overclocked card as well as it does is a feat. I've said from the very first leak that I liked it and that hasn't changed at all.

The prices are OK. They are not great or even close. Many seem to be forgetting that until Turing the Ti cost around £600. This time the real Ti still costs £1300. I don't care how Nvidia have jiggled around the numbers, it is what it is. Bottom line? the top end card still costs £1300+.

People are freaking out because this is faster than a 2080Ti for supposedly half the price or there abouts. That is how it is supposed to work.

And that unfortunately is where the positivity ends. Ignoring all of their rubbish claims and crap they did before launch I am not impressed with Ampere. I know, more negativity right? no. It's a poor launch on a poor node and the power consumption simply isn't acceptable for the performance it provides. It's never been acceptable either, and Nvidia have weaponized it against AMD so many times I lost count.

The overclocking is dire. I don't recall a single launch ever where that changed drastically after day one. If this technology was really all that? we would see it. Pascal overclocked to heaven on day one, Turing wasn't bad at all either. Which again, unless I am totally wrong? is a poor show. Nobody likes something that doesn't overclock well.

That said there is one positive thing. Apparently as time goes on yields get better and thus so does the performance. However, I would bet right now that unlike Intel and their terrible early I7 chips (the 920, D0 was it?) Nvidia will rebrand these better dies and use them to keep up prices. Which again, sucks.

So that is it for me. If you had a lot of luck like I did and got a 2080Ti? this is not the replacement for it. It's simply not good enough, especially if you have a 2080Ti that overclocks reasonably. UNLESS of course that changes, and the 3080 actually can do better than 6% with over 10% worse power draw.

The replacement for your 2080Ti is the 3090, and it will be the same price. So much for Ampere being cheap (even though the dies were).

And that is about it.

BTW just remember this. You sell your 2080Ti for £500. You then pay £800 (because that is what a good one will cost you). Congratulations. You just paid 30% more for 30% more.

 

[looz]

Paying 30% more for 30% more sounds reasonable in tech, generally you hit diminishing returns quite hard.

 

[AlienALX]

Paying 30% more for 30% more sounds reasonable in tech, generally you hit diminishing returns quite hard.

Yeah only until the truth comes out. Then you find out 30% is a pipe dream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmfPDIlFEBw&feature=emb_logo

That is 60mhz higher than mine will clock. I suspect he has used the unlocked bios. Not worth it for 60mhz.

However, it sure turns the tables on the 3080, which is now 20%+ behind it.

Now sure, not many 2080ti will do 2200mhz or even close. However, any water cooled one will do at least 2ghz. Which I reckon would fill the deficit it apparently has perfectly.

So the 3090 is the true replacement and costs the same. Awesome

 

[KingNosser]

I'll be real honest, nvidia have done a really nice turn around on prices, the cards are not bad for the money at all, sure if you have a 2080+ you don't need a 3080+.

But for me it means AMD have to price correctly if nvidia had priced higher AMD would do so as well, I am undecided generally but the fact people will get more for their money is never a bad thing, least the prices are somewhat back in line.

If i had the money for a 3090 thou I would without any doubt watch plenty of reviews cause I really don't think that card is going to be much better and for sure not worth double the price imho.

the 3080 from everything i've seen from many reviews is ahead of the 2080ti in everything i've seen, is it worth selling the 2080ti for one and paying the extra na but it's ahead for sure.

 

[AlienALX]

I'll be real honest, nvidia have done a really nice turn around on prices, the cards are not bad for the money at all, sure if you have a 2080 you don't need a 3080+.

But for me it means AMD have to price correctly if nvidia had priced higher AMD would do so as well, I am undecided generally but the fact people will get more for their money is never a bad thing, least the prices are somewhat back in line.

If i had the money for a 3090 thou I would without any doubt watch plenty of reviews cause I really don't think that card is going to be much better and for sure not worth double the price imho.

They haven't though. All they have done is put them back to Pascal pee taking prices and not Turing.

