Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Founders Edition Review - IGN

Posted:

Nov 15, 2022 2:00 pm

Following past month’s motorboat of the $1,599 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, a graphics paper meant mostly for nonrecreational use, contiguous the caller procreation of GPUs has yet arrived for the somewhat little affluent assemblage of PC gamers successful the signifier of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Founders Edition, which launches time for $1,199. That means the introduction constituent for the RTX 40-series’ lofty show claims and frame-generating DLSS 3 has travel down astatine slightest a bit. We’re inactive astatine the opening of this caller GPU generation, but truthful acold the RTX 4080 is simply a beardown showing.

What’s successful a Name

Before we get to the spec expanse and show numbers, we should screen the RTX 4080 naming kerfuffle and speech a spot astir however Nvidia’s GPUs are typically positioned – and wherefore this procreation is simply a spot antithetic than years previous. Dating backmost much than a decade, Nvidia GPUs bearing the “-80” moniker are considered the flagship mainstream cards, and person been priced successful the $500 to $700 range. Looking much specifically astatine caller trends, the GTX 1080 launched astatine $599, and some the RTX 2080 and 3080 launched astatine $699.

You mightiness beryllium wondering, then, wherefore the RTX 4080 starts astatine astir treble that range. The reply is successful that aforementioned naming fiasco. Originally, Nvidia planned 2 variants of the RTX 4080 – a 16GB for $1,199 (the mentation we’re reviewing here) and a 12GB, priced astatine $899. This wouldn’t person been the archetypal clip Nvidia has launched VRAM-variant cards, but typically the magnitude of VRAM was the lone difference, whereas successful this lawsuit the 2 cards besides carried antithetic halfway counts and clockspeeds – differences that antecedently would person warranted a bump down to different tier (in this case, the RTX 4070).

People rightfully complained astir the disorder this was already starting to cause, and to Nvidia’s recognition it responded, opting to “unlaunch” the RTX 4080 12GB; it’s present rumored that those cards volition beryllium re-announced with the “RTX 4070 Ti” name, though arsenic of yet there’s thing official.

That’s each good and good, but it inactive leaves america with a “mainstream” paper bearing the enthusiast-tier pricing that would antecedently person been reserved for a paper bearing the “Ti” statement – representing a mid-generation measurement up. In different words, emblematic generational comparisons are a spot skewed this clip around, truthful we’ll mostly beryllium comparing the RTX 4080 against the RTX 3080 Ti, which besides launched astatine $1,199 successful June 2021, arsenic opposed to the RTX 3080.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 – Design and Features

If you work my review of the RTX 4090, you’ll retrieve that it’s an perfectly monolithic card, successful some size and show terms. The RTX 4080, meanwhile, is…not immoderate smaller. It bears the aforesaid triple-slot designation, measuring 11.9 inches (304mm) long, 5.4 inches (137mm) wide, and 2.4 inches (61mm) heavy – the nonstop aforesaid dimensions arsenic the RTX 4090. This is simply a big card. For comparison, the RTX 3080 measured 11.2 inches (285mm) long, 4.4 inches (112mm) wide, and 1.5 inches (40mm) thick, portion the RTX 2080 and GTX 1080 were adjacent smaller.

Most of that heft comes from the large, dual-axial flowthrough cooling solution required to support temperatures successful check. The cooler plan is mostly akin to that of the RTX 3090, but with larger fans and taller fins successful bid to execute what Nvidia says is 15% much airflow astatine the aforesaid acoustic level. In practice, the RTX 4080 remained whisper-quiet portion keeping temperatures hovering astir 53-55C, with a highest of 57C, during a agelong long of benchmarking.

Compared to the RTX 3080 Ti, the RTX 4080 has 9,728 CUDA cores (down from 10,240), 304 fourth-gen Tensor cores (vs 320 third-gen), and 76 third-gen RT cores (vs 80 second-gen). In different words: it has newer cores, but somewhat less of them overall. The alteration successful number shouldn’t beryllium alarming though, since the 4080 includes a boost timepiece velocity of 2,505MHz compared to the RTX 3080 Ti’s 1,665MHz clock, not to notation the 16GB of GDDR6X VRAM, compared to 12GB connected its 30-series “predecessor.”

Like the RTX 4090, the 4080 uses the somewhat contentious 16-pin 12VHPWR powerfulness connector that has precocious been successful the quality owed to reports of it overheating and melting. We haven’t had immoderate issues with it successful immoderate of our testing, but we’ll decidedly beryllium monitoring the concern arsenic this procreation of graphics cards matures.

Speaking of power, the RTX 4080 has a TDP of 320W, down from 350W connected the RTX 3080 Ti. Nvidia recommends utilizing a 750W powerfulness proviso astatine minimum. There’s besides a 3x 8-pin adapter successful the container for radical whose powerfulness supplies don’t person the caller connector.

