MSI RTX 2080 Duke evaluate: gaming substance with out the Nvidia type

The MSI RTX 2080 Duke is actually an unlimited, shiny factor. It’s a reasonably overclocked model of Nvidia’s second-tier Turing GPU, sporting a chunky triple-fan cooler which nearly outperforms crew GeForce’s personal factory-overclocked Founders Edition graphics card.

And yeah, it feels huge. While the usual Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Ed. shroud is actually no shrinking violet, the Duke’s elongated cooler is each longer and broader than Nvidia’s personal homebrew design. That’s what provides it the house to slot in these three TORX followers and means it runs a little bit quieter than the FE, even when it’s a contact toastier.

The Turing vary of Nvidia GPUs has had a tricky freshman 12 months up to now, with Jen-Hsun touting real-time ray tracing as its raison d’etre, and but we’re now getting on for 5 months after launch and there’s nonetheless solely a single game out within the wild that takes benefit of that key RTX tech. Which is bad news for Nvidia and its bottom line in 2019, because the latest earnings adjustment appears to be suggesting.

The excessive value of the brand new graphics playing cards is a part of the pickle that Nvidia, and by extension its graphics card companions, discover themselves in. The RTX 2080 is the second-tier GPU within the Turing vary, and but remains to be priced with an MSRP of $699 for the reference-clocked editions. That means overclocked variations, similar to this $881 (£770) MSI RTX 2080 Duke, value much more.

Read extra: The best graphics cards to your price range

And with out real gaming causes to purchase one of many new Nvidia RTX playing cards there’s much less curiosity within the new GPUs than the inexperienced crew anticipated. Gamers, postpone by the excessive value, are ready to see what the longer term has in retailer and the way the extra fairly priced Turing GPUs, such because the not too long ago launched RTX 2060, fare.

But then there are the rumours of a GTX 1660 Ti card showing, with a Turing GPU stripped of its RTX-flavoured silicon, and with a decrease sticker value and the prospect of the AMD Navi mainstream playing cards launching in the summertime. Those are all giving avid gamers pause for thought. As is the truth that AMD has the Radeon VII all able to roll, promising RTX 2080-level gaming efficiency for a similar $699 MSRP as the bottom Nvidia card.

 

The MSI RTX 2080 Duke is hoping to supply simply sufficient of an enchancment over the Founders Edition of the RTX 2080 to entice avid gamers searching for a brand new high-end GPU to return its means. And what it might supply underneath the hood is a modest 45MHz overclock over the FE card’s 1,800MHz, itself a lift over the 1,710MHz of the reference TU104 GPU.

Elsewhere it’s the identical 2,944 CUDA cores, 8GB GDDR6 reminiscence, 368 Tensor cores and 46 RT cores. Y’know, for when there’s extra than simply the Roman numeral-loving Battlefield V and Final Fantasy XV sporting real-time ray tracing and deep studying tremendous sampling (DLSS). Roll on Metro: Exodus, eh?

The actual advantage of the Duke over the Founders Edition, nonetheless, is that cooler. Now, I’ve to say, from a pure aesthetics standpoint, I a lot desire the look of the Nvidia card. It might kind of have the looks of a twin-burner tenting range, but it surely has a sweeping, brushed metallic magnificence that I nonetheless can’t assist however admire. The Duke, alternatively, appears slightly old-school, with its massive plastic fan shroud, sharp angles and RGB LEDs.

But functionally the Duke’s cooler is superior. The 0dB performance of the Zero Frozr tech signifies that it stays utterly passively cooled till the GPU tops 56°C – when two of its three followers kick in – with the complete complement solely spinning up when it goes above 60°C. When gaming the GPU hit a peak of 74°C – whereas the FE topped out at 72°C – however if you’re simply messing round in Windows the Duke stays silent.

So yeah, the MSI RTX 2080 Duke does get hotter than the Founders Edition card, however that’s superb. It’s solely by a few levels, however that triple-fan cooler ensures the MSI chip stays rock strong at 1,905MHz when gaming. The Nvidia own-brand card, nonetheless, bounces between 1,890MHz and 1,905MHz.

That secure GPU clock pace is probably going what’s answerable for the slight efficiency lead the MSI card usually shows over the usual Nvidia card, regardless of them each basically working on the identical pace. The movable feast that’s the GPU enhance clock signifies that each GPUs have the headroom to push up above their rated prime speeds, but it surely appears to be solely the Duke that’s capable of constantly follow its peak tempo.

Overall the MSI RTX 2080 Duke is ready to get mighty near that 4K/60fps mark, and constantly posts larger gaming efficiency than the most effective of the Pascal technology, the GTX 1080 Ti. But solely simply. That might need been a difficulty when the last-gen playing cards had been accessible for a good value, however as inventory is dwindling for the GTX 1080 Ti, and its Pascal compatriots, the costs are sometimes larger than for the RTX equal. All the arguments in regards to the RTX 2080 vs GTX 1080 Ti are successfully moot when the last-gen GPU doesn’t signify any kind of saving.

But is the MSI RTX 2080 Duke the model to go for as a substitute of the Founders Edition card? If you had been going to have your GPU on show I’d possibly facet with the Nvidia card’s prettier shroud, however it is a element destined to be buried inside your PC.

And that’s the place the the Duke is finest suited. None of that may take away from the truth that it nonetheless prices the most effective a part of a grand – which is a daunting sum of money to spend on a GPU – however when you’re available in the market for a high-end graphics card MSI’s overclocked RTX 2080 has rather a lot to supply, but it surely’s probably not an improve over the most effective of the final gen.