If I sold you a bag of sweets for £5, then charged you £10 for the next one you'd be peeved. If I then sold you a bag for £5 would you think you got a good deal?

Remember, Nvidia have been setting the trends and indeed the prices for years. So the only comparison you have is, well, Nvidia's prices.

The most complaints about Turing? the price ! every one was whining because they could not afford the 2080Ti. Let's boil it down to facts that is how society is now. They only like something if they can have it. Nearly all could not have the Ti (including me, mine was pure fluke).

However, now all of a sudden they are peeing their pants because Nvidia have cut prices? they haven't.

2080 launch price - $699
3080 launch price - $699.

2080Ti launch price - $1399
3090 launch price - $1399.

Don't forget the Titan RTX @ $2300.

So this round there is no Titan. I can give you 380 reasons why not. W.

So yes, there is a performance uplift. I would expect so, given the only gaming card that had one on Turing was the 2080Ti. The 2080 was no faster than the $699 card it replaced !

AMD are in a tough position. They used TSMC, and that means their dies were 30% more expensive. So they can't under cut Nvidia much if anything, and Nvidia will know this.

BTW I don't even think it is worth water cooling the 3080. It is not temp limited. You would probably get nothing out of the investment.

 

[KingNosser]

I'd rather pay £5 than £10 it's simple enough, they could very easily charged more, we all know that, hence such hype online, but tbh the cards are good but i do feel people were generally overly hype'd.

Expectations do that, still on the fence on any card atm.

AMD won't be cheaper, and the top card could even cost a little more on top, but it's a ways until we know that for sure or not.

 

[AlienALX]

I'd rather pay £5 than £10 it's simple enough, they could very easily charged more, we all know that, hence such hype online, but tbh the cards are good but i do feel people were generally overly hype'd.

Expectations do that, still on the fence on any card atm.

AMD won't be cheaper, and the top card could even cost a little more on top, but it's a ways until we know that for sure or not.

Yeah now see no I don't agree they really couldn't have charged more. No way.

It's simply not good enough IMO. They made it sound about as good as they could, they even bought a spot on Eurogamer to sell their poo. Only in reality? as it slowly creeps in? it's no faster than the 2080Ti. If you have a 2080Ti under water it's a total waste of time and money.

Meaning you are forced to the 3090. Well, if you can't control yourself. Like many I just sat back happy with what I had and nothing changed overnight. Like a couple of Youtubers said, it won't perform any worse in the morning.

It hammers the 2080 sure. by about 60%. However, given the 2080 was dire when compared to the 1080Ti? and worse than the Titan XP I had? I would genuinely expect that after a four year wait for a card that is even remotely affordable.

But going back to them charging more? not a chance. There are two new consoles coming in about 8 weeks if that, and AMD have got their turn too. When they launched Turing bugger all was going on and they knew it.

Things are very different this year. Very very different.

 

[KingNosser]

I've heard many say the prices are aggressive and i agree that they are, so they could have charged more, but they didn't they don't want to lose sales to the consoles or AMD.

but you can't have aggressive pricing and then say they couldn't have charged more had they not been aggressive see ?

It's faster not as much as marketing but it's faster, but until more people have had more time with it put it under water ran a bunch more tests your comparing is slanted, and as you said yourself the 3090 is the new 2080ti in a few days your see how that compares thou myself i think it'll be pretty overpriced for the gains.

 

[AlienALX]

I've heard many say the prices are aggressive and i agree that they are, so they could have charged more, but they didn't they don't want to lose sales to the consoles or AMD.

but you can't have aggressive pricing and then say they couldn't have charged more had they not been aggressive see ?

It's faster not as much as marketing but it's faster, but until more people have had more time with it put it under water ran a bunch more tests your comparing is slanted, and as you said yourself the 3090 is the new 2080ti in a few days your see how that compares thou myself i think it'll be pretty overpriced for the gains.

They are aggressive to the Turing prices. That's the only thing we can possibly compare them to.

Just like how the Super series were far more aggressively priced because of the 5700 and XT. I paid £418 for my 2070 Super back in January. I thought that was a decent deal.

Thing is? if you go and look at just what £1400 can buy you? it's a lot. An awful, awful lot.

 

[KingNosser]

There will always be a market for the halo products, but they imho have never been worth the cost maybe 20 years ago when prices were a hell of a lot cheaper, but inflation and rnd costs as well as incressing manufacturing cost puts us where we are at now £1400.

For 1400 I could rebuild my whole PC and still get a nice card lol

The real fact is 2080 vs 3080 is a big gap it's somewhat unfair to compare that to the 2080ti they are different class cards, i mean sure if you have a 2080ti your going to compare, but really you should be looking towards the 3090 in truth, end of the day a 2080ti is still a dam good card and it's not like people haven't had use out of it in these last few years, but anyone that got it recently exactly what were they thinking unless 2nd hand.

If playstation 5 preorders are anything to go by good luck getting a card today people if you plan to do so

 

[Greenback]

I think it as JZ2c review he says if you have an older system with 1080p monitor as steam shows most have, you maybe needing to upgrade the monitor to 1440 high refresh rate to see any real benefit out of this.

 

[FTLN]

Any idea when 3090 reviews are out? Think I might be tempted looking at the 3080 review.

 

[Gothmoth]

the ones ordering today will maybe have buyers remorse in 2 month.


i would not buy the 10GB version anyway because its not enough ram for my compute needs.

and for 4K gaming and some future proofing i would rather have 16 GB too.


it seems i only have to wait a bit longer to get the card i want (well except the stupid high power draw).

It is no secret that NVIDIA is also preparing a 20GB model of the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card. It has been speculated for weeks now and we had no problems confirming this information with multiple sources. The internal roadmaps clearly state PG132 SKU 20 board design (RTX 3080 20GB) but the launch date has not yet been set.
Based on the information that we have the RTX 3080 20GB will arrive after AMD Radeon RX 6000 series. This model is simply a response to the Big Navi, the 16GB model, rumored to be Radeon RX 6900 XT. The date was not communicated to AIBs, simply because NVIDIA did not know when the Big Navi launches. This of course has changed, because AMD already announced RX 6000 series will be unveiled on October 28th. The RTX 3080 20GB might launch shortly after Radeon products will be available.
The latest development in RTX 3080 20GB news is the just-released document by NVIDIA. Yesterday NVIDIA released 8nm Ampere (GA102) whitepaper where the RTX 3080 model is listed as ‘GeForce RTX 3080 10GB’. Nowhere else in the document NVIDIA lists memory configuration with SKU name, clearly indicating that there are more versions coming.


videocardz.com

 

[Gothmoth]

As always folks, please give us your feedback below.

i would like a bit more critical view.
i see some problems with this card that other (not all) youtubers adressed but are missing here.

honestly toms reviews often come across a bit like a super enthusiast (nothing wrong with that per se.) who gets overly excited about new stuff but misses the less obvious shortfalls of a product.


most educated consumers i know have a way less enthusiastic view on the 30 series.
they are not blinded by the stupid pricing of the 20 series.

and pricing is what makes this generation look so much better.


don´t get me wrong the FE is a pretty card with a great cooler.
but i am not sure it justifies the hype.


i am also not sure i would highly recommend a 10GB card for 4K gaming.

 

[GodAtum]

How where you testing MSFS2020? I'm getting 30fps on the 2080 super @ 1080p, but you are getting 80fps. Same specs.

 

[MiNo]

Consider taking down this review ?

It is clear now, that Nvidia do not have these cards. Have checked many shops in europe and they went directly from 'coming soon' to "sold out' . Hear the same about the US shop. Some have looked into website code, and found digital evidence of the products never having had the 'for sale' status.

Obviously annoyed here. But feel the glowing reviews is more than Nvidia deserves by waiving these cards in front of us and then not having *any* for sale.

At least preface the reviews with a warning of sorts.

