NVIDIA’s Turing cards are packed with advanced ray tracing technology. It’ll be awhile before you can take advantage of that though, but in the meantime, these cards are still very, very fast. For every hardcore gamer out there, here are the best GeForce RTX 2080s money can buy.
NVIDIA’s Turing cards are packed with advanced ray tracing technology. It’ll be awhile before you can take advantage of that though, but in the meantime, these cards are still very, very fast. For every hardcore gamer out there, here are the best GeForce RTX 2080s money can buy.
ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 GAMING OC
The ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming OC is one heck of a card. Short of going down the liquid cooling route, ASUS has crammed nearly every conceivable feature they can on it.
This is a fat triple-fan card with factory overclocks, every bell and whistle, plus upgraded power delivery and lighting, which is probably what you’re looking at if the Founders Edition doesn’t quite do it for you. In OC Mode, it boasts a base clock of 1,545MHz and boost clock of a 1,890MHz, the highest clocked card in this shootout.
This card is a lot thicker than its Pascal counterpart from the previous generation, thanks to its bulkier and more powerful cooler. You’ll need a 3-slot allowance for it, but there’s a hefty metal brace at the side to further reinforce the PCB and prevent bending. The thick heatsink array connects to a base plate that has been machined using what ASUS calls MaxContact Technology. That means that the contact area is really smooth, which increases the surface area in contact with the GPU and improves heat dissipation.
I also find the design more subdued than on some of the cards from other brands. The RGB LEDs are limited to slits along the cooling shroud and the ROG logo on the backplate and side. To my eyes, this strikes the right balance between the more laidback Founders Edition card and having a strobing disco ball in your rig.
ASUS has also installed new fans on the card. It now features so-called “axial-tech” fans which are IP5X dust resistant and sealed to protect the innards from particle ingress. These fans also have a smaller fan hub to allow for longer blades and a barrier ring that increases structural integrity and downward air pressure so air can be pulled over the thick heat sink more effectively.
As it turns out, ASUS must be doing something right, because it runs really cool and quiet so something so powerful. There’s a small BIOS switch on board that lets you toggle between Performance and Quiet modes; it ships in Performance mode by default, where the fans are always active, but engaging Quiet mode kicks the fans into a semi-passive mode so they’ll stop spinning if GPU temperatures fall below 55°C.
Finally, the power connectors have been beefed up to two 8-pin connectors instead of one 8-pin and one 6-pin, the better to supply the card with the power that it needs. Two helpful LED indicators will turn white once a successful connection has been established, which should help rule out loose connections when troubleshooting.
The card has two HDMI and two DisplayPort outputs, a slight change from the Founders Edition model.
A button on the card’s backplate lets you quickly turn all the LED lights on or off.
GALAX GEFORCE RTX 2080 OC
The GALAX GeForce RTX 2080 OC is one of the more compact custom cards available. It’s just slightly larger than the Founders Edition model, measuring 283 x 139 x 41mm. This is a dual-slot design that should fit fine in most cases, even the more compact ones, which is more than can be said for many of the cards in this shootout.
Still, its more petite dimensions obviously raise the question of cooling. The other cards are so large because of their huge, beefy coolers, so you’re probably wondering if GALAX’s more compact cooler can keep up with the rest. Unfortunately, as you’ll see in the results section later, it actually performs worse than even the Founders Edition card, which is slightly disappointing.
The company has gone with a vapor chamber heatsink that spans nearly the entire PCB. This supposedly helps quickly spread heat generated by the GPU to the rest of the heatsink, while a dense fin array increases the surface area available for heat dissipation. The dual 90mm fans draw cold air directly over the heatsink, and hot air is later exhausted out the sides.
The card feels pretty well put together, but I can’t say I’m a fan of the predominantly plastic build. Furthermore, the card is encased in an acrylic shell of sorts that only highlights the plastic construction. It doesn’t feel bad, but I’d much have preferred a matte finish on the cooling shroud.
GALAX refers to this as its “Xrystlic” double-layered surface, and the acrylic layer sits on top of the card’s “What’s Your Game” slogan at the side. The words boast customizable RGB backlighting as well, which I find to be a little on the nose. I really don’t see why anyone would want to have these words screaming at them from the card’s side or backplate, and it honestly seems unnecessary.
The fans have their own RGB illumination as well, and you can tweak the colors and effects to suit your own preferences.
The backplate helps add some extra rigidity to the card, and it’s also perforated by a multitude of triangles that give it a slightly bizarre look.
Round the back, you get the same selection of display outputs as the Founders Edition model, including three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one USB-C output.
One final point to note is the card’s power connectors. It has just one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCIe connector for power, so it isn’t pushing the overclocking angle as hard as the other cards with two 8-pin connectors.
This card requires just two slots for installation.
The fan design is considerably simpler than on some of its competitors.
GIGABYTE AORUS GEFORCE RTX 2080 XTREME 8G
The Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Xtreme 8G may be one of the most overengineered cards in this shootout. It sports a massive triple- fan cooler and more video outputs than you could possibly need, so it already makes for a pretty imposing sight at first glance.
You’ll need a 3-slot allowance for this card, and it measures a good 59.9mm thick. A lot of that width is dedicated to the beefy cooler, which houses three 100mm fans in a stacked configuration. This means that the middle fan is slightly recessed and partially overlaps with the other two, a design that helps Gigabyte cut the length of the card down as well. It measures just 290mm, compared to the MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio’s 327mm.
This could be the difference between leaving a front drive bay in place or having to remove it, and I do appreciate Gigabyte’s more compact design.
The stacked fans also help improve cooling performance. The middle fan spins in the opposite direction from the other two, which reduces air turbulence because air will now flow in the same direction between each fan. According to Gigabyte, this helps increase static pressure and improve the efficiency of heat dissipation. The fans are also double ball bearing spinners that should last longer than their sleeve bearing counterparts. In addition, they support semi-passive operation, and will spin down when the GPU isn’t working that hard. Gigabyte has set the temperature limit at 60°C, below which the fans will stop spinning. A small LED “Fan Stop” indicator will also light up to let you know when the fans are idle.
Gigabyte has tweaked the design of its heatsink fin as well. The heatsink features angled fins of unequal height, which supposedly help channel air through the fans and increases the surface area available for heat dissipation.
A total of seven copper composite heatpipes come into direct contact with the GPU, and they also help draw heat away from the VRAM modules via a large metal plate.
The RGB lighting effects on the card are also pretty cool. They’re different from what most other cards go with, and instead of the fan blades appearing as a blob of color, the fans themselves are ringed with what is best described as dashes of light. You can customize the lights to suit your preferences using Gigabyte’s RGB Fusion software.
Finally, the card has two 8-pin PCIe power connectors to ensure sufficient power for overclocking.
The card has a whopping total of seven display outputs.
The middle fan sits slightly behind the other two.
MSI GEFORCE RTX 2080 GAMING X TRIO
MSI’s GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio is a card that wants to be noticed. Out of the box, the Gaming X Trio is already awash in the colors of the rainbow, so it’ll go really well with any multi-hued rig. Of course, you can also customize the colors and lighting effects in MSI’s Mystic Light software and sync it with other compatible RGB components.
But what’s interesting about it is its cooler design.Like the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X Trio, MSI has gone with a similar asymmetrical fan layout, where the fan closest to the display outputs is smaller than the other two. The three Torx 3.0 double ball bearing fans come with special protrusions on their edges that help focus airflow and direct it downward for higher static pressure.
The fans also operate independently, where the two larger fans work as a single unit. If GPU temperatures fall below 56°C, the fans won’t spin up at all. If they exceed that threshold, the two larger fans will start spinning. Finally, the third, smaller fan will only swing into action if temperatures exceed 60°C.
In addition, the thick aluminum fin stack features wavy, curved fins that MSI says allow air to pass through smoother, which helps reduce noise levels. This design helps guide air onto the heatpipes, while also increasing the surface area available for heat dissipation.
The seven copper heatpipes make contact with a nickel-plated copper base plate that channels heat away from the GPU and transfers it to the heatpipes and the aluminum heatsink. In addition, MSI says it used a premium thermal compound to further optimize heat transfer.
Structural integrity is truly important when it comes to a card of this size and weight. The GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming X Trio measures a good 327mm long and requires a 3-slot allowance. In addition to making sure you’ve got space in your case, you’ll want a certain reassurance that the GPU won’t sag over time. To help with that, MSI has included a GPU brace in the box that attaches to an empty expansion card slot and supports the card along its entire length.
One final point to mention is MSI’s thoughtful approach to the NVLink connector. You can actually remove a portion of the cooling shroud (it’s held in place by screws) in order to make room for the NVLink bridge. I like this design, as it gives the cooler a more seamless look for the vast majority of gamers who don’t have a second card, while still supporting those who do want to go down the SLI route.
The cooling fans utilize an asymmetrical design.
The backplate sports a nice brushed metal finish.
PALIT GEFORCE RTX 2080 SUPER JETSTREAM
The Palit GeForce RTX 2080 Super JetStream stands out because of how thick it is at 59.6mm. It is also taller than the other cards, thanks to the hefty cooler Palit has slapped on it. This is a 2.7-slot card, so you’ll need a 3-slot allowance for it. It measures just 292mm though, so it also happens to be one of the shorter cards in this shootout.
To my eyes, the silver-and-black cooling shroud looks a lot better than the bright blue that Palit splashed onto its GameRock cards from the last generation, and it should fit in much better with a wider range of builds.
The Super JetStream card also doesn’t feature that many fancy LEDs. They’re mostly limited to the face of the cooling shroud, and the backplate and sides of the card don’t feature any LEDs at all.
Nevertheless, while there’s nothing terribly wrong with the build quality per se, it does feel like a step down from the all-metal Founders Edition card.
The card ships with a 1,515MHz base clock and 1,860MHz boost clock out of the box, which is pretty standard and in line with most of the competition. However, an onboard BIOS switch actually lets you switch between OC and Standard speeds. This should also prove useful when you need to recover from failed overclocks or some corruption of the card’s BIOS.
Palit says it also tweaked the JetStream design, adding a large copper base that makes contact directly with the GPU. The card features a total of five copper heatpipes, which help transfer heat from the copper base plate to the main heatsink. The metal backplate on the rear helps support the card, but it is also equipped with thermal pads that help convey heat away from the VRM and memory components on the flip side of the card.
The fans on the Super JetStream runs really quiet as well. Palit says its fans are powered by a 6-pole motor, and even though the dual-fan design may appear a little underwhelming compared to the triple-fan offerings from its rivals, the good news is that thermal performance so far seems to be more or less up to snuff.
On the rear, the display outputs remain unchanged from the Founders Edition model, and you’ll find three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one USB-C connector. Palit’s signature honeycomb bracket makes a reappearance here as well, and its perforated design supposedly helps improve airflow and allows heat to exit the card more effectively from the rear.
And like the other custom cards, Palit has also opted for two 8-pin PCIe connectors to supply more power to the GPU.
The GPU die is exposed through the backplate.
The honeycomb bracket helps improve air flow.
ZOTAC GAMING GEFORCE RTX 2080 AMP
Zotac’s flagship GeForce RTX 2080 card looks like it’s trying to fly under the radar. It lacks any distinctive design flourishes, and its plain black plastic shroud probably is best described as inoffensive.
The card doesn’t exactly light up either when you plug it in. The only LEDs are found in the Zotac Gaming logo on the card’s side. You can customize this using the Spectra utility, but it sure isn’t a lot to play with. To be fair, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you hate RGB LEDs, but it does make the card look a little lacking compared to the competition.
Furthermore, the card isn’t clocked as high as its rivals, featuring a modest 1,515MHz base clock and 1,830MHz boost clock.
Like many other custom Turing cards out there, the AMP is super tall and large. It measures 308mm longand 57mm thick, so you’ll need a 3-slot allowance for it, just like every card in this shootout. Zotac says it made the aluminum fin stack array larger and thicker, pairing it with five 8mm copper heatpipes to draw heat away from the GPU.
In addition, a diecast metal jacket has been added to reinforce the PCB. This metal sheet spans the entire board and prevents it from flexing, but it also doubles as a method of passive cooling and an extra avenue for heat dissipation. Thermal pads interface with the VRM and memory modules, which should increase the cooling effectiveness somewhat.
Zotac is also using something it calls Active Fan Control, which allows the fans to work independently of each other. Two individual fan controllers let users adjust the rotations of individual fans, so you can increase airflow to certain portions of the PCB if needed. In theory, this means less noise because the other fans don’t have to work harder than they need to. Everything is also done automatically, so there’s less hassle on your end.
The fans blades feature small ridges as well, and these supposedly help generate multiple currents and direct airflow toward the heatsink.
One odd design feature is the fact that the cooler extends beyond the PCB and metal backplate. I don’t really like the look of this as it makes the card look like disparate parts have been hastily cobbled together. If you want a larger cooler, I feel like you should design a custom PCB that’s longer and matches it for length.
The card has just one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector.
The GPU die can be seen through the metal backplate.
PERFORMANCE RESULTS
3DMARK
The synthetic 3DMark benchmark tests graphics and computational performance at different resolutions, starting at 1080p and going all the way up to 4K. Unsurprisingly, the cards were pretty much neck-and-neck with each other throughout. The one laggard would be the GALAX card, probably owing to its lower boost clock speeds. That said, it’s not as if it is behind by a super large margin, and it mostly trailed by just a couple of percentage points.
TEMPERATURE
I ran 40 loops of 3DMark’s Fire Strike Extreme stress test and took the peak temperature readings during the run. Most of the custom cards tested here ran much cooler than the Founders Edition, which posted a peak temperature of 72°C. However, both the GALAX and Gigabyte cards ran slightly hotter, a disappointing outcome. The Gigabyte card’s lackluster cooling performance was especially surprising, given the size of its cooler.
OVERCLOCKING
I used the NVIDIA Scanner tool built into EVGA’s Precision X1 software to overclock the cards. In a nutshell, it leverages NVIDIA’s knowledge of how its GPUs perform to help you achieve the highest possible overclock, with the goal of eliminating the tedious, trial- and-error nature of conventional overclocking. Overall, even though the Gigabyte achieved the highest boost clock speeds, it didn’t translate to the best score, which was recorded on the Palit.
AND THE BEST GEFORCE RTX 2080 IS…
ASUS ROG STRIX GEFORCE RTX 2080 OC
The ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 2080 OC edged ahead of the competition with a winning combination of performance and features. At $1,619, it may be the most expensive card here, but it justifies that with a ton of useful features, such as dual onboard BIOS, a button to toggle the LEDs on and off, and extra fan headers. It boasts an attractively understated design, one of the most aggressive factory overclocks, and can still further overclock well. It has the best build quality and easy-to-use software interface. On every level, this is the card the stands out.
Photography by Angela Guo
Art Direction & Digital imaging by Ashruddin Sani
PICTURE (GLASSDISLAY) 123RF
