Download Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti

The new flagship in Nvidia’s Ampere series.

Verdict: The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is an exceptionally powerful graphics card beast that boasts RTX 3090-level performance at a lower price. On the other hand, the huge price tag still puts off most budget-conscious users whose desires are limited to PC games.

pros:

• Superior performance;
• Beautiful video card;
• Same size as RTX 3080;
• High thermal performance;

Minuses:

• Very expensive video card;
• voracious;

In any other year, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti would have been a desirable product. Nine months separate the new 3080 Ti from the original RTX 3080. And while this is a normal interval for an update, the new product came out at a strange time for the market. And while Nvidia has every reason to upgrade its flagship Ti update, the world of graphics cards, like virtually the entire tech market, has been turned upside down.

At this stage, every user is struggling to get their hands on the best graphics cards, whether Nvidia or AMD. The global shortage of chips has made video cards a limited and hard-to-find offering. As a result, each user, applying to the market for a new video card, is forced to bargain with speculators, pay double the price, or participate in lotteries from the manufacturer, trying to get a new product at the RRP. Far from ideal market conditions for launching a new graphics card, especially with a RRP of $1,199 (90,000r + VAT).

And if the RTX 3080 Ti accidentally falls on you, you won’t be disappointed. This is a powerful graphics card built around the RTX 3090, halving the amount of video memory to better target the graphics card to the classic consumer. In the very near future, the market is waiting for the RTX 3080 Ti 20Gb, capable of running almost every game in 4K resolution at 60 FPS. Even in normal times, such video cards cannot be called ordinary, and it is difficult to recommend them. The Ti isn’t much faster than the RTX 3080, but it’s much more expensive.

(Image credit: Future)

Prices and availability in stores

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is available June 3rd for $1199 (90000r + VAT). And this is the recommended retail price from the manufacturer, which you will not find on the Russian market, affordable video cards will be sold much more expensive.

Considering the RTX 3080 came out in September 2020 for $699 ($52,500 + VAT), you’re paying at least double that for an RTX 3080 Ti. And at this point, it should be noted that the new version of the video card offers only 2 GB more video memory and 17% more CUDA cores, against a 100% premium that will be hard to swallow.

On the other hand, the new graphics card delivers almost the same level of performance as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 at $300 (22500r + VAT) cheaper while we’re at MSRP, so it might be worth considering if you’re looking for a flagship graphics card from Nvidia.

Chipset and features

(Image credit: Future)

Like the rest of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series, the RTX 3080 Ti is built on the Nvidia Ampere architecture and therefore offers the same improvements and features as the rest of the graphics cards in the series. However, there is also something new to the table.

As with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which launched in March 2021, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti received a hardware hash rate limit, which reduces the graphics card’s appeal to miners. We do not test mining capabilities, so we cannot discuss how effective the restriction is. However, given how the RTX 3060’s hash limiter was accidentally disabled by another driver update from Nvidia, the effectiveness of this solution seems doubtful.

Also, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is actually slightly more powerful than the original RTX 3080, the extra power coming from the number of extra cores and memory bandwidth.

It is impossible to ignore the fact that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti received more video memory, 12 GB GDDR6X versus 10 GB on the original video card, along with it Ti gets a fast 384-bit memory bus. This means that the memory bandwidth has increased to 912 GB / s versus 760 GB / s for the RTX 3080. Therefore, more video memory, faster video memory, that is, the RTX 3080 Ti is better prepared for future games in 4K resolution.

The performance of the RTX 3080 Ti is significantly higher. The graphics chip runs with 10240 CUDA cores split into 80 compute units versus 8704 CUDA cores on the RTX 3080. The number of cores is up by 17%, but you shouldn’t take this upgrade as a 17% increase in performance – more on that later.

You also get all of Nvidia’s software solutions that go beyond gaming.

We still like Nvidia Broadcast, which Nvidia introduced to streamers and content creators, but we find it very useful in everyday life. We often use Broadcast when we have video meetings or even just chat with friends on Discord, if only because it filters out most of the extraneous sounds of the apartment.

Of course, you definitely get Deep Learning Super Sampling or DLSS. This technology runs on tensor cores – the RTX 3080 Ti has 320 – to convert low resolutions to your screen’s native resolution. The idea is that DLSS allows you to enjoy the highest level of graphics without having to sacrifice picture quality in order to achieve decent frame rates, especially at higher resolutions like 4K.

