Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super overview: Faster 4K for no further price

It looks as if an eternity has handed for the reason that preliminary launch of Nvidia’s RTX Super playing cards, however right here we’re ultimately with the ultimate GPU within the trilogy, the RTX 2080 Super. It’s nonetheless not essentially the most highly effective graphics card in Nvidia’s RTX arsenal – that honour continues to be held by the RTX 2080 Ti – however in comparison with the remainder of Nvidia’s real-time ray tracing machines, the RTX 2080 Super is certainly a way more simple proposition than both of its Super siblings, the RTX 2060 Super or RTX 2070 Super.

For starters, that is supposed to switch the RTX 2080 somewhat than sit alongside it, and Nvidia say it’s additionally meant to ship as much as 10% extra efficiency for a similar worth. In truth, if you happen to evaluate the price of Nvidia’s two Founders Edition playing cards, the £669 / $699 RTX 2080 Super truly is available in £80 / $100 much less than its predecessor did when it launched final 12 months. Throw in a definite lack of competitors from AMD proper now (particularly if these rumours in regards to the Radeon 7 going finish of life are to be believed), plus two free games within the type of Control and Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and on paper there’s actually no purpose why you wouldn’t decide the RTX 2080 Super as your subsequent 4K graphics card. Is it actually price spending one other 2 hundred quid over our present 4K best graphics card decide, the RTX 2070 Super, although? Here’s wot I feel.

First, some specs. As you’ll be able to see from the desk under, the RTX 2070 Super already seems suspiciously near the unique RTX 2080. It doesn’t have as many CUDA cores because the RTX 2080, however it’s quicker, acquired simply as a lot reminiscence, and might carry out extra Tensor FLOPS with regards to ray tracing. The RTX 2080 Super, alternatively, is quicker nonetheless, and might churn via extra knowledge per second due to its increased clocked reminiscence, coming in at 15.5 Gbps somewhat than 14 Gbps. It’s nonetheless acquired nothing on the RTX 2080 Ti, however that’s significantly dearer because of this. I’ve simply included it right here to offer you a greater image of the place it sits in Nvidia’s present RTX household.

So how does that further super-ness translate in follow? Well, it’s undoubtedly quicker than the RTX 2080, however very like I discovered with the RTX 2070 Super, there are nonetheless some cases the place you’ll see hardly any enchancment in any respect, notably at 4K. In fact, that’s partly as a result of my RTX 2080 outcomes are primarily based on Nvidia’s overclocked Founders Edition of the cardboard, which is of course a bit quicker than different variations of the cardboard on the market in the meanwhile. The RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition, in the meantime, runs at its inventory reference spec pace.

Indeed, even Nvidia say the RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition is just round 3-5% quicker than its non-Super FE counterpart, in order that’s in all probability why some games talked about on this overview run just about precisely the identical as earlier than. I do even have Zotac’s overclocked AMP Extreme RTX 2080 Super in for testing, nonetheless, and I’ll be doing a separate comparability piece on that very shortly.

The RTX 2080 Super Founders Edition is precisely the identical measurement as the unique RTX 2080 FE, and makes use of the identical 8 / 6-pin energy connector combo as properly.

For now, although, let’s give attention to the 2 Founders Edition playing cards. In Total War: Three Kingdoms, for instance, the RTX 2080 Super was solely a single body forward on High after I ran it via the game’s inside battle benchmark, ending with a median of 43fps in comparison with the RTX 2080’s 42fps. The hole widened barely on Medium, however we’re nonetheless solely speaking a distinction of 69fps versus 64fps – which you received’t discover anyway at this decision because of the lack of excessive refresh charge 4K screens at present accessible.

Monster Hunter: World was equally static at 4K. The Super was ever so barely forward on High, ranging between 47-52fps out within the subject in comparison with its predecessor’s 45-50fps, however knocking the standard again all the way down to Mid noticed each playing cards produce 50-57fps.

The similar goes for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The Super nudged forward on High, ending the game’s inside benchmark with a median of 58fps in comparison with the RTX 2080’s 55fps, however Very High noticed each playing cards end inside a single body of one another – the Super with 49fps and the non-Super with 48fps.

In a method, although, this isn’t actually that massive a deal. Sure, it’s a tad disappointing, however when the RTX 2080 Super goes to switch the unique RTX 2080, I’m probably not that frightened about some games being successfully as quick as they had been earlier than. After all, every of the outcomes I’ve simply talked about continues to be 5fps-odd quicker than what the RTX 2070 Super managed on the identical graphics settings – which, after we’re coping with these sort of body charges is sufficient to make one factor really feel noticeably smoother than the opposite – and the remainder of my testing suite solely widened that hole additional, placing much more distance between every RTX Super card.

You’re additionally taking a look at precisely the identical set of ports, too.

In Metro Exodus, for instance, the RTX 2080 Super was persistently round 3fps quicker than its non-Super sibling and 5fps quicker than the RTX 2070 Super, easing its common body charge simply over the 40fps mark to 41fps on Ultra at 4K (up from 38fps on the 2080 and 36fps on the 2070 Super). It additionally reached a smoother 58fps on Normal in comparison with the unique’s 54fps and RTX 2070 Super’s 51fps, and there have been related beneficial properties to be seen at 1440p and 1080p as properly, notably when it got here to enabling the game’s ray tracing assist. Whereas the RTX 2080 solely managed a median of 48fps with ray tracing on High at 1440p Ultra settings (one thing the RTX 2070 Super can solely managed on High high quality), the RTX 2080 Super pushed that as much as 51fps, making the whole lot seem simply that bit smoother and extra nice to play.

It was the same image over in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, too. On the entire, I noticed an enchancment of round 2-3fps over the RTX 2080 throughout every high quality setting at varied resolutions, and round 8fps greater than the RTX 2070 Super. In follow, that successfully equates to a different graphics organising between the Super playing cards, which means I can get a good common of 48fps on Highest at 4K with the game’s fundamental SMAA anti-aliasing enabled on the RTX 2080 Super, and solely 40fps on the RTX 2070 Super. Sure, you’ll be able to push that as much as 51fps on the RTX 2070 Super by dropping all the way down to High with SMAA at 4K, however then you definately’re taking a look at a good smoother 58fps common on the RTX 2080 Super.

Final Fantasy XV, alternatively, was like virtually a unique game on the RTX 2080 Super, reaching significantly increased body charges throughout the board each with and with out Nvidia’s further results enabled. On Highest at 4K, as an example, the RTX 2080 Super managed a good 43-50fps after I was waltzing up and down the luxurious hills of Duscae with none Nvidia results switched on, which was noticeably smoother than the unique RTX 2080’s vary of 39-45fps, and the RTX 2070 Super’s barely choppier lows of 36-45fps.

You’ll nonetheless have to allow the game’s DLSS assist if you wish to activate 4K TurfEffects and the like, thoughts, however even knocking issues all the way down to 1440p noticed the RTX 2080 Super put in a significantly higher efficiency than both of its top-end siblings. Crank all these Nvidia results as much as eleven on Highest, as an example, and also you’re solely taking a look at 40-47fps on the RTX 2070 Super, and between 45-51fps on the RTX 2080. The RTX 2080 Super, alternatively, reached a breezy 48-57fps.

The Witcher 3 and Forza Horizon 4 noticed equally massive beneficial properties, too. In the previous, the RTX 2080 Super averaged 65fps on Ultra at 4K, which is a complete 10fps faster than its predecessor, and 7fps in entrance of the RTX 2070 Super. In the latter, the RTX 2080 Super reached pole place with a median of 87fps, beating the RTX 2080 by a median of 5fps, and the RTX 2070 Super by 8fps – though, once more, until you’ve acquired your self considered one of Nvidia’s extremely costly 4K G-Sync Ultimate screens such because the Asus ROG Swift PG27UQ or Acer Predator X27 which have increased refresh charges than the usual 60Hz, you’re not truly going to have the ability to see a lot distinction right here.

On the entire, although, I reckon the RTX 2080 Super nonetheless affords sufficient of a lift over the RTX 2070 Super to warrant the additional expense right here – however provided that you’re on the lookout for one thing to play games at 4K with, or if you happen to’re determined for the absolute best ray tracing expertise. As for every card’s uncooked 1440p efficiency (that’s, with out ray tracing), you’re nonetheless taking a look at a stable 60fps on max settings with the RTX 2070 Super, if not significantly increased in a whole lot of games, so I actually don’t see the necessity to spend one other two hundred-odd quid on one thing that’s probably not going to make an enormous quantity of distinction to your total gaming expertise – particularly once you nonetheless get free copies of Control and Wolfenstein: Youngblood with it both method.

At 4K, nonetheless, the RTX 2080 Super undoubtedly comes into its personal. Whereas the RTX 2070 Super is basically solely comfy on both Low or Medium settings at this decision, the RTX 2080 Super can fairly capably push the standard as much as High in a whole lot of circumstances, or on the very least supply a smoother Medium expertise than its 2070 counterpart. Plus, it’s virtually undoubtedly the best graphics card to go for if you happen to’re after the smoothest ray tracing expertise (with out spending the large bucks on Nvidia’s Ti prime canine, that’s), because it’s simply acquired a bit extra oomph to do it on the perfect settings, each at 1440p and 1080p.

It’s additionally miles higher than something AMD have on supply proper now – together with the Radeon 7, which you’ll recall from my Radeon 7 vs RTX 2080 piece couldn’t even actually match the common RTX 2080 – so till their Navi equal arrives on the scene, the RTX 2080 Super is much and away the 4K graphics card to beat proper now.