Review and test of the video card INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4 | Video Cards | Reviews

The announcement of new video cards is always an event, and the release of the second generation of RTX accelerators all the more raises a lot of hopes. It often happened that it was the line of cards following the innovative series that brought a quantum leap in all price segments. Let’s see what NVIDIA has prepared this time using the INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4 as an example.

Specifications (edit)

There are many differences from the previous generation in the RTX 3080, even from a short list of characteristics, improvements are visible on all fronts. Firstly, it is a new technical process that allowed 28 billion transistors to fit on a chip of reasonable size. A new type of GDDR6X memory, support for the latest PCI-E version and many other, less noticeable at first glance, improvements, together allow NVIDIA to declare an unprecedented qualitative difference between generations.

Doubling the number of FP32 blocks, increasing the performance of RT cores and a block of tensor cores are the three main components of the resulting generational difference in gaming performance and card efficiency in professional applications.

Appearance and packaging

On a large and bright box, you can find information about the key features and important advantages of the video card hidden inside.

The video card itself is large, which is quite expected for a flagship product. The length is 300 mm, which is a lot, but such dimensions cannot be considered problematic, most cases can easily accommodate such a video accelerator.

Three 92mm fans take up almost the entire projection area of ​​the card. The casing of the cooling system is made in an intricate multi-layer construction and has a pleasing color to the eye. Of course, the appearance on the FPS has little effect, but not everyone decides to put it in the last place when choosing a new thing. INNO3D iChill X4 looks great.

The backplate is metal, it participates in the cooling of the printed circuit board from the rear side: the area for installing memory chips and VRM power elements is equipped with thermal spacers.

The dimensions of the cooling system are much larger than the dimensions of the PCB of the video card, the extreme fan blows through the protruding part of the radiator, figured holes are provided for this in the reinforcing plate. This solution allows you to efficiently and timely remove heat, but you should be careful about the air circulation inside the case so that the created flows do not disturb the thermal balance of other components.

On the side of the video card there is another fan, the fourth, X4 in the name indicates their total number in the cooling system. This additional fan blows around the heatsink area that carries the heat pipe from the hot VRM power elements.

From this angle, it is clearly seen that the radiator fins are oriented perpendicular to the long side of the video card. The cooling system as a whole looks impressive and takes up three expansion slots.

You can get an idea of ​​the design of the radiator in the video, in addition, you can notice that the video card is based on a reference NVIDIA printed circuit board.

A decorative trim with the iChill series logo conceals the welded ends of six of the eight heatpipes of the two-piece radiator.

At the end of the video card there are 2 connectors for synchronizing the backlight of the video card and other components of the system unit that support this function. The package includes two cables for addressable and non-addressable RGB lighting.

The INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4 is equipped with four video outputs, and if three DisplayPort 1.4a is no surprise today, then the presence of HDMI 2.1 is another innovative feature of new video cards. Increasing the resolution and scanning frequency of display devices requires the support of the newest versions of the interfaces.

Additional power supply of the video card is carried out through two 8-pin connectors, which are designed for 150 W of input power each.

Massive video accelerators are prone to sagging, but INNO3D has taken care of the users: the RTX 3080 iCHill X4 is equipped with a metal support that does not take up additional slots.

You can use the card without this support, but it is extremely well integrated into the design and does not affect the convenience of placement. There is no point in giving up the support.

Work parameters

The latest version of GPU-Z determines the main parameters of the video card. The memory access bus width of 320 bits and the high effective frequency of GDDR6X (19000 MHz) allow achieving an impressive 760 GB / s bandwidth.

The power limit is set at 340 W and cannot be increased, the boost frequency of the video chip is marked at 1770 MHz, but the real values ​​are traditionally higher.

Let’s use the Time Spy Extreme stress test from the 3DMark package to find out the parameters of the video card.

The percentage of FPS stability in 20 minutes of testing is 97%, let’s see within what limits the chip frequency changed depending on power consumption and temperature.

The average frequency of the video chip was 1846 MHz, even in the stress test this figure is higher than the boost declared by the manufacturer. The graph shows that for the first minute the frequency periodically exceeded the 1900 MHz mark, but after that the oscillation corridor narrowed and became unchanged until the end of the test.

