Graphics Cards
A better RTX 2080.
Hot on the heels of the RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super comes the RTX 2080 Super. It’s the third and final Super card that Nvidia plans to release. The 2060 and 2070 Supers (reviewed in APC 471) were released to counter the challenge of AMD’s Navi GPU, but had the additional effect of leaving the 2080 uncomfortably close in performance to the 2070 Super. The RTX 2080 Super unlocks the full capabilities of the TU104 GPU in order to keep it comfortably ahead of AMD as well as achieving the rebalancing of the lineup that Nvidia needed. As the 2080 Ti sits unchallenged at the top of the product stack, it’s unlikely we’ll ever see a 2080 Ti Super.
The original RTX 2080 is equipped with the TU104 GPU with 2,944 of the maximum 3,072 cores unlocked. The RTX 2080 Super comes with all 3072 cores unlocked. Further resources are also available, including 384 Tensor cores and 48 RT cores (compared to the original’s 368 and 46). The second major improvement is the inclusion of faster GDDR6 memory rated at 15.5GB/s compared to the 14 GB/s of the original, a handy 10 percent gain. Finally the 2080 Super comes with higher clock speeds. The base GPU is capable of boosting to 1815MHz compared to the 1710MHz of the original 2080. So, we’ve got more shaders, more bandwidth and faster clocks. It’s not revolutionary, but when you’re starting with strong base, that’s not a bad thing at all.
These gains come at the cost of increased power consumption. A rise from 225W to 250W isn’t too much to worry about thankfully, as today’s high end GPU coolers don’t struggle with this kind of TDP. 250W means custom cards likely to be equipped with 8+8pin connectors.
As you’ll see in our reviews, the 2080 Super is exactly that, the 2080, but a bit better. The gains over the non Super version aren’t as big as those we saw for the 2060 and 2070. 2080 users shouldn’t feel aggrieved, unless you bought one very recently, while 2080 Ti users have nothing to worry about. The 2080 Super does exactly what it’s intended to do. It narrows the gap between the 2070 Super and 2080 Ti. It provides a solid gaming experience and of course comes with all the forward looking RTX features that we’ve come to expect. Though the 2080 Super is supposed to be cheaper than the outgoing 2080, $1,000+ is still a lot of money to pay for a GPU. If you’ve got the dosh, you’ll be happy with the performance on offer but we can’t help but think that Nvidia’s pricing is still too high at every price point.
It’s now a year since the release of the RTX series. A mid-life refresh is welcome, but after a year we start to look forward once more. 7nm RTX? A big Navi GPU? It’s optimistic to think we’ll see anything new in the remainder of 2019, but something is always cooking, of that you can be sure.
As you’ll see in our reviews, the 2080 Super is exactly that, the 2080, but a bit better.