Conclusion
Conclusion
Depending on what order you are reading the articles in, this was the second RTX review we just posted. The GeForce RTX 2080 is a feisty card alright, it's competing with the GTX 1080 Ti and Titan Xp mostly. The results can be a bit all over the place in lower resolutions, but overall it is a very intriguing card. That said, the 1080 launched at 599/699, this puppy as tested today will put you down a whopping 799 USD, we expect similar or even higher pricing in EUR with added VAT, heck, maybe even much higher. Much like the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti review, that'll be its Achilles heel of this release. Also much like the 2080 Ti review, we had to face similar challenges as we lack proper games to review RT and DLSS. We hoped for at least some sort of Battlefield 5 demo/level or an RTX enabled Tomb Raider to test with. That did not happen, so realistically we have been testing the traditional shader engine performance for 98% of our benchmarks mostly, with the two DLSS exceptions on Final Fantasy XV and the UE4 Epic demo, which was super sweet btw. So yeah, before we dive into the conclusions we just have to mention it, the current state of game compatibility does not allow us to fully examine what RTX is really all about and where the money is at, so let's start with the next two chapters.
DX-R gaming
I would have loved to show you some DXR (raytracing) performance, but all that NVIDIA provided was an internal Star Wars Reflection demo you've probably already seen, which is lovely to see(!), but simply put, this, is irrelevant of course to benchmark. So yeah, that's it for raytracing for now. The 3Dmark RT test work in progress, but I hope you like the little exclusive preview there. Once we actually see games released and once Microsoft releases DX-R (fall update) we'll create some additional content to show you the potential of the new RT cores as, really, this release is all about the RT cores my jolly good friends. So I am not dismissing the RT cores here as, honestly, I am super excited about the technology and what it can mean for image quality in gaming. It's just that I objectively cannot comment or give you any advice based on something we cannot test in an actual game (which is what this is all about, eh?).
DLSS
That other feature then, Deep learning Supersampling. Totally lovely, really .. but here again we've been dealing with the fact that there is no software to test aside from precisely two titles, you've seen the results and image quality in this article with the help of Ultra HD videos. I'll say this though, despite we've only been able to visually inspect and measure one title, we are impressed by the technology as when you use DLSS, you don't need to enable AA in your shader engine anymore as DLSS takes care of that for you by using the Tensor cores, so that's completely offloaded and that brings in a good chunk of additional performance in return, that you'd normally miss out on. The technology in its current state, I can confirm that it is impressive. And with that out of the way, I need to close the primary new features and that DNA that is RTX and AI already and turn back to traditional rasterized shading. More relevant would be the EPIC infiltrator DLSS demo I showed you? I meant that's really good right? Plus it just runs much faster compared to TAA, that's win-win right there.
Gaming performance
The GeForce RTX 2080 is a bit hard to spot in the benchmarks, it shy's away between the 1080 Ti and Titan Xp most of the time. We 've seen some anomalies in some titles at the low resolutions, but that's common with new hardware and the state of the drivers. The overall performance range, however, is nice, this is the new high-end. What's also interesting is that the harder you make it on the GPU, the better it'll perform. So these cards tend to flex their muscles at Ultra HD. We're seeing some caps at lower resolution gaming, but for WQHD and Ultra HD, a next step in performance has been made. Depending on title and workload you'll see 25% to maybe even 30% performance increases in this specific resolution compared to the 1080 Ti. Again, this GPU really starts to flex its muscles after 2560x1440, anything below is normalized due to driver and processor bottlenecks as you've passed a number way beyond 100 FPS on average. While I like that 11 GB graphics memory on the Ti, admittedly we feel 8 GB is a great number of VRAM to have. In terms of multi-GPU setups, Turing will support 2-way SLI, but really that's it and all. NVIDIA did not have the new NVLINK connector available, so we've not been able to test it.
Aesthetics
We feel the new looks work out well, RTX Founders edition cards are very nice looking cards. We like the metal and black design. It has a very nice looking back-plate, however that one will trap heat. The dual fan design I am fine with as well. Taste differs, of course, luckily there are a dozen AIB partners that will have multiple designs available as well.
Cooling & Noise Levels
Where I find the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti a tad too noisy for my taste, the RTX 2080 is doing fine really. Under gaming load, it sat belly flat on the 37 dBA marker and anything below 40 I consider to be silent. So I do not foresee any problems there. The cooling works well, it's just not exhausting hot air to the outside, au contraire mon ami, it's releasing heat inside your PC. So if you ever heat your Founders edition card, you do need to take care to create more airflow inside your chassis as the card is retrieving its air from that inside as well. That's not ideal, but then again also nothing strange as most AIB cards work in a similar fashion. Ironically, the older reference coolers were all blower style, suck air from the inside, exhaust on the outside. The temps are fine by the way, under load we reached 71 Degrees C, that's fine. I mean, as long as it does not reach 80 degrees C, you'll not see the product throttling much either. Of course, there are many other factors in play for a card to throttle these days, but in that particular respect, we have to say that the cooling works well enough. Yeah, we like cards that remain under 40 dBA under load, nice.
