Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition examined

[HEXUS]

We take a closer look at the new card.

Read more.

[MajorZod]

That 12 pin placement is really going to screw with cable management and my OCD!

[[GSV]Trig]

Be interesting to see what the 3080 does on 250w, given its meant to be smaller and more efficient than 2080, add to this something I read about the Ampere CUDA cores not being as good as Turings, are we actually looking at something that is as impressive as we've been lead to believe, or are NVidia having the give it more power to get decent clocks because the 8nm process isn't as good?

Something somewhere, doesn't quite add up...

[kalniel]

or are NVidia having the give it more power to get decent clocks because the 8nm process isn't as good?

A bit of that, plus having to use bigger chips to counter AMD.

[Iota]

Be interesting to see what the 3080 does on 250w, given its meant to be smaller and more efficient than 2080, add to this something I read about the Ampere CUDA cores not being as good as Turings, are we actually looking at something that is as impressive as we've been lead to believe, or are NVidia having the give it more power to get decent clocks because the 8nm process isn't as good?

Something somewhere, doesn't quite add up...

If you purely went by watts per core between the RTX 2080 FE and the RTX 3080 FE, completely ignoring any other changes (including process change, architecture change etc, differences in base clocks and boost clocks between generation), it does look like the cores are more energy efficient. This is a completely unscientific comparison though.


RTX 2080 FE - 250W / 2944 = 0.084
RTX 3080 FE - 320W / 8704 = 0.036

[[GSV]Trig]

If you purely went by watts per core between the RTX 2080 FE and the RTX 3080 FE, completely ignoring any other changes (including process change, architecture change etc, differences in base clocks and boost clocks between generation), it does look like the cores are more energy efficient. This is a completely unscientific comparison though.


RTX 2080 FE - 250W / 2944 = 0.084
RTX 3080 FE - 320W / 8704 = 0.036

I'm sure I read somewhere that the cores are actually less powerful in Ampere though, but there's more of them so that unscientific comparison covers nothing but actual power requirements.
Wonder how the 3080 would cope if you did set its limit to 250 though, that would show us where and why that limits been lifted to 320, perhaps NVidia have struggled to get Ampere where it is, yes its good, but will it be better when we get to the Super/Ti models and the process is a bit more mature or coming from someone else....

[kalniel]

The cores can do double the FP32 operations, so NVidia are counting them twice, it should perhaps really be:


RTX 2080 FE - 250W / 2944 = 0.084
RTX 3080 FE - 320W / 4352 = 0.074

Not great for a supposed node shrink and new gen.

[LSG501]

That 12 pin placement is really going to screw with cable management and my OCD!

Kind of feel they need a 'clip' on the top side (side with the 12 pin socket) and non output end so we can route the cables tight to the gpu...

[warejon9]

That pin socket is actually right at the end of the PCB:

[ilhares]

That 12 pin placement is really going to screw with cable management and my OCD!

There's only so much they can do - those connectors are at the top end of the PCB. Everything past it is heatsink & fan. Water cooling folks are going to be pleased with their much smaller and tidier options.

[[GSV]Trig]

The cores can do double the FP32 operations, so NVidia are counting them twice, it should perhaps really be:


RTX 2080 FE - 250W / 2944 = 0.084
RTX 3080 FE - 320W / 4352 = 0.074

Not great for a supposed node shrink and new gen.

CUDA's version of hyperthreading eh, still, until we get the 6000 series from AMD, and both are benched against each other we're all kinda just speculating..

[Gentle Viking]

That 12 pin placement is really going to screw with cable management and my OCD!

Ditto.

[blokeinkent]

JayzTwoCents is holding 1 upside down like a Trump bible...... sssssh me watching. don't think he'd have the balls to break the embargo

[blokeinkent]

ho hum. the design of the 3080 FE has really grown on me quite a lot but after watching that i dont think i'd touch it with a barge pole. they've really shot themselves in the foot with that 12 pin. the adapter is hideous and even an aftermarket 12 pin wired cable that forks at the psu end still looks like crap and doesn't route well.

it not even the reference board but on the off chance a water block is made for it it doesn't look like thats coming apart without some risky damage.

i think i'll wait for the right partner card comes along with a nice EK block and find a way to mount it vertically with a Dremil job on the slots

[QuorTek]

so it is the 20XX Series variant 2?

[Iota]

they've really shot themselves in the foot with that 12 pin.

Most of the partner cards have gone with 3 x 8 pin, which being honest I'd rather see on the FE card instead of the 12 pin one, with a cheapo adaptor included. I get the reasoning they chose to go with it, but it really looks like it'll be a weak point mounted in the direction it has been. I can see them breaking off the pcb.