NVIDIA RTX 4080 review: A (slightly) more practical 4K gaming titan

So what do these numbers imply in observe? The RTX 4080 scored round 3,500 fewer factors in 3DMark’s TimeSpy Excessive benchmark in comparison with the 4090. But when that extra highly effective card did not exist, the 4080 could be essentially the most succesful GPU we have ever reviewed. Its TimeSpy Excessive rating was about 50 p.c increased than the 3080 Ti, and it reached a cushty 130fps whereas enjoying Halo Infinite in 4K with all of its graphics settings maxed out. Seeing Cyberpunk 2077 hit 74fps in 4K with extremely ray tracing settings (and the assistance of DLSS 3) almost introduced a tear to my eye.

A phrase on DLSS 3: It is NVIDIA’s newest AI answer that may take lower-quality imagery and upscale it to increased resolutions. However along with intelligently sharpening edges and upgrading textures, DLSS 3 may also inject interpolated frames to clean out 4K gameplay. Whereas I can often spot points with notably low high quality DLSS upscaling, I did not discover any uncommon framerate hiccups whereas testing Cyberpunk and A Plague Story: Requiem with the expertise enabled.

The one actual draw back to the RTX 4080 is that I can not assist however evaluate it to the 4090. That very same Cyberpunk ray tracing benchmark was virtually twice as quick on the 4090, reaching an eye-watering 135 fps. It additionally hit a 40-fps-higher common framerate within the 3DMark Port Royal ray tracing benchmark. Nonetheless, these are the types of positive factors solely essentially the most devoted avid gamers will discover, the precise marketplace for the 4090. Relating to precise 4K gameplay, even with ray tracing in demanding video games like Management, I by no means felt held again by the RTX 4080.

And if you happen to’re searching for extra efficiency, overclocking is at all times an possibility. I did not have an opportunity to take action myself, however the 4080’s thermal efficiency makes me assume there’s loads of room for pushing issues more durable. It by no means climbed past 61 celsius throughout my testing, round 10 levels cooler than the 4090. That is a testomony to NVIDIA’s wonderful cooling setup (and maybe partially resulting from my workplace being barely cooler this month).

The true query: Is it price settling for the 4080 if there’s an opportunity you will truly be capable to purchase the 4090 for $1,599? In the mean time, most on-line retailers are promoting 4090 playing cards for properly above $2,000. It sounds loopy to say it, however the $1,199 card looks as if a steal with that gulf. However, after all, who is aware of how lengthy you can discover the RTX 4080 at its launch value. It doubtless will not be too lengthy earlier than it creeps in the direction of the 4090’s increased tag.

And if paying greater than $1,000 for a video card appears insane to you — and let’s be clear, it ought to — sit tight to see what NVIDIA’s future playing cards appear to be. We’re positively anticipating RTX 4070, 4060 and 4050 playing cards finally, however the the query is when. (Additionally, what the heck will NVIDIA do with its deliberate $899 4080 GPU? Does that develop into the 4070?) AMD’s flagship RDNA 3 GPUs will launch under $1,000, and on the entry degree, Intel’s new Arc GPUs are surprisingly compelling.

All in all, the RTX 4080 is precisely what I might need from an RTX 3080 Ti successor. It is sooner and has loads of new options to make it a demonstrable leap from the earlier playing cards. I am not saying you need to be upgrading your 3080 anytime quickly, however if you happen to by some means stumble onto $1,199, I would not blame you for being tempted by the 4080.