

Read our full Nvidia RTX 3080 review (opens in new tab) (10GB Founders Edition).Īs a red team alternative to Nvidia's high-end graphics cards, there have been few finer than the RX 6800 XT. As I said at the top, it's the 10GB model we love more for its blend of performance and price, but the 12GB model is still a viable option. Nvidia has gone big with the RTX 3080, and the result is an outstanding gaming card that sets a new benchmark for both high-end 4K gaming performance and for ray tracing. The Founders Edition cards are not produced in the same volumes as the third-party versions from the likes of Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Palit, and Colorful, to name but a few. And if you end up with another version of this fine-ass GPU then I'm afraid you're likely to feel a little hard done by.Ĭhances are you're going to have to make do. Far from just being the reference version of the 'flagship' Ampere graphics card, because of that cooler and redesigned PCB, it is the ultimate expression of the RTX 3080. Pick your expletive, because the RTX 3080 Founders Edition is ****ing great.

If there was one bit of advice for buying a GeForce RTX 3080 it would be that it's worth trying to get your hands on the Founders Edition if at all possible. The RTX 3080 may need a fair chunk more power, though-you'll want at least an 850W PSU.

But we're going to continue beating the Ti drum because it bears repeating-the fact the $6 absolutely smashes the $1,2 Ti is still staggering. Maybe we've become used to more iterative generational deltas, especially considering the slight difference between the GTX 1080 Ti and RTX 2080, for example. The performance uplift you get over the previous generation is huge and pretty much unprecedented. Nvidia has managed this by adding a whole load more CUDA cores to the mix in this 8nm GPU and updated Tensor Cores (for extra DLSS goodness) and second-gen RT Cores to make with the ray-traced pretties. The RTX 3080 represents a huge generational performance boost over the previous RTX 20-series. When you can now get ray-traced performance that exceeds the frame rates you'd get out of the top card of the RTX 20-series when running without it, you know that this is a whole different beast. And hey, the RTX 3080 can actually run Crysis (opens in new tab). The first generation of ray tracing-capable cards required such a huge frame rate sacrifice that most people shied away from turning it on, but that's no longer the case with this generation. The thing which really stands out from our testing is the difference it makes to ray-tracing performance. That's impressive when put up against either the RTX 2080 or 2080 Super, but when you consider that this nominally $699 card can not just match but massively outperform the $1,2 Ti, it really hits home. Though if you do pick up the RTX 3080 today it is a huge generational performance boost over the previous RTX 20-series. I know, that is a lot of things to consider when buying a high-end GPU right now and that's largely because we're on the verge of a new GPU generation, following in the wake of a GPU shortage. However, if you're after something a little more high-powered, maybe wait a minute before splurging out on a GPU right now. It's important to note that with new GPUs coming soon, expect more performance for less, though the more budget-conscious GPUs like the RTX 3060 (opens in new tab) or RX 6600 XT (opens in new tab) aren't likely to be replaced by shiny new cards immediately. Throw in the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards later this year as a wild card, and you can expect to see things heat up as the next generation of GPUs enter our lives. Nvidia and AMD couldn't be in better positions, both vying for the top spot in this generation with some truly competitive offerings. The best part? Most of these graphics cards are becoming increasingly (and edging back to below MSRP) available as the Great GPU Shortage dramatically ends.
#GEFORCE NVIDIA GRAPHIC CARD BENCHMARK CHART PC#
Thankfully, the GPUs listed below offer the best performance-per-dollar value for PC gaming.

Oh, and it should also fit within your budget. When shopping around for the best graphics card, you'll want one that provides a superior frame rate at the highest graphical settings at your preferred resolution.