Design

The original Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti featured in our review is Nvidia’s Founders Edition, which looks exactly like the rest of the Founder Edition RTX 30-series graphics cards. The video card is made in an attractive black and gray color scheme. You’ll also see the Nvidia and RTX 3080 Ti logos etched into the metal. All these features will remain hidden inside your PC, but still nice.

The RTX 3080 Ti retains the weight and dimensions of the original RTX 3080, which means it’s 111.8mm thin and 284.5mm long, meaning it will fit in most cases.

(Image credit: Future)

The RTX 3080 Ti is equipped with two fans and, like the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090, one is located at the front and the other at the back. This fan configuration allows air to be drawn from the front of the card, pulled over the components, and expelled through the rear panel fan, dumping hot air into the top of the PC case.

This is an extremely efficient cooling method that even at 350W of peak power will keep the RTX 3080 Ti from exceeding 78.9°C. This is well above the RTX 3090’s peak temperature (72°C), on the other hand, although the graphics card has the same power draw.

And that’s an impressive result, as Nvidia managed to get close to the thermal performance of the RTX 3090 by cutting the cooling system down to two fans instead of the giant 3-fan design of the RTX 3090 Founders Edition.

(Image credit: Future)

Finally, Nvidia is of course again showing off the 12-pin power connector. This means that you will probably have to use the power adapter to connect the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti, which the manufacturer puts in the box with the video card.

(Image credit: Infogram)

Performance

Test system characteristics

Here is the system we tested the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition on:

• Processor: 8-core Intel Core i9-11900K (up to 5.3 GHz);
• CPU cooler: Cooler Master Masterliquid 360P Silver Edition;
• RAM: 64 GB Corsair Dominator Platinum, 3200 MHz;
• Motherboard: MSI MEG Z590 ACE;
• SSD: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1 Тб;
• Power Supply: Phanteks RevoltX 1200;
• Frame: Praxis Wetbench;

The speed of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti basically matches the RTX 3090 in PC games, even though the card has half the video memory. So, the RTX 3080 Ti is the card you should buy when looking for the best gaming performance available on the market today, as long as you don’t run Blender or Resolve daily.

And while we are discussing the same performance, this is not an exaggeration. The RTX 3080 Ti stayed within 1-2 frames of the RTX 3090 across our benchmarks. We saw the biggest difference between the two cards in Dirt 5 at 1440p, where the RTX 3080 Ti ran at 139fps versus the RTX 3090’s 146fps But, if you’re playing Dirt 5, you probably won’t notice a performance difference below 5%.

(Image credit: Future)

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti also outperformed the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT in all but two tests: Fire Strike Ultra and Assassins Creed Valhalla. But even so, at 4K resolution, the RTX 3080 Ti delivers the same performance as the RTX 3090, so you get great performance either way.

However, in other games, the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT is 7-26% slower than the RTX 3080 Ti, so Assassins Creed Valhalla is definitely out of the norm. The results obtained are enough to unequivocally recommend the RTX 3080 Ti over the Radeon RX 6900 XT, but if you get rid of the recommended retail price, the RTX 3080 Ti costs an average of 15,000 – 20,000 rubles more. And for the money, you’d like to make sure the RTX 3080 Ti is worth the extra cost.

In almost every game you want to play, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti will be able to unleash the full graphics potential in 4K resolution, including effects such as ray tracing.

(Image credit: Future)

Buy if…

You want uncompromising gaming performance. Since the RTX 3080 Ti offers the same level of performance as the RTX 3090 but noticeably cheaper, it’s the first graphics card on the list if you’re looking for a top-notch gaming experience.

Your budget allows. Even without aftermarket markups, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is an expensive graphics card. But it has absorbed all the best, justifying the cost if you can afford it.

You need DLSS and ray tracing. If you care about ray tracing, then along with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti becomes the most powerful graphics card on the market, DLSS will help boost performance even more.

Don’t buy if…

Your budget is limited. Any graphics card in 2021 or 2022 is expensive, but the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is one of the most expensive.

You have a low power supply. The RTX 3080 Ti peaks at around 350W, so we recommend at least an 800W PSU. You may need to upgrade if your power supply is underpowered.

These are the best graphics cards of 2022.