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[Updated: 14th of September 2020] Added new leaked benchmarks with 3DMark, Shadow of Tomb Raider and FarCry New Dawn
Hype for the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 is massive right now. This could be the best GPU release from Nvidia in years and will no doubt AMD will be worried.
Currently, it is speculated that AMD will announce their Big Navi GPUs on or near the 7th of October, likely just before the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 launches that month. That may give us some idea on what sort of performance to expect from AMD, likely wanting to compete with or better the RTX 3070.
Lots of big claims have been made about the new RTX 30-series, including the RTX 3070 being better than the RTX 2080 Ti. At £469 it will no doubt be the most popular card for gamers offering more than enough performance for sub-4K gaming at high refresh rates with ray tracing on.
With the RTX 3090 priced at around £1400, it is being positioned more as a RTX Titan replacement, leaving the RTX 3080 as the most sensible choice for enthusiast gamers wanting the best performance possible.
Recently, Eurogamer managed to snag some exclusive access to test the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 giving us some idea of the performance gains to be had. The results are impressive to say the least.
With this being exclusive access granted by Nvidia, they had to conform to lots of rules, including the games testing and the settings used. So, the likelihood these are all best-case scenario to make the cards look as good as possible.
You can also compare to see how much the RTX 2080 is better than GTX 1080 so you can see how impressive this generational jump is.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080ti Specification Comparison
| RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RTX 3070 | RTX 2080 Ti | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 10496 | 8704 | 5888 | 4352 |
| Base Clock | 1.40GHz | 1.44GHz | 1.50GHz | 1.35GHz |
| Boost Clock | 1.7GHz | 1.71GHz | 1.73GHz | 1545MHz |
| Memory Clock | 19.5Gbps GDDR6X | 19Gbps GDDR6X | 16Gbps GDDR6 | 14Gbps GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus Width | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit | 352-bit |
| VRAM | 24GB | 10GB | 8GB | 11GB |
| Single Precision Perf. | 35.7 TFLOPs | 29.8 TFLOPs | 20.4 TFLOPs | 13.4 TFLOPs |
| Tensor Perf. (FP16) | 285 TFLOPs | 238 TFLOPs | 163 TFLOPs | 114 TFLOPs |
| Ray Perf. | 69 TFLOPs | 58 TFLOPs | 40 TFLOPs | ? |
| TDP | 350W | 320W | 220W | 250W |
| GPU | GA102? | GA102? | GA104? | TU102 |
| Transistor Count | 28B | 28B | ? | 18.6B |
| PCIe Interface | 4.0 x16 | 4.0 x16 | 4.0 x16 | 3.0 x16 |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere | Ampere | Turing |
| Manufacturing Process | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | Samsung 8nm | TSMC 12nm FFN |
| Launch Date | 24th September | 17th of September | October 2020 | 20th September 2018 |
| Launch Price | MSRP: $1499/£1399 | MSRP: $699/£649 | MSRP: $499/£469 | MSRP: $999 |
Using the previous table I posted, we can see that the RTX 3080, on paper, offers a significantly improved specification compared to last years flagship GPU, the RTX 2080ti.
While the 10GB memory is slightly less, the number of CUDA cores has doubled base and boose frequencies have increased considerably and the GDDR6X offers higher bandwidth. Compared to the RTX 2080 with 2944 CUDA cores you get a 195% improvement.
For single-precision performance in teraflops, we see a 122% improvement going from 13.4 TFLOPs to 29.8 TFLOPs. Compared to the RTX 2080 with 10.1 TFLOPs that’s a 195% improvement.
For tensor performance (FP16) the numbers are almost as impressive with a 108% improvement over the RTX 2080Ti.