I literally looked at my inbox when the notification came from nvidia, and clicked within 1-2 seconds only to get to the sold out sign. Had checke the site manually all day, also a few minutes before the email - and it was not put up for sale yet.

Fake launch.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

This is why I like Steve from GN. He often does benchmarking for the questions we all have every generation.. e.g is my 7700k still good against the 10900k etc.

well he goes ahead and pits them against each other to show our older cpus are still fighting well. I think hes done the same for the 8700k too and others.

True, GN is good with that sort of thing. I can appreciate reviewers going for the best CPU and stuff, yet it's not depicting real world scenarios for the most part. PC World has done its review with precisely the 8700K I'm fine with this CPU still.

Speaking of PC World; they'll have their MSI review up shortly with the 3x 8-pin and make an interesting point: the FEs 12-pin draws 300W whereas the card draws 320W so the remainder comes from the slot. Factor in an OC and you might be left needing more than it can give as compared to the 3x 8-pin giving you more than you need. @tinytomlogan what are your insights into the matter?

the ones ordering today will maybe have buyers remorse in 2 month.


i would not buy the 10GB version anyway because its not enough ram for my compute needs.

and for 4K gaming and some future proofing i would rather have 16 GB too.


it seems i only have to wait a bit longer to get the card i want (well except the stupid high power draw).

Know what you mean. It feels like that before too long we may find ourselves needing more VRAM than the 10. I'm in self conflict to get the 10 or 20GB one. I just don't know (but don't care whatsoever about going above my 1440p either).

Consider taking down this review ?

It is clear now, that Nvidia do not have these cards. Have checked many shops in europe and they went directly from 'coming soon' to "sold out' . Hear the same about the US shop. Some have looked into website code, and found digital evidence of the products never having had the 'for sale' status.

Obviously annoyed here. But feel the glowing reviews is more than Nvidia deserves by waiving these cards in front of us and then not having *any* for sale.

At least preface the reviews with a warning of sorts.

I literally looked at my inbox when the notification came from nvidia, and clicked within 1-2 seconds only to get to the sold out sign. Had checke the site manually all day, also a few minutes before the email - and it was not put up for sale yet.

Fake launch.

Yep; they either had none and are laughing their arses off, or they had 5 per country and are still laughing their arses off. Seems more like a reviewer card at the moment eh? The whole thing is certainly not right.

 

[AngryGoldfish]

People were able to buy 3080's. The fact that there are scalpers proves that. But aside from that, there are people saying they managed to snag one. It just seems that it was difficult and largely down to chance. I think it's a bit dramatic to say the reviews should be taken down. We all knew this was going to be a paperlaunch. Most GPU releases are. I recommend most people wait for Navi anyway.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

People were able to buy 3080's. The fact that there are scalpers proves that. But aside from that, there are people saying they managed to snag one. It just seems that it was difficult and largely down to chance. I think it's a bit dramatic to say the reviews should be taken down. We all knew this was going to be a paperlaunch. Most GPU releases are. I recommend most people wait for Navi anyway.

Scalpers appear to be depicting pics taken from reviews - the ones I've seen anyway - which I find highly suspect.

I would also like those people that supposedly got cards to come forward. Yep sounding like a lunatic right now ha ha, merely curious and skeptical is all. And Nvidia it's official apology is like listening to your full of bullsh*t manager; a lot of blah blah blah.

It wasn't a paper launch from my perspective; they said including their Dutch site: available from 17 September. It's not.

 

[AlienALX]

Scalpers appear to be depicting pics taken from reviews - the ones I've seen anyway - which I find highly suspect.

I would also like those people that supposedly got cards to come forward. Yep sounding like a lunatic right now ha ha, merely curious and skeptical is all. And Nvidia it's official apology is like listening to your full of bullsh*t manager; a lot of blah blah blah.

It wasn't a paper launch from my perspective; they said including their Dutch site: available from 17 September. It's not.

One person got one on another forum I go to. From CCL.