NVIDIA RTX 2080 SUPER Desktop GPU Review: A high-end Desktop GPU without a home
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NVIDIA announced the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER alongside the RTX 2060 SUPER and RTX 2070 SUPER. We have already reviewed the Founders Edition of the latter two, and now it is the turn of the RTX 2080 SUPER, with NVIDIA having delayed its launch until July 23. Visually, only one digit on the front and the information on the backplate distinguish the three RTX 20 SUPER FE cards from each other. Internally, the RTX 2080 SUPER is a different beast to the RTX 2060 SUPER, with NVIDIA basing the latter on its TU106 chip. Conversely, the RTX 2080 SUPER and RTX 2070 SUPER are both based on the TU104, with the latter effectively being an RTX 2080 Lite. NVIDIA has improved the RTX 2080 SUPER FE in all areas compared to its predecessor though, save for the volume of VRAM and its memory bus. Its VRAM bandwidth has also increased to 15.5 GHz, which is a nice boost over the equivalent in the original RTX 2080.
The increased number of shader units, texture units, tensor cores, RT cores and higher clock speeds have upped power consumption though. NVIDIA rates the RTX 2080 SUPER FE at 250 W, 35 W higher than the original RTX 2080 and on par with the RTX 2080 Ti. However, the latter offers more VRAM with a higher memory bus along with more shader units, texture units, tensor cores and RT cores. Perhaps making the RTX 2080 SUPER FE and RTX 2080 Ti comparable in this regard was not such a wise move.
An overview of Turing GPUs
Specifications | RTX 2060 | RTX 2060 SUPER | RTX 2070 | RTX 2070 SUPER | RTX 2080 | RTX 2080 SUPER | RTX 2080 Ti | TITAN RTX |
Graphics Chip | TU106 | TU106 | TU106 | TU104 | TU104 | TU104 | TU102 | TU102 |
FinFET process | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm |
Shader Units | 1,920 | 2,176 | 2,304 | 2,560 | 2,944 | 3,072 | 4,352 | 4,608 |
Texture Units | 120 | 136 | 144 | 160 | 184 | 192 | 272 | 288 |
Tensor Cores | 240 | 272 | 288 | 320 | 368 | 384 | 544 | 572 |
RT Cores | 30 | 34 | 36 | 40 | 46 | 48 | 68 | 72 |
GPU Base 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 |
GPU Boost Clock | 1,680 MHz | 1,650 MHz | 1,620 MHz | 1,770 MHz | 1,710 MHz | 1,815 MHz | 1,545 MHz | 1,770 MHz |
Memory Bus | 192 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 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 | 672 GB/s |
VRAM | 6 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 8 GB GDDR6 | 11 GB GDDR6 | 24 GB GDDR6 |
TDP | 160 W | 175 W | 175 W | 215 W | 215 W | 250 W | 250 W | 280 W |
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The Test System
Our test system is based on the Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 Wi-Fi motherboard. We have paired the board with the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X, which delivers excellent performance on a budget, and a Be Quiet Silent Loop 280 mm AIO. We have also equipped the system with 16 GB RAM of G-Skill RAM that clocks at 3,400 MHz, all of which we have housed in a Corsair Carbide Air 540 ATX Cube case. Moreover, we have run all our tests on the Acer Predator XB321HK, a 4K monitor that also allows us to conduct UHD gaming benchmarks.
A big thank you to AMD for kindly providing us with this test platform for us to test the RTX 2080 SUPER FE.
Case | Corsair Carbide Air 540 ATX Cube |
CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X |
CPU cooler | Be Quiet Silent Loop 280 mm |
RAM | G-Skill Sniper X 16 GB DDR4 3,400 MHz |
Motherboard | Gigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi |
Monitor | Acer Predator XB321HK 4K |
SSD | ADATA SP900 M.2 256 GB |
SDD | Western Digital SN720 512 GB - for games |
SSD | Crucial MX500 2 TB – for games |
OS | Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit (Version 1903) |
Drivers | NVIDIA 431.16 – last updated on 07.10.2019 |
Clock Speeds
NVIDIA has significantly increased the base and turbo clock speeds of the RTX 2080 SUPER FE compared to its predecessor. The RTX 2080 SUPER FE has a 1,650 MHz core clock, 135 MHz higher than that of the RTX 2080, and a 1,815 MHz boost clock, a 105 MHz improvement over its predecessor. NVIDIA has turned the screw with the VRAM too, upping this to 15.5 GHz, which yields a memory bandwidth of 496 GB/s. Its memory bus remains at 256-Bit though.
The RTX 2080 SUPER FE can reach even higher clock speeds though, with NVIDIA only giving its boost clock as a guideline. Our review unit averaged 1,900 MHz in benchmarks and games, but exceeded 2,000 MHz when we upped the power target (PT).
Synthetic Benchmarks
In short, the RTX 2080 SUPER FE cannot surpass the RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio in synthetic benchmarks. They achieved basically the same results in the benchmarks that we ran, although the latter is occasionally a touch faster than the former in some benchmarks. It is slightly unfair on the RTX 2080 SUPER FE to be comparing it against an overclocked card, especially one with a 260-W TDP. The RTX 2080 SUPER FE should ease past its predecessor though, as it does with the RTX 2070 SUPER FE, but we did not have an RTX 2080 FE on hand during these tests to verify this.
3DMark 11 - 1280x720 Performance GPU | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G |
Unigine Heaven 4.0 | |
Extreme Preset OpenGL | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
Extreme Preset DX11 | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 |
Unigine Valley 1.0 | |
1920x1080 Extreme HD DirectX AA:x8 | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
1920x1080 Extreme HD Preset OpenGL AA:x8 | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
AMD Radeon VII |
3DMark 05 Standard | 43011 points | |
3DMark 06 Standard Score | 34358 points | |
3DMark 11 Performance | 26911 points | |
3DMark Ice Storm Standard Score | 174249 points | |
3DMark Cloud Gate Standard Score | 44184 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Score | 22441 points | |
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme Score | 12425 points | |
3DMark Time Spy Score | 10931 points | |
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Gaming Benchmarks
Gaming benchmarks paint a similar picture, with the RTX 2080 SUPER FE and RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio regularly within a few frames of each other at maximum graphics, bar a few outliers. The two cannot hold a candle to the TITAN RTX though.
The RTX 2080 SUPER FE can play all current triple-A games smoothly at 1440p and ultra-graphics. However, the original RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 SUPER FE can do this, while the RTX 2080 SUPER FE cannot always make the step up to 4K to distinguish itself from its TU104 siblings. The same applies when DLSS and Raytracing are enabled. The RTX 2080 SUPER has more RT and Tensor cores than the RTX 2080 and RTX 2070 SUPER FE, but it is not a miracle worker.
The RTX 2080 SUPER FE still outperforms all current AMD GPUs, although the Radeon VII is occasionally on a few frames behind our review unit. The Radeon RX 5700 XT generally trades blows with the RTX 2070 SUPER FE though.
We also looked at how the RTX 2080 SUPER FE managed its performance under sustained load, with our previous tests being short benchmarks that we ran a few times. We left "The Witcher 3" running for an hour at 1080p and on the ultra preset, during which we measured any changes in frametimes and framerates. Oddly, the RTX 2080 SUPER FE experienced more troughs than the Radeon RX 5700 XT did, but it still averaged a healthy 113 FPS. The RTX 2060 SUPER FE and the RTX 2070 SUPER FE also dropped fewer frames than their more powerful sibling did. Performance dropped by around 5 FPS by the end of the test, which is not particularly onerous.
The Witcher 3: Framerates – ultra preset
Call of Duty Black Ops 4 | |
1920x1080 Very High / On | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
3840x2160 Very High / On | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
2560x1440 Very High / On | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super |
Assassin´s Creed Odyssey | |
1920x1080 Ultra High Preset | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
3840x2160 Ultra High Preset | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
2560x1440 Ultra High Preset | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 |
FIFA 19 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
3840x2160 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS | |
Nvidia Titan RTX | |
AMD Radeon VII | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 | |
MSI RTX 2060 Gaming Z 6G | |
2560x1440 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | |
AMD Radeon RX 5700 | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio | |
Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super | |
MSI RTX 2070 Gaming Z 8G |
Forza Horizon 4 | |
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:2xMS | |
MSI RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio |