Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition Review

Up Close

The new packaging for the 4000 series of card has eschewed the famous lurid green for which Nvidia is so famous, instead going for a minimalist black box. We like this new understated aesthetic.

  

Within the package the card is firmly mounted in a display card, and as you can see it’s identical to the cooler we saw the RTX 4090 equipped with.

  

Just in case you wondered if the triple slot design was unique to their flagship card, the RTX 4080 also comes in that girthy cooler design. Simple, black, but effective.

  

There are two large fans on the RTX 4080 cooler, the one you can see here pushes air against the blocked off side, through the card, and then out the vented side. This has proven to be very effective and puts paid to any memory of the old blower style coolers that made tons of noise for no great reward.

  

If you like your cards to be free from any extraneous glitz and glamour then the Founders Edition might be the very card for you. It’s all dark greys, blacks, and just a hint of lighting in the GeForce RTX logo at the side.

  

A close up of how much space there is to assist the airflow around your whole case. Useful when the card is this long.

  

Power is supplied by the controversial 12 pin arrangement. Also note that this isn’t a mirror. This is the RTX 4080 FE on top of the RTX 4090 FE to show how you’re getting exactly the same cooler for your money. 

  

With the cut-down specifications of the RTX 4080 FE when compared to its bigger brother, but still coming with the effective Founders Edition GPU cooler, we expect some low temperatures. It’s primarily worth bearing in mind if you were expecting a double slot cooler on this card, rather than the triple slot of the 4090. It’s triple all the way. Grab your largest chassis.