Gaming Results – RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080
| RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 | 4K/Max Settings Perf Boost |
|---|---|
| Borderlands 3 | 81.6 |
| Doom Eternal | 84.2 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 69.8 |
| Control | 77.6 |
| Ray Tracing: Quake 2 RTX | 92.3 |
| Ray Tracing: Control/High RT/DLSS Perf | 77.6 |
Due to the conditions EuroGamer were given I would assume all these figures are the more positive results that are achievable by the cards. We will have to wait and see what results are achieved across multiple games at different settings to get a real idea of how good these are.
However, those are some impressive numbers, with the worst result being a 69.8% improvement moving from the GeForce RTX 2080 to RTX 3080.
With Ray Tracing in Quake 2, the 2x improvement that NVIDA claim is almost accurate with a 92.3% improvement in the results achieved.
It already looks like the RTX 3070 may beat the RTX 2080 Ti in some, if not many games. So with the RTX 3080 I would be hopeful that this can easily beat the RTX 2080 Ti in almost anything, which is amazing considering the pricing.
3DMark Benchmarks
Recently, VideoCardz posted early benchmarks of the GeForce RTX 3080 that were originally posted and deleted by a Chinese source named TecLab.
In 3D Mark Fire Strike, at 1440p the RTX 3080 beats the RTX 2080 Ti by 29% and the RTX 2080S by 55%.
With Fire Strike at 4K, that increases to 35% and 62%
Then in Time Spy at 1440P the RTX 3080 achieves 27% and 54% higher results, with the 4K results being 36% and 68% higher.
| Fire Strike Perf. (1080p) | Fire Strike Extreme (1440p) | Fire Strike Ultra (2160p) | Time Spy 1440p | Time Spy Extreme (2160p) | Port Royal 1440p (Total) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3080 | 42761 | 21260 | 10862 | 17819 | 8863 | 11412 |
| RTX 2080 Ti | 34030 | 16405 | 8010 | 14030 | 6503 | 8590 |
| RTX 2080S | 28597 | 13685 | 6669 | 11498 | 5268 | 6925 |
| RTX 2070S | 22591 | 11805 | 6135 | 10350 | 4850 | 5890 |
| RTX 2060S | 20530 | 10708 | 6135 | 9420 | 4430 | 5142 |
Shadow of Tomb Raider Performance
Moving on to Shadow Of The Tomb Raider with 1440p MaxQ RTX DLSS the RTX 3080 managed 158 fps which is 22% and 41% higher than the RTX 2080ti and RTX 2080 respectively.
With 2160p MaxQ RTX DLSS it manages 103 fps which is 22% and 43% better than the last generation cards.
| 1440p MaxQ | 1440p MaxQ RTX DLSS | 2160p MaxQ | 2160p MaxQ RTX DLSS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3080 | 149 | 158 | 84 | 103 |
| RTX 2080 Ti | 115 | 129 | 63 | 84 |
| RTX 2080S | 100 | 112 | 51 | 72 |
| RTX 2070S | 87 | 97 | 44 | 61 |
| RTX 2060S | 74 | 84 | 39 | 54 |
FarCry New Dawn Performance
| 1080p UHQ | 1440p UHQ | 2160p UHQ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 3080 | 132 | 129 | 97 |
| RTX 2080 Ti | 129 | 122 | 79 |
| RTX 2080S | 128 | 111 | 65 |
| RTX 2070S | 121 | 102 | 59 |
| RTX 2060S | 118 | 94 | 52 |
Pricing
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has a launch price of $699/£649 and will be available on the 17th of September.
Currently the cheapest GeForce RTX 2080 Ti on Scan is £1,054.99, the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER can be had for the same price as the RRP of the RTX 3080 starting at £649.79.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti eBay Pricing
This has led to RTX 2080 Ti to crash in pricing on eBay, but if the performance of the RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 is accurate, there is little reason to buy one.
When I originally posted this, the cheapest I could find was £550, that is now £499 with a buy it now with an option for best offers
[Original Post: 3rd of September 2020]
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.
Thanks for the Informative article about RTX 3080 and 2080 Ti. I had a little doubt about choosing the best graphics cards for me. Now I understand RTX 3080 can be the best choice for me.