Power Consumption
Graphics cards with a TU104 sit at a 225 Watt TDP under full stress, our measurements show it to be in that range when gaming. We think a 600 Watt PSU would be a nice match for these cards paired with a modern age PC. Remember - when purchasing a PSU, aim to double up in Wattage as your PSU is most efficient when it is at 50% load. Here, again, keep in mind we measure peak power consumption, the average power consumption is a good notch lower depending on GPU utilization. Also, if you plan to overclock the CPU/memory and/or GPU with added voltage, please do purchase a power supply with enough reserve. People often underestimate it, but if you tweak all three aforementioned variables, you can easily add 150 Watts to your peak power consumption budget as increasing voltages and clocks increase your power consumption.
Overclocking
We like the new OC Scanner that you will see throughout most GPU tweak utilities. While it only overclocks your GPU a notch, it does create a reliable tweaking curve. A combination of memory, power and voltage settings will bring you a proper overclock. Once you've applied it, you get a few percent more performance. The real gurus, of course, will overclock manually. Here we cannot complain either. We gained 140 MHz extra on the clock frequency and with the increased power limiter you'll now see that dynamic boost frequency hovering at and over the 2000 MHz range. Mind you, that frequency can be higher and lower depending on game and benchmark title. The memory clocks pretty spectacular, we've been able to add 900 MHz, double that for a double-data-rate and, yes, we had 15800 Gbps running stable. Which is still very impressive when you think about it for a few seconds. So in closing, exciting is the new OC Scanner functionality. Honestly, it probably needs a bit more development and finetuning, but I can see this become the primary methodology for automated overclocking in the future. Right now it is a little conservative though, but yes, promising.
Concluding
Where the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is a beast in performance, the RTX 2080 is a bit of a little devil. And much like that Ti review, I stumble into the fact that we have hardly anything that we can show or test in matters of DirectX Raytracing or DLSS. It is what it is though. The 2080 carries a steep 799 USD price tag though. Would that price just have been for a shading graphics card, then my head would shake no. The thing is, the RT and Tensor cores are where the price premium sits and we simply barely show or measure its potential at the time of writing. In the near foreseeable future, DX-R enabled games will be released. Of course, Battlefield V will get it, Shadow of the Tomb Raider will get it and a dozen or so other games as well. It's the same with DLSS. So yeah, patience is that word of wisdom I need to use. Overall, the card (aside from some exceptions) sits in that 1080 Ti territory performance wise, sometimes a notch faster, and sometimes a notch slower. The card will get better when you fire off more complex scenarios and image quality settings at it though, it likes Ultra HD for sure. The Shading performance as such is very nice, but it's quite a chunk away from that 2080 Ti.
As stated, DLSS I am savvy about, at least from what I have seen at the NVIDIA event and here with that Epic UE4 and FFXV run, but that is a limited scope of software to form an objective opinion on. Currently, I, however, do not know if the number of RT cores are fast enough or enough to be able to produce fast enough numbers for hardware-assisted raytracing in rasterized games, and that is a dilemma for this conclusion at at this price that is a dangerous bet to make. I will say this though, raytraced gaming blew me away when I briefly tested it at the NVIDIA event. It is the dawn of a new era and likely the path that defines the next decade of gaming. But we need games to support it before we can say anything solid about it. The GeForce RTX 2080 cards look nice, the RTX 2080 is not at all noisy and shows very healthy temperatures. We're fine with the power consumption and its current performance level (it'll probably speed up a bit more over time with drivers) and the tweaking experience to squeeze out a few more FPS was lovely as well. The Achilles heel right now will remain pricing, $799 for the Founders edition model as tested simply is serious cash.
For those that want to be 1st in that next-generation gaming experience, the card could make a lot of sense. Realistically though my advice always is and has been, with totally new technology you are often better off with a 2nd gen product series. And as I write this, at this time I cannot tell you how good or bad the RT performance will be in actual games, and for me as a reviewer that tries to be as objective as can be, that's a hard and harsh thing to experience. So let me close a little subjective then. The little bit of a DLSS experience that I had was, however, very enjoyable, so thumbs up on that one. The Raytracing stuff I've seen brought a smile on my face, that's also the honest truth.
The GeForce RTX 2080 might turn out to be something incredibly good, but more time and supported games are needed for us to give a sound opinion on that. We can still happily recommend it though if you'd like to be that 1st next-gen adopter of technology that will become the new standard for the decade to come.
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