Final words and conclusion
Final words
We recently tested NVIDIA's new flagship and where awed. We're still awed about what the 4080 brings to the table this round. From a raw shader perspective, this product delivers a substantial performance gain over the previous generation. We must also highlight the significant increase in raytracing speed and the addition of raytracing functionality. This time around, though, NVIDIA is betting even more significantly on DLSS with considerably upgraded Tensor cores that aid DLSS 3.0, which currently offers a twofold performance boost. With the correct implementation of future games, NVIDIA claims a 3x or 4x performance boost, which are stunning numbers. There, however, is a discussion as to what frame injections bring to the table other than higher framerates. In the end, though, the eye candy on your monitor is what counts, and we cannot complain there.
NVIDIA high-end class graphics card face and contend with two obstacles, the first of which is pricing. Starting at $1199 but most likely finishing in the 1500 EUR level, these cards have entered a price range that is no longer attainable to most people. PC gaming has become increasingly expensive, driving end users to other solutions. Admittedly, the new power connector raises concerns with no real answer coming from NVIDIA. It's not that it's not a safe connector; it's just that bending them too close to the connector combined with sometimes poor quality can lead to hazardous situations. If you need to bend that cable, do it 3-4cm above the connector level and make sure it's plugged in deeply and tighly. All and rally, ALL cards we have tested to date we have checked on connector level with FLIR imaging, and for us, none ever and whatsoever has shown an issue. Back to the GeForce RTX 4080, though; it's a performance extravaganza, but let's extrapolate a bit further.
Performance
You've seen the numbers, and we've already let the cat out of the bag. It all comes down to gaming performance and, of course, rendering quality. Yes, the RTX 4080 provides more value for the money than seen from the 4090, as we're getting close to raw performance levels that easily enable gaming at 4K resolution. Most enthusiast gamers play at UWHD, QHD, or UHD monitor resolutions. This card is designed for precisely that kind of gamer.
The old rasterizer engine breaks right through the previous limit of extreme performance. Because of the 9K Shading processors, all of this is possible. The RTX 40 series now has a new generation of Ray tracing and Tensor cores that are more powerful. So, do not let the specific RT and Tensor core counts fool you; it's all about how much performance one unit offers. Since they are close to the shader engine, they have become more efficient, which shows. Tensor cores are harder to measure, but from what we have seen, everything seems to be in good shape, as DLSS3 shows exciting values. Overall, the GeForce RTX 4080 makes sense at resolutions as low as 2K 2560x1440, up to 4K (3840x2160).
Cooling & noise levels
The design for cooling is excellent. Remember that the GeForce RTX 4080 is a high-end product for gamers and still uses much power. Under full load, the founder edition uses about 310~320 Watts (average). This Wattage is directly related to how much heat the GPU, which sits inside a closed case, gives off. For acoustics, we reached 37~38 dBA in highly stressed conditions. It took a while for the card to get there (it warms up slowly), but even that is considered a typical or average acoustic value. Expect the card to get close to 60-65°C when it's stressed. This value can go up depending on how well air moves through your chassis. FLIR imaging doesn't show anything scary. Also, keep in mind that if you go for a custom card from a board partner, the power consumption levels will likely be higher due to increased TGPs and stuff like RGB and liquid cooling pumps.
Energy
We touched the topic a bit; the power draw under intensive gaming for GeForce RTX 4080 is high, especially when energy prices are soaring; this product isn't a good example. We measured it to be close to the 315 Watt range. This is the tradeoff for a bit more bite in performance for this graphics card model in particular. Gaming wise that number will fluctuate a bit; however, 275+ Watt it'll do in no time. We expect the board partner cards to show higher numbers as they get more TGP allowance.
Coil whine
Much like the 3080, the GeForce RTX 4080 can exhibit coil squeal. Is it annoying? It's at a level you can hear it when you hit extremely high framerates. In a closed chassis, that noise would fade away in the background. However, with an open chassis, you can hear the coil whine/squeal. Graphics cards all make this in some sort or form, especially at high framerates this can be perceived. It's as good as it can get, and we have not been bothered by it at all.
Pricing
The reference/founder edition of NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4080 costs USD 1199, which is too much for most of us to pay for something that can be used to play PC games. This product is so distinctive that it has its own market. NVIDIA might have been able to charge even more for the product and still sell a lot of them. Most likely, AIB cards will cost even more. Now, I can say all kinds of rude things about prices, but these products will still sell no matter what I say. One target demographics is the folks that used Microsoft Flight simulator. With these cards and DLSS3 fully enabled, you can achieve 100 FPS framerates in Ultra HD in your typical visual sceneries.
Tweaking
The card tweaks well. The GPU constantly hits the power limiter Watts with the +10% power limiter, so that's your first and quickest option to tweak. You get extra perf on the card's default power budget. The clock frequency can take a good +200 MHz extra. Apply it, and you'll see the GPU boost clock hovering in the 3000~3050 MHz domain (frequencies vary per game title as they are dynamic). The memory could be tweaked to 24 Gbps, so all these are terrific values that brought ~7% additional performance on challenging GPU situations, measured from founder edition reference performance.
Conclusion
From a hardware and performance point of view, the GeForce RTX 4080 is downright fantastic. However, we live in challenging times; with a war close to the EU border and soaring energy prices, life has become much more challenging and expensive. That does make products like those shown today harder to support; then again, we can't blame NVIDIA for the state of the world in 2022. We hope to see affordable low-energy products sooner rather than later from NVIDIA. As a piece of hardware all by itself, we can only applaud the 4080. The ADA GPU architecture can perform skillfully and excellently. A good chunk of extra shader cores brings in nearly 1.5x raw shader performance and even better Raytracing and Tensor core performance. Underlying technologies like Shader Execution Reordering (SER) and DLSS 3.0 make the new product and Series 4000 shine. The GeForce RTX 4080 offers staggering numbers. Starting at $1199, however, it's very expensive. If you have the wallet leniency and play games in Ultra HD or, at the very least, start at a monitor resolution of 2560x1440, we can't argue that it'll be a great addition towards any enthusiast-class gaming rig. Take Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 combined with DLSS 3.0, you can fly at 100+ FPS in the highest resolutions. Cyberpunk at UHD with raytracing and DLSS3 quickly passes 100 FPS. This purebred Ultra HD card shines in that area, whether shading (regularly rendered games) or hybrid ray-tracing + DLSS3 is used. Compared to the mighty 4090, this still is a more economical product series offering enormous performance. In closing, the RTX 4080 impresses and will keep you happy for years to come, but at a high cost and despite excellent perf per watt, with relatively high energy consumption levels. Never has built a new game PC been this expensive, but never have things been this fast.
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- Hilbert, LOAD"*",8,1.
Let me close with what, for me, was the most impressive experience during our testing In the video below DLSS3 enabled Microsoft Flight Simulator, a simulation where in the past, I'd fly at 30-40 FPS framerates .. where framerates now really are flying.
