Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Review
- 1 Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Specs
- 1.1 PROS
- 1.2 CONS
- 1.3 What Is New
- 1.4 Price
- 1.5 Performance
- 1.6 Control
- 2 Final verdict
We’ve been getting a lot of game computers with Nvidia’s newly updated GeForce GPUs over the past few weeks. You may remember that they recently updated some of their mobile GPUs to include Super models and gave older versions better specs. Today, we’re going to look at the GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q, which is Nvidia’s fastest GPU for laptops and only needs 90 watts of power. No question, the GPU’s name is hard to say, and we’ve said before that this is a bad way to name things. Read on the blog to know about Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Specs
| Graphics Processor | Nvidia Turing TU104 |
| GPU Base Clock | 1515 MHz |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1800 MHz |
| Graphics Memory Type | GDDR6 |
| Graphics Memory Amount | 8 GB |
| Card Length | 10.5 Inch |
| Board Power or TDP | 225 watts |
| Power Connector(s) | 1 6-pin, 1 8-pin |
| DisplayPort Outputs | 3 |
| HDMI Outputs | 1 |
PROS
- It plays games about a third better than the GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition that it replaces.
- Runs cool and quiet.
- There’s room to go faster.
- Includes support for DLSS and ray tracing for games to come.
CONS
- Compared to the GTX 1080 Founders Edition, the price has gone up.
- Ray tracing and DLSS are hard to judge until they are used in games.
- Most of the air from the cooling system goes into the case, not out.
What Is New
The best thing about the GeForce RTX is that it can do ray tracing faster because it has new RT processing cores built right into the card. Ray tracing lets games have lighting and shadow effects that look like photos.
Even though ray tracing is not a new idea, it has been hard to use in real time because it takes up so much speed. The RTX 20 series is meant to change that. Many future games have already been advertised as having support, but it’s rare that support will be added to games that are already out. Because of this, it’s hard to tell how much better the GeForce RTX 20-series cards are than the cards we have now. The GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, which the RTX 2080 Founders Edition replaces, costs $549 at Nvidia. The RTX 2080 Founder’s Edition costs $799.
Price
Just as we were getting used to the fact that the Nvidia GTX 1080 cost $549 (£469, AU$925) more than its predecessor, the Nvidia RTX 2080 came out with a price tag of $799 (£749, AU$1,199). Keep in mind that this is the price of the Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition, which is a high-end version of Nvidia’s GPUs. Its price has also gone down slightly, and it now costs $719 (about £570 or AU$1030).
There are also models made by third parties that start at a lower price of $699 (£749, AU$1,199). Still, the price of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 goes up by a huge amount compared to older graphics cards. Not too long ago, the GTX 1080 Ti cost $699 (£669, AU$1,129), which was the same as now. With this new line of Nvidia GeForce graphics cards, Team Green seems to be trying to make its graphics cards more expensive than they were in previous years.
Performance
Without a doubt, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 costs more than its predecessor. It’s good that it’s strong enough to make the price hike seem less bad. The new GPU is a lot faster than the GTX 1080, with test scores that are so much better that they beat the scores of the GTX 1080 Ti and Titan Xp.
The RTX 2080 isn’t quite as powerful as the RTX 2080 Ti, but you won’t find any other popular graphics cards that are as powerful as the 2080. If you buy this new RTX graphics card, you’ll see an even bigger jump in speed in games. The frame rates go up by 20–40 fps when gaming at 1080p. The Nvidia RTX 2080, on the other hand, can reach 60 fps at 4K, which is pretty amazing. Outside of our performance tests, the Nvidia RTX 2080 was able to get 40 fps while playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 4K and the top settings. Destiny 2 did even better, with a frame rate that hovered between 60 and 75 fps at 4K and Ultra settings, with HDR also turned on.
Control
Control is one of the most demanding games on the GPU in our test setup when set to High, which is the game’s highest setting. When both GPUs are going at 90W, Fallen Order shows that the 2080 Super Max-Q is about 11 percent better than the 2070 Super Max-Q. The lead is about the same as the RTX 2070, which is running at 115W. This shows that the bigger CUDA core design is more efficient. This GPU has better speed than the 2070, which has fewer cores and a higher power limit, because it can run more cores at lower clocks. This puts it in a better place on the voltage-frequency curve.
Final verdict
If you’re willing to pay the kingly price of $719 (about £570 or AU$1030) for this graphics card, you won’t be unhappy. Other than the Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti, there isn’t a faster graphics card on the market right now, or one that could run games at 4K 60 fps on its own. Even so, the RTX 2080 is very close to being able to give that holy, silky-smooth frame rate at Ultra-HD settings. If you don’t want to make trade-offs, lower your settings, or spend even more money, you’d be much better off with the top-of-the-line Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti.