For ports, the RTX 4080 has 3x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x HDMI 2.1a. This is the emblematic layout for current-gen graphics cards, though AMD’s recently-announced RX 7900 XT and XTX usage the newer DisplayPort 2.1, which has much than triple the bandwidth and enables 4K solution astatine up to 480Hz, oregon 8K up to 165Hz, versus 240Hz astatine 4K and 60Hz astatine 8K for DisplayPort 1.4. Most games and monitors won’t beryllium capable to instrumentality vantage of that bandwidth, truthful it’s benignant of a moot point, but AMD does technically person the advantage.

Nvidia Geforce RTX 4080 – Performance

Starting disconnected with our synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4080 comes retired swinging successful 3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra with a 17% betterment implicit the RTX 3090 Ti and 28% implicit AMD’s RX 3950 XT – the 2 champion GPUs of the erstwhile procreation – and a 35% boost implicit its generational price-equivalent predecessor, the RTX 3080 Ti. As you’d expect it falls considerably abbreviated of the RTX 4090, however, with a people of 16,255 compared to the RTX 4090’s 21,872, which makes full consciousness fixed that paper costs $400 more.

Moving connected to Unigine Heaven, the RTX 4080 edges retired the RTX 3090 Ti and RX 6950 XT astatine 1080p and 1440p, but really falls abbreviated of some cards astatine 4K. Against the RTX 3080 Ti, though, it consistently wins retired with a 13% pb astatine 1080p, 14% astatine 1440p, and a flimsy 4% astatine 4K.

The ray tracing synthetics are much dramatic. The RTX 4080 offers an mean uplift of 28% compared to the RTX 3090 Ti crossed our 3 tests, and of people perfectly demolishes the RX 6950 XT, which lacks the ray tracing chops of Nvidia’s hardware. Comparing it to the 3080 Ti offers adjacent much awesome results, with an mean betterment of 45% compared to that card.

Moving connected to our gaming benchmarks, the RTX 4080 again has a beardown showing crossed each 3 resolutions tested. At this constituent our benchmark tests are fundamentally CPU bound astatine 1080p, with the RTX 4080 pinging the metre alongside the much almighty RTX 4090. 1440p is comparatively similar, with the paper showing ample gains implicit the past procreation successful tests that aren’t CPU bound, and of people matching the champion successful tests that are.

Given the high-end quality of this hardware, however, the existent communicative is astatine 4K. (If you’re not playing astatine 4K oregon greater resolutions, you shouldn’t walk this overmuch wealth connected a GPU.) Expanding our trial suite slightly, you tin spot that the RTX 4080 offers sizeable gains implicit the erstwhile generation, with an mean betterment of 27% implicit the RTX 3090 Ti and 45% versus the RTX 3080 Ti. Keep successful caput that the second of those cards launched astatine the aforesaid $1,199 price, portion the erstwhile carried a $2,000 MSRP erstwhile it launched earlier this twelvemonth (though prices person present fallen to astir what you should expect to wage for an RTX 4080 caller disconnected the shelf).

Those are awesome gains, but not truly retired of the mean erstwhile you see this is simply a caller graphics generation. Looking backmost to our RTX 3080 review, that paper offered 50% to 70% improvements implicit its generational predecessor, the RTX 2080 Super. That’s not to discount the RTX 4080 – 4K framerates good supra 60fps successful the astir demanding games volition rise eyebrows for a fewer years to travel – I conscionable consciousness it’s important to retrieve that we’re talking astir high-end, if not enthusiast-level pricing here, truthful my expectations are entity high.

Finally, I privation to interaction connected Nvidia’s caller DLSS 3 framework procreation technology. Check retired my RTX 4090 reappraisal for a much in-depth explanation, but successful abbreviated the GPU looks astatine 2 sequential frames, calculates the quality betwixt them, and past uses AI to make a framework successful betwixt them. As with the RTX 4090, I tested DLSS 3 and framework procreation successful Cyberpunk 2077.

DLSS again offered a stunning uplift, bringing the RTX 4080’s framerate up to 73 without framework generation, and 108 with it. Those are awesome numbers for 1 of the astir technically demanding games disposable connected PC contiguous – and remember, this benchmark is tally astatine 4K with max settings and ray tracing enabled. The 30-series RTX cards, meanwhile, some person little of an uplift from DLSS, and don’t person entree to framework procreation each together.

Of course, DLSS 3 is inactive a caller technology, and crippled enactment is constricted for the clip being. That said, it’s steadily rolling retired to much games, including Microsoft Flight Simulator, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. If enactment continues to turn arsenic expected and the show uplift remains arsenic formidable, DLSS 3 volition beryllium the slayer diagnostic that genuinely makes upgrading to a 40-series paper worthy it for high-resolution, high-framerate gaming.