Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 vs. RTX 3080: Which should you purchase?

When the Nvidia RTX 3080 10GB was launched, there was large pleasure for this $699 powerhouse. When it was “reborn” because the RTX 3080 12GB, with an enormous soar in value, the keenness was dampened. The $1,499 RTX 3090 had many questioning whether or not its value was “worth it,” nevertheless it bought effectively sufficient throughout that point on account of its “best in class” standing. 

In 2022, the Nvidia RTX 4080 arrived at $1,199. But the times of utmost GPU shortages have handed. That period propelled the RTX 3000 GPUs to promote in huge portions at absurd costs. Can the RTX 4080 succeed with equally absurd pricing? 

Let’s dig a little bit bit deeper, and evaluate the RTX 4080 to its predecessor, the RTX 3080. We’ll take a look at the provision and pricing of every within the context of its time, efficiency for the greenback, and finally attempt to “figure out” the place the RTX 4080 presently stands.

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Nvidia RTX 4080 vs. RTX 3080: Price and availability

$699 for an RTX 3080 is nice, perfection even. Good luck discovering that 99.9 % of the time throughout 2020 to 2022, nevertheless. The RTX 3080’s total legacy is tarnished by being born on this unlucky time of the “Great GPU Shortage” or no matter you’d prefer to name it. It was extra more likely to price two to a few occasions its MSRP on the secondhand marketplace for most of its manufacturing. 

It was refreshed because the RTX 3080 with 12GB of VRAM and some upgraded specs, nevertheless it additionally noticed retail pricing over $1,200 initially. The minor spec bump definitely didn’t justify its substantial value enhance, which was attributable to every thing from lockdowns, to manufacturing delays, crypto-mining demand, and gamer demand. 

How has the RTX 4080 fared compared? It picked up the place the 12GB 3080 left off—with excessive pricing. The rapidly cancelled RTX 4080 12GB got here in at $899, which might have been nearer to the unique RTX 3080—had it not been a vastly cut-down mannequin unfit of the RTX 4080 moniker. 

In Brad Chacos’ glorious overview, he instantly pinpoints the issue: It is waaaaaay too costly. Is it a formidable GPU? Sure. At $1,199 nevertheless, it disappoints and scores an “own goal.” 

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How does this have an effect on availability? The excellent news is that you’re more likely to search out an MSRP retail model of the RTX 4080 throughout varied retail channels in inventory. The dangerous information is that that is due to its poor perceived worth, which means you in all probability shouldn’t purchase it. 

Where does the RTX 4080 versus 3080 stack up in our debate up to now? It’s a draw, and right here’s why: The $699 RTX 3080 by no means realistically got here to ship on its superior price-to-performance proposition, by being perpetually “out of stock.” Likewise, the RTX 4080 comes “out of the box” at a a lot greater value than avid gamers are keen to pay, relegating each to the identical destiny.

Nvidia RTX 4080 vs RTX 3080: Performance

OK, value and availability apart, how does the efficiency of the RTX 4080 fare in opposition to the RTX 3080? It’s considerably lukewarm, eclipsed by the ridiculous positive aspects showcased by the RTX 4090. (Now we’re enjoying with energy!)

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We’d have to match the RTX 4080 to the extra lifelike RTX 3080 12GB that had an identical road retail value, as a substitute of the lofty $699 RTX 3080, which was unobtanium. With the unique RTX 3080 10GB, in a sport like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, you’d get a pleasant bump from 64fps to 98fps at 4K. Non-ray traced Cyberpunk 2077 goes from 43fps to a extra playable 59fps.

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Very modest, anticipated generational positive aspects whereas sticking to an identical value bracket because the 12GB 3080. Compared to the aforementioned $699 RTX 3080, these outcomes for the $500 value enhance are disappointing. 

Let’s take a step additional and play to the RTX 4080’s strengths. It has the chops (newest Ai Tensor cores) to deal with ray tracing and applied sciences resembling Nvidia’s DLSS 3.0 with aplomb—is it sufficient? 