Energy consumption monitoring reports that it was in the first minute that the video card still had a margin for the power limit, but then there is a constant emphasis on it.

The stress load warmed up the video chip to a temperature of 76 ° and at this point the growth stopped, the fan speed at the end of testing slightly exceeded 2000 rpm.

In general, the video card is not annoying with noise, and the rpm up to 2000 rpm for 92mm fans can be considered quite acceptable.

Game tests

Test stand:

• Central processing unit: Intel Core i7-10700K 5.1 GHz;
• Motherboard: MSI MEG Z490 UNIFY;
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z 2×8 GB (F4-3600C16D-16GTZKW) 4600 MHz CL17;
• SSD: NVMe WD Black SN700 500GB (Windows 10 Pro with all updates).
• SSD: NVME GOODRAM PX500 1TB (Games)
• Power supply: Cooler Master V1200 Platinum, 1200 W;
• INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4
• ASUS ROG GeForce RTX 2080 Super Strix Gaming OC

In the INNO3D system unit, the GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4 looks even more attractive than on the table. RGB lighting is present and very harmonious.

Graphics parameters in games were selected corresponding to the class of the video card – the maximum available, 4K resolution.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: uber;
• Trace: Enabled;
• DLSS: the golden mean.

Control

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: high;
• Trace: high level;
• DLSS: enabled, 1080p rendering.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: maximum;
• Trace: ultra;
• DLSS: on.

Metro Exodus

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: ultra;
• Trace: high level;
• DLSS: on.

Battlefield V

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: ultra;
• Trace: high level;
• DLSS: on.

Red Dead Redemption 2

• Resolution: 2160p;
• Graphics settings: maximum preset.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Resolution: 2160p;
Graphics settings: highest quality.

The level of performance in games is outstanding, and there can be no question of a serious comparison with a previous generation video card with the same recommended price.

Overclocking

In the traditional sense, overclocking the RTX 3080 with a power limit of 340 W is impractical, but you can improve efficiency by choosing a combination of frequencies and voltages, at which power consumption will not be a serious limitation. “Undervolting” can be tried at voltages of 850-900 mV, in this range the available chip frequencies are still high.

The investigated INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4 at a voltage of 850 mV worked at a frequency of 1920 MHz, but for absolute stability I will limit myself to 1905 MHz. Recording the passage of Time Spy Extreme Stress Test will give an idea of ​​the differences in the parameters of the video card “out of the box” and when manually configured.

The indicators in the “stock” are shown in green on the chart, and in red – after adjustment. A stable and generally higher frequency value at a lower average voltage is a pleasant result. In addition, the power limit has not been selected, you can slightly increase the voltage and frequency or additionally overclock the memory, the second is preferable.

In terms of temperature and fan speed, the gain is minimal.

What can such a tuning of a video card give? Let’s measure the differences in the Time Spy Extreme benchmark from the same 3DMark package. Additionally, we tested the option with overclocking the video card memory up to 21 GHz effective frequency.

Yes, the relative growth is not that big, but it is. Whether the setting is worth the time spent, everyone decides for himself.

INNO3D TUNEIT

You can monitor and fine-tune the parameters of the video card in the INNO3D TUNEIT application.

Adjust the frequencies of the video chip, memory, set the desired fan operating mode, and then save a successful set of settings in a separate profile – all this is available.

In addition, in TUNEIT you can control the backlight and update the BIOS of the video card.

Conclusion

The RTX 3080 is definitely a success: massive processing power, gaming performance “my father never dreamed of,” all at a suggested price below the previous generation flagship.

In the implementation of INNO3D GeForce RTX 3080 iChill X4, the video card turned out to be very attractive in appearance, and the engineering solutions in the cooling system cope with a solid heat dissipation.

Fans of RGB lighting will not be disappointed either: you can create a disco or cyberpunk atmosphere inside the system unit.

Benefits:

• Amazing performance
• Spectacular appearance;
• Reasonable dimensions of the cooling system;
• Backlight synchronization capabilities.

May not suit:

• The noise of the fans operating at speeds above 2000 rpm is already clearly distinguishable.