NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 (Desktop) vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop)

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with Max-Q design is the power saving variant of the mobile RTX 2080 with reduced clock speeds and power consumption. Therefore, it is suitable for thin gaming laptops. It is based on the same TU104 chip is the desktop and mobile variant and offers 2,944 shaders and 8 GB GDDR6 memory connected by a 256 bit interface (12 GHz).

Currently it looks like there will be two variants, a low power 80 Watt variant with 735 - 1095 MHz core clock and a faster 90 Watt variant with 990 - 1230 MHz core clock).

The clock is not the only difference compared to the regular RTX 2080 though. The drivers for the Max-Q version were optimized for efficiency (and not performance; only for Max-Q models), there are optimized voltage converters for 1V operation, high-end cooling methods, and a 40 dB limit for the fan noise (with clock adjustments to ensure this at all times).

Features

NVIDIA manufactures the TU104 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2080 is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

Performance

The RTX 2080 Max-Q should be slightly faster than a regular mobile RTX 2070 and therefore a high end gaming graphics card. It should be able to run all demanding games in 4k with maximum details. Raytracing features however may reduce framerates a lot.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the fastest consumer desktop graphics card in 2018 and the fastest Turing RTX card at launch. It offers 4,352 shaders, 11 GB GDDR6 with a 352 bit interface (14 GHz, 616 GB/s for the Founders Edition). Furthermore, the 2080Ti includes 544 Tensor cores and 68 raytracing cores.

Features

NVIDIA manufacturers the TU102 chip on a 12 nm FinFET process and includes features like Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and Real-Time Ray Tracing (RTRT), which should combine to create more realistic lighting effects than older GPUs based on the company's Pascal architecture (if the games supports it). The RTX 2080 Ti is also DisplayPort 1.4 ready, while there is also support for HDMI 2.0b, HDR, Simultaneous Multi-Projection (SMP) and H.265 video en/decoding (PlayReady 3.0).

Performance

The gaming performance of the 2080 Ti is around 27% faster than a RTX 2080 in 4K and around 35% faster than a GTX 1080 Ti. Therefore, the 2080 Ti is capable of max settings in 4K for all current AAA games. Adding raytracing may however reduce the performance below 60 fps.

Power Requirements

NVIDIA estimates that the RTX 2080 Ti should consume a maximum of 250 W or 260 W for the Founders Edition, which is  on a level with the GTX 1080 Ti (250 Watt).