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The RTX 3080 managed an unplayable 15fps with ray tracing Ultra at 4K. The RTX 4080 bumps that as much as a nonetheless pretty unplayable 29fps, successfully doubling the efficiency. DLSS brings the RTX 3080 to 42fps, and the RTX 4080 to a significantly better 66fps. 

While the RTX 4080 is now playable at these intense settings, the efficiency positive aspects are nonetheless the minimal we’d anticipate for these costs and generational positive aspects. Alas, the one higher choice is the beefier RTX 4090—however that can even price an excellent deal extra. 

Brad Chacos factors out that the RTX 40 collection common acquire is 30fps, greater than the RTX 3000’s 20fps positive aspects with DLSS, because of the higher effectivity. Still, these are anticipated enhancements and nonetheless make the worth of the RTX 4080 onerous to totally rationalize.

The RTX 4080 can also be able to DLSS 3.0, with Ai Frame era, a really thrilling little bit of know-how. In supported video games resembling Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, you can see huge positive aspects that begin to edge the RTX 4080 out in opposition to some other GPU save for the RTX 4090.    

I examined Flight Simulator on a 5120x1440p ultrawide monitor, on Ultra settings the RTX 4080 bought 69fps. When utilizing DLSS 3.0 with Ai Frame era, this went as much as a whopping 151 with DLSS balanced! That is a formidable enchancment, and the long run appears to be like vivid for DLSS 3.0—with extra maturity, it could begin to change the narrative on the RTX 4080 efficiency, too. 

Let’s not neglect content material creation. In Adam Taylor’s overview, we will see that the RTX 4080 will get a large lead versus the RTX 3080 in Davinci Resolve. While your mileage could fluctuate relying on the software program you’re utilizing, the maths could also be completely different for non-gamers when taking a look at spectacular efficiency positive aspects on the RTX 4080 in some use circumstances. 

Nvidia RTX 4080 vs. RTX 3080: Power and different issues to know

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The RTX 4080 has some spectacular effectivity for the efficiency that it’s placing out, handily beating the RTX 3080 with out compromise. Both share the identical TDP of 320 watts, demonstrating how spectacular the RTX 4080 is when contemplating it’s usually double or extra the efficiency metrics versus the RTX 3080. 

Yes, it does have that bizarre energy adapter, and it usually shares the large cooler designs from the RTX 4090. While you could have rather more bother becoming it in most PC circumstances, one profit is that on common the thermals and noise efficiency on the RTX 4080 are additionally spectacular.

While the RTX 3080 by no means ran as scorching because the RTX 3090, it nonetheless had GDDR6X VRAM that always carried out poorly thermally on account of inconsistent thermal pad functions. That drawback looks as if historical historical past with the RTX 4080, which has an overkill cooler for its TDP. 

Nvidia RTX 4080 vs. RTX 3080: The verdict

Newer GPUs just like the RTX 4080 are all the time “better” objectively than their predecessors. Better rasterization, ray tracing, DLSS 3.0, effectivity, the listing goes on. 

Where we are available is in deciding if these technical enhancements benefit the pricing and precise real-world outcomes.

The RTX 4080 falls brief when considered in its full type. The $1,199 value pushes it too far exterior of any cheap “price-to-performance” expectations for an 80-class GPU, and there are numerous elements at play right here. The GPU shortages of latest occasions brought on loads of issues, together with a surplus of RTX 3000 GPUs throughout this yr. DLSS 3.0 and ray tracing are getting extra spectacular as they mature, so the RTX 4080 has room for enchancment right here as new drivers launch, to be truthful. 

The RTX 3080 isn’t any prince charming, both. It’s $699 MSRP was merely a teaser that just about by no means noticed the sunshine of day, and its dearer 12GB refresh had minimal enhancements to justify the uptick in price. 

What’s the decision? It’s a draw, the 80-class of GPUs have too many murky points surrounding their existence to make both era an apparent favourite. The favor appears to have jumped to GPUs such because the GeForce RTX 4090, which have unparalleled efficiency no matter their greater pricing. Whether we’ll get a sub-$1,000 “darling” GPU that hits price-to-performance onerous this yr is anybody’s guess, however we absolutely want it!