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The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 has been officially announced as Team Green’s new flagship gaming graphics card, and while it promises great things when it comes to powering the best PC games, how does it compare to its predecessor, the RTX 2080 Super?
That’s a question we’re going to answer here, pitting the Nvidia RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super against. We’ll see if the RTX 3080 is a worthwhile upgrade for RTX 2080 Super owners, as well as if the old card is a better buy for gamers on a budget.
Because while the RTX 3080 (along with its siblings, the RTX 3070 and RTX 3090) is the new draw, the RTX 2080 Super is still an excellent card in its own right. For people looking to upgrade their gaming PCs, this presents a dilemma: the Nvidia RTX 3080 or the RTX 2080 Super – which GPU is the best for you?
Nvidia RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super price
In the run-up to the RTX 3080 launch, many of us were concerned about how much Nvidia would ask for the GPU. After all, the company has something of a reputation when it comes to releasing expensive components.
However, with the reveal that the RTX 3080 will cost $ 699 (£ 649, around AU $ 950), we were pleasantly surprised. Sure, it’s still high, but not as high as we feared, due to the specs, and it’s actually launching for the same price the original RTX 2080 was launched for, as well as the RTX 2080 Super.
Now, if the 2080 Super still sold for that price, there would be no competition – the RTX 3080 is the one thanks to the jump in performance compared to the 2080 Super, and at no additional cost.
However, since the RTX 2080 Super was released last year, prices have been going down and you can now get it for around $ 100 / £ 100 less. With the launch of the RTX 3080, prices could drop even further. This would make the RTX 2080 Super a more attractive purchase.
However, as the RTX 2080 Super is still a powerful and recent card, don’t expect the price to drop. too a lot, especially with some retailers now no longer stocking the card.
However, it does mean that you could sell your RTX 2080 Super to help finance your RTX 3080 purchase. But would it be worth it? Let’s take a deeper look.
Nvidia RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super: specifications
On paper, the RTX 3080 looks like a decent upgrade with some very interesting tech:
- CUDA colors: 8,704
- Boost the clock: 1.71 GHz
- Base clock: 1.44 GHz
- VRAM: 10GB GDDR6X
- Memory interface: 320 bits
- TDP: 320W
So how does that compare to the 2080 Super? Here are the specs of the old card:
- CUDA colors: 3,072
- Boost the clock: 1.8 GHz
- Base clock: 1.6 GHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Memory interface: 256 bits
- TDP: 250W
By comparing those two specs, you can immediately see the jump the RTX 3080 makes over the RTX 2080 Super, and that’s even before we get into the new tensor cores and the benefits of the 3080’s Ampere architecture over the Super’s Turing. 2080.
The clear benefits, spec-wise, are the cores and CUDA memory. On the CUDA front, the RTX 3080 offers more than double that. But what does that really mean?
CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) cores are essentially parallel processors that allow an Nvidia GPU to handle multiple complex tasks at once, such as rendering lighting, character models, and scenery, all at once. Basically, the more CUDA cores, the more efficient the GPU is at handling complex and demanding graphics, similar to how a quad-core processor is better at multitasking than a dual-core processor.
So the RTX 3080’s huge CUDA advantage over the RTX 2080 Super could be one of the main reasons to go for the newer card.
Then there is memory. Not only does the RTX 3080 have more, but it uses the fastest GDDR6X memory, compared to GDDR6 in the 2080 Super.
The memory interface of the RTX 3080 is also faster, so once again the RTX 3080 has a big advantage. Having more memory, faster, will pay off when you play at high resolutions. So if you are looking to play games at 4K or even 8K resolutions, or are going to use an ultra-wide monitor or multiple monitors at once, then the RTX 3080 is, again, the one to choose.
However, we should note that the specs of the RTX 2080 Super are still very good, and it has a faster base and faster boost clock than the RTX 3080. If you have a 2080 Super, don’t think it’s outdated just yet.
Now comparing specs will only take you so far to determine what kind of performance difference there will be. Once we’ve finished our in-depth testing of the RTX 3080, we’ll be able to better compare the two cards.
Nvidia RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super: which one should you buy?
So should you buy the RTX 3080 or RTX 2080 Super? If you’re looking to upgrade your PC with a new GPU and you’re on the budget, you should go for the RTX 3080 every time. The increased specs mean this will be a great GPU and will happily power upcoming games for years to come. When you pay this amount of money, you’ll want to try to get the most capable GPU you can get, which is easily the RTX 3080.
The fact that Nvidia has been quite aggressive with the price of the new GPU means that it is even more attractive.
If you’re on a budget, then the RTX 2080 Super may be a more affordable way to get high-end graphics, but moderate your expectations with how low the GPU price will drop. Regardless, you may find the RTX 3070 a better buy, offering Ampere features for less money.
But what if you already have an RTX 2080 Super? Should you update? Possibly, if you can sell your card for a decent amount, it could mean getting a much more powerful GPU for a small initial outlay.
However, the RTX 2080 Super is still an excellent card, so you may want to keep it for now, as it will still easily play modern games at 1080p, 1440p, and even 4K, with relative ease. Then when the RTX 4000 series comes out, you might find that you can get an even better upgrade.
