KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX Review - High-end Nvidia GPU with a custom cooling solution

Extremely fast! These days you can find RTX-branded GPUs in almost all price segments. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the highest tier consumer GPU that Nvidia currently sells. We have got a review unit from KFA2. Read this review to find out how well KFA2’s RTX 2080 Ti performs.

Sebastian Bade (translated by Stanislav Kokhanyuk), Published 10/08/2019 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 ...

The external ports of the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

After Nvidia released the Super-branded graphics cards, which were in fact just slightly improved versions of the RTX 2060, RTX 2070 and the RTX 2080, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti remains the only Nvidia high-end GPU that has not been refreshed. However, with 11 GB of VRAM, this model offers more video memory than all other models. We have recently reviewed a GeForce RTX 2060 Super from KFA2 and now we have an opportunity to take a closer look at KFA2's GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX.

There are no differences in terms of specifications between the KFA2 model and the reference model. However, the KFA2 video card looks different, because it features a more powerful custom cooling solution with three axial fans. The KFA2 graphics card uses the reference board, which is why there should not be any compatibility problems if you decide to water-cool your GPU. Nevertheless, you should still make sure that your particular GPU meets the requirements for water-cooling before committing to buy.

At the time of writing, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX retails for about 1070 Euros ($1097), which is quite a lot for a GPU. However, the Founders Edition model costs significantly more. Here Nvidia asks 1259 Euros ($1381). This puts things into perspective and makes the KFA2 model look more attractive, since it is one of the cheapest models on the market. Those who decide to go for a KFA2 model will get a very powerful graphics card with a good cooler that is extremely quiet in 2D operation. You will not have to forgo RGB lighting either, since there are several RGB elements on the side, which can be configured through the Xtreme Tuner utility. Unfortunately, the KFA2 model does not feature a USB Type-C port, which would come in handy for VR applications. Those who do not use VR and do not plan to use it in the foreseeable future will not be bothered by the absence of a USB Type-C port. Furthermore, the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX offers three DP ports and one HDMI port. The GPU requires 250 watts of energy and two 8-pin power connectors.

Because the oversized cooling solution extends over the PCB, you will have to make sure that your case has enough free space. When compared to the reference model, the KFA2 GPU is six centimeters longer (~2.4 in).

The Turing Specifications in Detail

Specifications	RTX 2060	RTX 2060S	RTX 2070	RTX 2070S	RTX 2080	RTX 2080S	RTX 2080 Ti	KFA2 RTX 2080 Ti	Titan RTX
GPU Architecture	TU106	TU106	TU106	TU104	TU104	TU104	TU102	TU102	TU102
Manufacturing Process	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm	12 nm
CUDA Cores	1.920	2.176	2.304	2.560	2.944	3.072	4.352	4.352	4.608
Texture Mapping Units	120	136	144	160	184	192	272	272	288
Tensor Cores	240	272	288	320	368	384	544	544	572
RT Cores	30	34	36	40	46	48	68	68	72
Base Core Clock	1.365 MHz	1.470 MHz	1.410 MHz	1.605 MHz	1.515 MHz	1.650 MHz	1.350 MHz	1.350 MHz	1.350 MHz
Boost Core Clock	1.680 MHz	1.650 MHz	1.620 MHz	1.770 MHz	1.710 MHz	1.815 MHz	1.545 MHz	1.545 MHz	1.770 MHz
Memory Interface	192 Bit	256 Bit	256 Bit	256 Bit	256 Bit	256 Bit	352 Bit	352 Bit	384 Bit
Memory Bandwidth	336 GB/s	448 GB/s	448 GB/s	448 GB/s	448 GB/s	496,1 GB/s	616 GB/s	616 GB/s	672 GB/s
Memory Capacity	6 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6	8 GB GDDR6	11 GB GDDR6	11 GB GDDR6	24 GB GDDR6
TDP	160 W	175 W	175 W	215 W	215 W	250 W	250 W	250 W	280 W

The Test Bench - Based on the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X

Our test bench is based on a current AMD platform. The MSI MEG X570 Godlike serves as the motherboard. The CPU, which is known as the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, offers a lot of performance. The system is cooled by an all-in-one water cooler from Be Quiet (Silent Loop 280mm). The 16 GB of 3600 MHz RAM comes from G-Skill. The Acer Predator XB321HK does not represent a bottleneck, thanks to its 4K resolution. We are very grateful to AMD for providing us with the above-mentioned system.

For the following benchmarks we used the following system:

Corsair Carbide Air 540 ATX Cube
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX 1-Click-OC (GeForce 436.30 driver)
MSI MEG X570 Godlike (BIOS 1.20, default settings, XMP 1 for DDR4-3600 CL16)
Antec 1200-watt power supply
G-Skill Trident Z Royal gold DDR4-3600 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) kit, running at 3600 MHz; timings: CL16-16-16-36
Corsair MP600 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD
Crucial MX500 2TB (for games)

The Core Clocks of the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX

The KFA2 model has the same core clocks as the reference model. According to the specifications sheet, the base clock amounts to 1350 MHz and the boost clock is 1545 MHz. However, when gaming the GPU operates at 1800 to 1900 MHz. The RTX 2080 Ti has 11 GB of VRAM, which is clocked at 1750 MHz (effective memory speed: 14 GHz). Thanks to the 352-bit-wide bus, the memory bandwidth amounts to 616 GB/s.

The TDP of the KFA2 GPU is 250 watts, which is 10 watts lower than that of the reference model. The KFA2 model almost always reaches the power limit, which means that the GPU is running at full speed. The power limit can be raised with the tuning utility. This leads to a higher and more stable boost clock. The KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX comes with the 1 Click OC feature, which increases the base clock by 45 MHz and sets the power target to 108%.

Synthetic Benchmarks

The synthetic benchmarks confirm that the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX offers a great deal of performance. However, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti in the Corsair One i160 manages to beat our review model. This goes to show that an Intel-based system is still the best system for gaming. That being said, with a 4% difference, our Ryzen 9-based system does almost as well as the Intel-based PC. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is 23% faster than the GeForce RTX 2080 Super.

Performance Rating | 3DMark | 3DMark 11 | Unigine Heaven 4.0 | Unigine Valley 1.0

Performance Rating - Percent
Corsair One i160	99 pt ∼99%
Nvidia Titan RTX	95.4 pt ∼95%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	95.1 pt ∼95%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	77.6 pt ∼78%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	77.3 pt ∼77%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	70.2 pt ∼70%
AMD Radeon VII	68.1 pt ∼68%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	66 pt ∼66%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	65.1 pt ∼65%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	63 pt ∼63%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 ^-4!	60 pt ∼60%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	58.6 pt ∼59%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	54.6 pt ∼55%

3DMark
1920x1080 Fire Strike Graphics
Nvidia Titan RTX	34780 Points ∼100% +8%
Corsair One i160	34697 Points ∼100% +8%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	32081 Points ∼92%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	27620 Points ∼79% -14%
AMD Radeon VII	27476 Points ∼79% -14%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	27075 Points ∼78% -16%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	25383 Points ∼73% -21%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	24151 Points ∼69% -25%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	22999 Points ∼66% -28%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	22457 Points ∼65% -30%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64	22338 Points ∼64% -30%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	21970 Points ∼63% -32%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	19338 Points ∼56% -40%
Fire Strike Extreme Graphics
Nvidia Titan RTX	17179 Points ∼100% +10%
Corsair One i160	16856 Points ∼98% +8%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	15603 Points ∼91%
AMD Radeon VII	13388 Points ∼78% -14%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	13355 Points ∼78% -14%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	12968 Points ∼75% -17%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	12209 Points ∼71% -22%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	11634 Points ∼68% -25%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	11021 Points ∼64% -29%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	10876 Points ∼63% -30%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64	10758 Points ∼63% -31%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	10481 Points ∼61% -33%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	9097 Points ∼53% -42%
3840x2160 Fire Strike Ultra Graphics
Nvidia Titan RTX	8625 Points ∼100% +9%
Corsair One i160	8202 Points ∼95% +3%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	7925 Points ∼92%
AMD Radeon VII	6837 Points ∼79% -14%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	6513 Points ∼76% -18%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	6500 Points ∼75% -18%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	5955 Points ∼69% -25%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	5786 Points ∼67% -27%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	5450 Points ∼63% -31%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64	5441 Points ∼63% -31%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	5292 Points ∼61% -33%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	5175 Points ∼60% -35%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	4244 Points ∼49% -46%
2560x1440 Time Spy Graphics
Corsair One i160	14249 Points ∼100% +4%
Nvidia Titan RTX	14216 Points ∼100% +3%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	13744 Points ∼96%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	11477 Points ∼81% -16%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	11294 Points ∼79% -18%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	10094 Points ∼71% -27%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	9236 Points ∼65% -33%
AMD Radeon VII	8803 Points ∼62% -36%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	8795 Points ∼62% -36%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	8673 Points ∼61% -37%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	7732 Points ∼54% -44%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	7675 Points ∼54% -44%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64	7183 Points ∼50% -48%

3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU
Corsair One i160	49282 Points ∼100% +9%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	45050 Points ∼91%
Nvidia Titan RTX	43461 Points ∼88% -4%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	37989 Points ∼77% -16%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	37958 Points ∼77% -16%
AMD Radeon VII	37881 Points ∼77% -16%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	35715 Points ∼72% -21%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	33293 Points ∼68% -26%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	31570 Points ∼64% -30%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	31260 Points ∼63% -31%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	29605 Points ∼60% -34%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64	29285 Points ∼59% -35%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	26413 Points ∼54% -41%

Unigine Heaven 4.0
Extreme Preset OpenGL
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	204.4 fps ∼100%
Nvidia Titan RTX	203.4 fps ∼100% 0%
Corsair One i160	201.7 fps ∼99% -1%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	167.5 fps ∼82% -18%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	161.4 fps ∼79% -21%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	153.5 fps ∼75% -25%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	139 fps ∼68% -32%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	132.3 fps ∼65% -35%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	115.8 fps ∼57% -43%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	110.2 fps ∼54% -46%
AMD Radeon VII	109 fps ∼53% -47%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	100.7 fps ∼49% -51%
Extreme Preset DX11
Corsair One i160	223.5 fps ∼100% +4%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	215.2 fps ∼96%
Nvidia Titan RTX	207.2 fps ∼93% -4%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	176.5 fps ∼79% -18%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	175.2 fps ∼78% -19%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	160.1 fps ∼72% -26%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	149.3 fps ∼67% -31%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	141.7 fps ∼63% -34%
AMD Radeon VII	140.3 fps ∼63% -35%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	132.5 fps ∼59% -38%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	124.1 fps ∼56% -42%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	119.9 fps ∼54% -44%

Unigine Valley 1.0
1920x1080 Extreme HD DirectX AA:x8
Corsair One i160	164.1 fps ∼100% +3%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	159.4 fps ∼97%
Nvidia Titan RTX	135 fps ∼82% -15%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	120.2 fps ∼73% -25%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	119.6 fps ∼73% -25%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	113.7 fps ∼69% -29%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	111.5 fps ∼68% -30%
AMD Radeon VII	108.5 fps ∼66% -32%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	106.9 fps ∼65% -33%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	106.3 fps ∼65% -33%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	99.3 fps ∼61% -38%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	91.2 fps ∼56% -43%
1920x1080 Extreme HD Preset OpenGL AA:x8
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX	145.1 fps ∼100%
Corsair One i160	144.5 fps ∼100% 0%
Nvidia Titan RTX	139.2 fps ∼96% -4%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super	114.5 fps ∼79% -21%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio	110.5 fps ∼76% -24%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super	105.6 fps ∼73% -27%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G	101 fps ∼70% -30%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super	98.3 fps ∼68% -32%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT	89.1 fps ∼61% -39%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G	83.6 fps ∼58% -42%
AMD Radeon RX 5700	82.7 fps ∼57% -43%
AMD Radeon VII	81.3 fps ∼56% -44%

Performance Rating | 3DMark | 3DMark 11 | Unigine Heaven 4.0 | Unigine Valley 1.0

3DMark 05 Standard		52639 points
3DMark 06 Standard Score		44825 points
3DMark Vantage P Result		82093 points
3DMark 11 Performance		33205 points
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score		209400 points
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score		57827 points
3DMark Fire Strike Score		25890 points
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score		15211 points
3DMark Time Spy Score		13424 points
Help

... in comparison

Gaming Benchmarks

The gaming benchmarks leave no doubt that the KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is a very fast graphics card. It does not matter whether you use an Intel-based system or a Ryzen-powered PC. Of course, there are games that perform better with one CPU or the other. When we benchmark games at very high resolutions the CPU stops being the main bottleneck, which it is at lower resolutions. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti can run all current titles in 4K without any problems. Moreover, the additional RTX features make the games look much more impressive.

We did not encounter any abnormal behavior when it comes to frametimes and frame rates. There are occasional spikes and drops in the frame rates, but these are very short and are not noticeable during actual gameplay. We collect the frametime and frame rate data with the video game known as The Witcher 3 (preset: Ultra). The performance of the KFA2 model fell slightly over the course of our benchmark run, it sank from 135 FPS to 130 FPS. These are still very high frame rates, which means the game will remain more than playable even during very long gaming sessions.

The Witcher 3 frame rate on ultra

KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), R9 3900X, Corsair MP600: Ø130 (123-140)

Call of Duty Black Ops 4
1920x1080 Very High / On
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), R9 3900X, Corsair MP600	223 (176^min - 271^max) fps ∼100%
Corsair One i160 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP	203 (200^min - 206^max) fps ∼91% -9%
Nvidia Titan RTX NVIDIA Titan RTX, R7 2700X, ADATA Premier Pro SP900NS38 512 GB	200 (159^min - 238^max) fps ∼90% -10%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), R7 2700X	177 (140^min - 204^max) fps ∼79% -21%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super GeForce RTX 2080 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	173 (81^min - 210^max) fps ∼78% -22%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 RX Vega 64, R7 2700X	166.2 (125^min - 210^max) fps ∼75% -25%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	163 (102^min - 201^max) fps ∼73% -27%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), R7 2700X	153 (116^min - 189^max) fps ∼69% -31%
AMD Radeon VII Radeon VII, R7 2700X	146 (115^min - 198^max) fps ∼65% -35%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	146 (111^min - 180^max) fps ∼65% -35%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop), R7 2700X	135 (59^min - 186^max) fps ∼61% -39%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), R7 2700X	133 (60^min - 170^max) fps ∼60% -40%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop), R7 2700X	114 fps ∼51% -49%
3840x2160 Very High / On
Corsair One i160 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), i9-9900K, Samsung PM961 NVMe MZVLW512HMJP	89 (66^min - 112^max) fps ∼100% +6%
Nvidia Titan RTX NVIDIA Titan RTX, R7 2700X, ADATA Premier Pro SP900NS38 512 GB	88 (66^min - 109^max) fps ∼99% +5%
KFA2 GeForce RTX 2080 Ti EX GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (Desktop), R9 3900X, Corsair MP600	84 (64^min - 105^max) fps ∼94%
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio GeForce RTX 2080 (Desktop), R7 2700X	64 (48^min - 79^max) fps ∼72% -24%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super GeForce RTX 2080 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	62 (37^min - 86^max) fps ∼70% -26%
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 RX Vega 64, R7 2700X	58.8 (43^min - 78^max) fps ∼66% -30%
AMD Radeon VII Radeon VII, R7 2700X	58.1 (39^min - 74^max) fps ∼65% -31%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT Radeon RX 5700 XT (Desktop), R7 2700X	55.7 (23^min - 73^max) fps ∼63% -34%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super GeForce RTX 2070 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	54.5 (34^min - 74^max) fps ∼61% -35%
AMD Radeon RX 5700 Radeon RX 5700 (Desktop), R7 2700X	53 (34^min - 71^max) fps ∼60% -37%
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super GeForce RTX 2060 Super (Desktop), R7 2700X	48.6 (35^min - 63^max) fps ∼55% -42%
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G GeForce RTX 2070 (Desktop), R7 2700X	47.4 (31^min - 64^max) fps ∼53% -44%
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G GeForce RTX 2060 (Desktop), R7 2700X