Published: January 31, 2024 | Author: Tom Logan

Nvidia RTX 4080 Super Five Card Review

Conclusion

Phew. That was a lot to cover. Thanks for sticking with us.

Summing up this whole Nvidia refresh has been akin to trying to nail a jelly to the wall. Theoretically easy, hard in practise. With the RTX 4070 Super we felt it was a victim of previous Nvidia decisions about their product range and pricing. More recently, the RTX 4070 Ti, we felt, was fast enough to justify the Super tag, but affordable enough to not be offensive. Today with the RTX 4080 Super we have nothing but good things to say.

Firstly we like how Nvidia have beefed up the hardware. Clock speed increases aren’t enough to justify a new model. By giving us more hardware, it makes the product more palatable. Secondly, there wasn’t a RTX 4080 Ti, so the range was less muddled to begin with. It gives the RTX 4080 Super a place in their range. Above the vanilla card, below the RTX 4090. Easy.Â Thirdly, the extra clock speed, and extra hardware have combined to bring more performance to the table. By pricing the Super aggressively, under a thousand pounds, it brings gaming to the enthusiast without breaking the bank.

The RTX 4080 Super Differences

Price lets us put the cards in two categories. The Nvidia Founders Edition, Zotac Trinity and Palit Jetstream are all MSRP cards, and their performance is very close in all of our testing. Their size linearly echoes their temperatures too. The huge Founders Edition is coolest of the three, Palit Jetstream warmer, and slender Zotac warmest, albeit it below the 80Â° mark we call ‘hot’. The power draw is the opposite, with the Nvidia FE comfortably drawing the most Watts of all five cards! Oof. Performance is so close you can just go with the one you like the most.

The two beasts are the ASUS Strix and Gigabyte Aorus Master. Here Gigabyte have played a master (heh) stroke. Â£40 cheaper than the Strix, equally frugal at the wall, 4Â°C cooler even under the harshest loading. Best of all it’s almost always found at the top of the five cards in our performance test. With the addition of that screen it’s got more flair too. More affordable, cooler, quieter, more flair and more performance. What’s not to like? It’s not to say that the ASUS Strix isn’t also worthy of plaudits, it’s just, relatively, too expensive. It’s the safe option. Nothing new. Exactly what you expect.

If actual gaming performance matters to you most of all, it’s hard not to appreciate the price gap between the Palit, Zotac and Nvidia cards and their flagship brethren. The performance drop off just isn’t that much. The ASUS and Gigabyte are obviously cooler and faster, but you pay more for the privilege. All of which means that the Nvidia, Palit, and Zotac win our OC3D Gamers Choice Award, whilst the Gigabyte Aorus Master wins our Performance Award. It’s gigantic, but it’s the star of the show.

Nvidia Founders Edition. Palit Jetstream. Zotac Triniti