Nvidia announced the RTX 3080 Ti during its Computex 2021 keynote, promising to deliver even better gaming performance than its flagship RTX 3080. Spec-wise, the RTX 3080 Ti is an RTX 3090 in name only, while the RTX 3080 lags behind. Of the three, however, which one should you choose?
The RTX 3080 Ti, 3090, and 3080 offer superior gaming performance with the latest Nvidia features, including DLSS and ray tracing. But there are differences between the two, as we saw in our RTX 3080 Ti review. To see how these three stack up, we’re throwing the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 into the ring.
Prices and availability
Nvidia announced the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 on September 1, 2020. Typical of Nvidia releases, the cards had staggered release dates, with the RTX 3080 arriving on September 17 for $699 and the RTX 3090 on September 24 for $1,499. Both cards sold out immediately upon release and have been out of print ever since.
The RTX 3080 Ti launched during Nvidia’s Computex 2021 keynote on May 31 for $1,199, with a June 3 on-sale date. Like previous cards, we expect the RTX 3080 Ti to sell out immediately and stay in stock for a while.
Unfortunately, the prices and release dates don’t mean much. The GPU shortage is still in full swing, with the RTX 3080 often selling for $1,500 or more and the RTX 3090 topping $2,000. As for the RTX 3080 Ti, we don’t know yet. It will eventually sell for much more than MSRP, though it’s unclear what the going price will be in a month or two.
Specifications and performance
Looking at the specs of the RTX 3080 Ti, 3090, and 3080, the two cards clearly outperformed each other. RTX 3080 Ti and 3090 are almost identical and in games they should perform at the same level. The RTX 3080, while still very powerful, lags behind the other two.
| RTX 3080Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | |
| GPUs | GA102-225 | GA102-300 | GA102-200 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 | PCIe 4.0 |
| CUDA cores | 10,240 | 10,496 | 8,704 |
| tensor nuclei | 320 | 328 | 272 |
| RT core | 80 | 82 | 68 |
| basic class | 1.365MHz | 1.395MHz | 1440MHz |
| turn up the clock | 1.665MHz | 1.695MHz | 1710MHz |
| Memory | 12GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6X | 10GB GDDR6X |
| memory speed | 19Gb/s | 19.5Gbps | 19Gb/s |
| Broadband | 912GB/s | 936GB/s | 760GB/s |
| memory bus | 384 bit | 384 bit | 320 bit |
| TDP | 320W | 350W | 320W |
Starting with the RTX 3080 Ti and 3090, they have almost the same number of CUDA cores, Tensor cores, and ray tracing cores. Clock speed, memory speed, and memory bandwidth are also almost identical. The big difference between these two cards is the video memory. The RTX 3090 comes with 24GB and the RTX 3080 Ti comes with 12GB.
The RTX 3090 is great for 3D modeling and rendering thanks to its massive amount of video memory, but it’s too much for gaming. By all other measures, the RTX 3080 Ti is the RTX 3090 with a new gaming skin. There are differences: 30 MHz clock rate, two RT cores, and 256 CUDA cores between them, but you’ll rarely feel the difference while gaming.
This becomes even clearer when you add the RTX 3080 to the mix. It has 1,536 fewer CUDA cores than the RTX 3080 Ti and 1,782 fewer than the RTX 3090. These differences show up everywhere from Tensor cores to memory bandwidth. In terms of specs, the RTX 3080 lags far behind the 3080 Ti and 3090, which are nearly identical.
Real world performance supports specifications. In Geekbench CUDA benchmarks, the RTX 3080 Ti trails the RTX 3090 by around 12,000 points (238,250 compared to 226,692). However, the RTX 3080 lags behind the 3080 Ti by more than 22,000 points (226,692 compared to 204,205). This is just a benchmark, but Geekbench averages at least five user-submitted scores that take into account several different tasks, so it’s a decent representation of how the cards compare.
In our own benchmark review, we found the RTX 3080 Ti to be 5-10% faster than the RTX 3080, depending on the game. While this makes the comparison to the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT too close for comfort (for Nvidia), it does put the RTX 3080 Ti just behind the RTX 3090 in Nvidia’s lineup.
These are all 4K-capable graphics cards, which means they should be able to handle 60+ fps in most 4K titles at max settings. There are some exceptions, such as poorly optimized games like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, where you may need to tweak a setting or two to ensure super smooth gameplay. No matter which of these cards you choose, you’ll have no problem playing 4K esports titles at 60+ fps.
LHR and resizable bar
The GPU shortage was caused by several factors, but the main one was the increase in demand from cryptocurrency miners. Nvidia combats this problem with Lite Hash Rate (LHR) graphics cards. The newly released RTX 3080, 3070 and 3060 Ti graphics cards will have a new GPU core that limits the Ethereum hash rate. These updated cards work identically outside of Ethereum mining.
Also, the RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti have an updated LHR core. The RTX 3090 does not. According to Nvidia, the RTX 3090 hasn’t had the same demand from cryptocurrency miners as the rest of the range, so it has no plans to release an updated LHR model.
RTX 3090, 3080 Ti and 3080 support variable BAR size. This is a PCIe 4.0 feature that slightly improves gaming performance by giving the processor direct access to video memory. AMD has a similar feature called Smart Access Memory that works with all AMD components. The switchable bar requires an Nvidia 3000 series GPU, but works with both Intel and AMD processors.
In addition, all three cards come with hardware-accelerated ray tracing in supported games and Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) upscaling technique.
A lot of options without choice
Players looking for the best experience have plenty of options. The RTX 3080 Ti and 3090 are the best the market has to offer right now, and while the RTX 3080 falls behind, it’s not by much. Unfortunately, many buyers won’t be able to choose between the two.
The GPU shortage isn’t going to abate anytime soon. Between the RTX 3090, 3080 Ti, and 3080, a lot will come down to which card you can find in stock at a reasonable price. The RTX 3080 Ti is the latter, so it’s probably your best bet. With that said, we can’t begin to talk about how the cards stack up in terms of value with the incredibly high prices that keep changing.
For gaming, the RTX 3080 Ti is the best option. Not only is it newer and more available, but it also performs much better than the base 3080. The 3090 isn’t necessary for gaming, though the extra video memory is important if you’re doing 3D modeling or rendering.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn