Arguably the most crucial component of any PC is the graphics card. For gamers and design based professionals, the graphics card, or GPU, handles the majority of their computing workload. With more people working from home than ever before, the need for graphics cards is at an all time high. Whether your home is now your office or you are streaming the latest games to an audience, your GPU will become the workhorse of your computer.
When it comes to purchasing a GPU, the first decision you need to make is between an NVIDIA graphics card or an AMD graphics card. Graphics cards that support Ray Tracing and DLSS or FSR are becoming more popular as they provide gamers the highest quality graphics possible without sacrificing frame rates. Ever since the launch of the GeForce RTX 30 series, NVIDIA & its CEO, Jensen Huang, has issued multiple statements regarding the persistent GPU shortages. The company stated that shipping and logistics along with shortages of components are resulting in poor supply for their next-gen graphics cards, resulting in price hikes by various retailers.
To make matter worse, the crypto boom has resulted in miners gobbling up large quantities of gaming graphics cards leaving dust for actual PC gamers. The EVGA GeForce RTX™ 3080 Ti delivers the unprecedented performance that gamers crave for 4K resolution gaming, powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. It's built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory for an amazing gaming experience.
Combined with the next generation of design, cooling, and overclocking with EVGA Precision X1, the EVGA GeForce RTX™ 3080 Series presents a new definition in ultimate performance. The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers the unprecedented performance that gamers crave for 4K resolution gaming, powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. Combined with the next generation of design, cooling, and overclocking with EVGA Precision X1, the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Series presents a new definition in ultimate performance. Godfall is a large-scale open-world action RPG, full of reflective surfaces and advanced light effects.
Unlike Control, it's optimised to run ray tracing on AMD, rather than Nvidia graphics cards, which is the reason it doesn't support DLSS at the moment. Here, the 3080 Ti once again proved capable of running the game at playable frame rates across every resolution. These are definitely hard times to be a PC gamer whether you want an AMD or NVIDIA gaming graphics card for your PC and things look like they won't be changing till 2022. While graphics cards are less complicated to install than other components, you will still need to do some research to ensure your new GPU is compatible with your computer. Due to the demands of some modern graphics cards, they can sometimes require larger power supplies. Specific GPUs such as some 30 series cards from NVIDIA will even require proprietary cables to connect to a power supply.
Luckily, the experienced team at Micro Center is there at any time to help you find what new graphics cards are compatible with your system. Technicians at the Micro Center Service Department can even install your new component for you, saving you time and eliminating potential issues. The latest graphics cards have dedicated hardware that's optimized for ray-tracing operations. Despite the advances in GPU performance, the demands are still too high for a game to rely on ray tracing alone. That's why games use ray tracing to complement traditional rendering techniques.
The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing feature test is designed to make ray-tracing performance the limiting factor. Instead of relying on traditional rendering, the whole scene is ray-traced and drawn in one pass. The test result depends entirely on ray-tracing performance, which means you can measure and compare the performance of dedicated ray-tracing hardware in the latest graphics cards. Developers can now add even more amazing graphics effects to Microsoft Windows-based PC games. GeForce RTX graphics cards deliver advanced DX12 features like ray tracing and variable rate shading, bringing games to life with ultra-realistic visual effects and faster frame rates. The crypto currency Ergo is based on the Autolykos algorithm, which was updated in version 2 in early 2021.
The Autolykos 2 algorithm is based on the PoW concept and can be efficiently calculated by a graphics card. When calculating Ergo Coins, ASICs have no efficiency advantage over modern graphics cards, which should make Ergo attractive for as many miners as possible. The Ergo protocol is based on the blockchain and has been optimized for a very long shelf life. The hashrates were achieved under Hive OS with moderate overclocking settings. The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers the unprecedented performance that gamers crave for 4K resolutiongaming, powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. It's built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, newstreaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory for an amazing gaming experience.
Combined with thenext generation of design, cooling, and overclocking with EVGA Precision X1, the EVGA GeForce RTX 3080Series presents a new definition in ultimate performance. The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is one of the most powerful graphics cards I've tested in quite some time, offering stellar 4K performance across the board, even with ray tracing graphics settings on. But its price makes it a very expensive luxury, with better value found elsewhere. Here you can see the RTX 3080 Ti performed admirably, playing the game at playable frame rates with the graphics maxed and ray tracing and DLSS turned on. The only time it dropped below 60fps, which is considered the optimal point to comfortably play games, was when playing Control in 4K with ray tracing on and DLSS off. Ethash is the Proof-of-Work algorithm used for the crypto currency Ethereum.
Ethash is based on the Dagger-Hashimoto algorithm, but has been significantly changed in some places. For example, the memory requirement was significantly increased in order to make it more difficult or even to prevent the calculation of the algorithm on so-called ASICs . Our benchmark results are based on a slight overclocking of the graphics card and the GPU memory. However, I'd still recommend most gamers, who don't have expensive 4K gaming monitors or TVs with HDMI 2.1, to invest in a cheaper GPU such as the RTX 3070, RTX 3060 Ti or AMD RX 6700 XT.
These offer more than enough power for 1080p or 1440p gaming and retail for a fraction of the price. And if none of these sound like the right fit, then you can see a curated pick of the best graphics cards we've tested in this handy guide. The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is a powerhouse graphics card that delivers an excellent 4K ray tracing performance.
If you can afford its steep up-front cost then it's an excellent choice for any hardcore gamer looking for top-of-the-line performance. However, the gains you get compared to the base RTX 3080, which costs a lot less, make it a hard sell for gamers who don't need the best performance possible in 4K. For example, the CMP cards feature a 3-month warranty compared to a full 3-year warranty which the gaming graphics cards do. Furthermore, the CMP cards don't offer the mining value as GPUs do. Even the older GeForce cards output a much higher hash rate compared to the CMP cards at a lower price. However, NVIDIA recently increased its CMP mining GPU revenue estimate by $100 Million which means that there are indeed large orders being made by miners for CMP offerings.
Particular laptops can even connect to what is called an external graphics card to increase image processing power when needed. External graphics cards function by connecting to a computer via a dock or similar device that can use the power of the GPU without it needing to be physically installed in the system. One of the many benefits of external graphics cards is that they can increase your computer's power affordably and non-invasively. The KawPoW algorithm has been used with the crypto currency Ravencoin since May 2020. KawPoW is a Proof-of-Work algorithm and is calculated the fastest with a modern graphics card. KawPoW is based on a changing algorithm and can therefore not be calculated via ASIC.
The developers want to protect Ravencoin from large mining farms that often use ASICs. In addition to Ravencoin, other cryptocurrencies are based on KawPoW, including Hilux and Gravium. This allows you to configure multiple monitors in order to create a more immersive gaming experience, such as having a wider field of view. The effective memory clock speed is calculated from the size and data rate of the memory. Higher clock speeds can give increased performance in games and other apps.
The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is a powerhouse graphics card that delivers excellent 4K ray tracing performance. If you can afford its steep up-front cost, it's an excellent choice for any hardcore gamer looking for top-of-the-line performance. Here, the RTX 3080 Ti once again ran the game at more than playable frame rates at every resolution with its graphics settings maxed. The game doesn't have an internal benchmark, so we gauge performance by taking an average frame rate while playing through the open section of the first level.
Ampere is seriously impressive and brings with it a wealth of key benefits for PC gamers. These include support for ray tracing games using Nvidia's 3rd-generation tensor cores, DLSS and the inclusion of an HDMI 2.1 port. The GeForce RTX™ 30 Series deliver the ultra performance that gamers crave, powered by Ampere — NVIDIA's 2nd gen RTX architecture. It's built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6 memory for an amazing gaming experience. It uses the third version of the "Frostbite Game Engine" developed by the manufacturer DICE. Due to its current features, Battlefield 5 is very suitable as a graphics card benchmark.
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express is a high-speed interface standard for connecting components, such as graphics cards and SSDs, to a motherboard. Newer versions can support more bandwidth and deliver better performance. For starters, the RTX 3080 Ti has 2GB more GDDR6x memory than the regular RTX 3080. GDDR6x is one of the most expensive and top-performing types of video memory used in consumer graphics cards. Its key benefit is that it can facilitate significantly faster data transfer speeds than the base GDDR6 seen in cheaper graphics cards.
The first three factors can all be combined because resources and outsourcing go hand in hand. NVIDIA is a fabless semiconductor developer meaning that they do not have the capacity to produce their own cards on a mass scale. In order to make the cards, NVIDIA outsources the production of the graphics card to TSMC and Samsung.
The lack of raw materials to manufacture the cards goes further up the supply chain. The largest contributing factors to the low supply are the lack of raw materials, outsourcing, the pandemic, and the revival of the crypto craze. Another factor that isn't affecting the supply, but is affecting the price is the lack of tariff exemptions. This has even led hardware manufactures to raise the prices of their components. The theoretical computing power of the graphics card with single precision in TFLOPS.
TFLOPS indicates how many trillion FP32 floating point operations the graphics card can perform per second. It is an important factor of memory performance, and therefore the general performance of the graphics card. It's a multiplayer third-person shooter that takes place in a giant sprawling dystopian American cityscape. It isn't the most demanding game on this list, but its internal benchmark is a good metric to judge how a GPU will run most live service games. Here, the 3080 Ti blitzed through the benchmark at every resolution. DLSS is an Nvidia RTX-specific feature that uses artificial intelligence to improve a GPU's performance when running demanding processes.
In the past it's been a key reason I've recommended RTX cards over AMD' latest GPUs, as without it most games won't run over 60fps with ray tracing on. The only downside to ray tracing is that the technology is very taxing on the GPU, and can sees significant drops to frame rates. Steal the show with incredible graphics and smooth, stutter-free live streaming. Next-generation hardware encoding and decoding combine to show off all your best moments in exquisite detail. And the all-new NVIDIA Broadcast app gives you powerful AI capabilities to improve audio and video quality with effects like virtual background, webcam auto frame, and microphone noise removal. NVIDIA DLSS is groundbreaking AI rendering that boosts frame rates with uncompromised image quality using the dedicated AI processing Tensor Cores on GeForce RTX™.
This gives you the performance headroom to crank up settings and resolutions for an incredible visual experience. For graphics cards, there is a limit of 1 GeForce / Radeon Series card per customer. As in almost every graphics card benchmark, however, the system's processor has an effect on the result. We therefore use a fast processor in order not to limit the graphics card during the test. Shading units are small processors within the graphics card that are responsible for processing different aspects of the image. The memory clock speed is one aspect that determines the memory bandwidth.
The graphics card uses a combination of water and air to reduce the temperature of the card. Here, the RTX 3080 Ti managed to run the game with zero hassle, at post 60fps with the graphics settings maxed. However, the performance gains on the regular RTX 3080 weren't quite as high as I'd have liked considering the disparity in price. Next-gen performance has also been given a boost, featuring more tensor cores and RT cores than the base RTX 3080.
The only downside is that the card has a higher 350W TGP, which means you'll need a very high-capacity PSU to run it effectively, especially if you plan to overclock. HDMI 2.1 is a cutting-edge input that facilitates key features such as better HDR performance , increased memory bandwidth and, most important, 120Hz/4K gaming. Please note that the result set below is based on the reference review and serves as an indication of the performance of cards in the same class. We have a handful of applications available to measure, to a certain extent, DirectX ray-tracing. You can argue the test itself and how good it looks, but 3DMark offers a valid hybrid ray-tracing test that applies shadows and reflections that are raytraced. And as such, we can observe generational performance increases.
Take your creative projects to a new level with GeForce RTX™ 30 Series GPUs. Backed by the NVIDIA® Studio platform of dedicated drivers and exclusive tools. Whether you're rendering complex 3D scenes, editing 8K video, or livestreaming with the best encoding and image quality, GeForce RTX GPUs give you the performance to create your best. We are currently not taking backorders for ALL Graphics Cards until further notice.
Inter-store transfers are also unavailable for graphics card until further notice. DLSS taps into the power of a deep learning neural network to boost frame rates and generate beautiful, sharp images for your games. When the GPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance. However, the gains you get compared to the base RTX 3080, which is a lot more affordable, make it a hard sell for gamers who don't need the best performance possible in 4K. 3DMark is a suite of synthetic benchmarks designed to offer a general gauge of how powerful a GPU is.
The Time Spy Extreme benchmark we use gauges DirectX 12 performance. DirectX 12 is the API used by most modern games, so it's a good way to judge how a GPU will run games in general. This is probably due to the pre-release drivers we used while reviewing it, and likely a key reason why it didn't beat the performance of the base RTX 3080. We'll update this review with final benchmark scores when we get our hands on the 3080 Ti's consumer release drivers.
Borderlands 3 is a big open-world looter shooter full of sprawling maps, riddled with NPCs and complex physics. It doesn't have ray tracing, but it's a good metric to gauge how a GPU handles modern AAA shooters and multiplayer games. However, this could change in the near future, as AMD has finally confirmed its rival FidelityFX Super Resolution software will be made available to the public on 22 June 2021. I'm excited to see how it compares to DLSS when the service becomes available, since this has been a key omission keeping its current gen' RDNA 2 cards from competing with Nvidia's Ampere. Dual-cooling fans are found on the top and bottom of the card's left and right sides, with the main heatsink sitting between them. The card also uses the same custom 12-pin PCIe connector as its other 30-series siblings, which means you'll need to use the bundled adapter to connect the card to older PSUs .
Make no mistake, if you can get your hands on one, the 3080 Ti is a worthwhile investment for any gamer looking to enjoy top-end ray tracing gameplay. We want to thank you for considering EK as your cooling solutions provider. EK strives for perfection in every aspect – from our products to our service. If for any reason you are not satisfied or need help with anything at all, please let us know. Experience today's biggest blockbusters like never before with the visual fidelity of real-time ray tracing and the ultimate performance of AI-powered DLSS. What are the differences between EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 ULTRA GAMING and GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra Hybrid Gaming?
Analyze head-to-head all specifications and features to find out the better video card. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is based on a modified version of the Crystal Dynamics Foundation engine. This engine was already used in the predecessor Rise of the Tomb Raider. The foundation engine supports a realistic representation of water and snow and shows the game characters detailed. The display of hair is also very realistic thanks to the support of TressFX or HairWorks . Resizable BAR gives gamers an extra boost in gameplay framerate on select titles by letting the CPU directly access the GPU's entire frame buffer memory.
