Review Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC Review: Traditional Cooler, Same Performance

[Admin]

The Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC is a large card with plenty of cooling, putting up similar performance numbers to the 3080 FE at a higher price — but with a bit of RGB bling and even better cooling.

Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC Review: Traditional Cooler, Same Performance : Read more

 

[jimmysmitty]

You can already get the specs for the RTX 3080 ROG Strix from the site and yes the O10G version (the factory OCed board) will be higher than the TUF O10G. Much higher:

https://www.asus.com/Product-Compare/?products=zrhjrntq3glfuxyd,qd2z2fai4rv29irz&b=0

120MHz higher on the OC mode compared to the TUF OC. Not much on the default though.

I do wonder though if the larger heatsink will allow for better temperatures but I will very much assume at that OC level it will really draw power.

Still the TUF is impressive. Better cooling is always a plus and it just squeaked under 60c. The FE is already a pretty cool running card for the performance so anything better is always welcome.

 

[King_V]

About the same level of noise, or lack thereof, and a pretty impressive temperature drop?

Look, I'm not in the market for a 3080 level card or anything, but that's damn impressive. I hope the other board partners are able to offer impressive cooling on this level, or at least something approaching it.

 

[Bastard2k]

aaaaaaaand its gone!

 

[Avro Arrow]

So... nVidia paid about $155 per card for the fancy-schmancy cooler on the FE models and ASUS just turned around and proved that it wasn't necessary.

Jensen be like....

 

[Chrys]

Any chance you could compare the cards in a case? The new FE cooler was designed with the case in mind, not open air. I'd be really interested in temperatures after an hour of playing.

 

[alithegreat]

So... nVidia paid about $155 per card for the fancy-schmancy cooler on the FE models and ASUS just turned around and proved that it wasn't necessary.

Jensen be like....

That's what i thought when i read the article. Thinking about how nvidia made videos about "finding new ways to cool" it is very strange. Was it just marketing or did they really failed amazingly to come up with something new but worse?

If i were a reporter, and if all partner cards with traditional design come up cooler and quiter, i would really ask about this video to some nvidia engineer. And ask them to explain art and science of their cooler 😀
Please do that.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEzI02SKALY

 

[nofanneeded]

So... nVidia paid about $155 per card for the fancy-schmancy cooler on the FE models and ASUS just turned around and proved that it wasn't necessary.

Jensen be like....

Well not exactly , the FE card is shorter and more compact.

 

[nofanneeded]

Well at least the power plug is normal and wont look ugly in the case like the FE card. Fe Powerplug location ruins the good looking of the card.

 

[Gurg]

$50 more, same performance and you don't even get RBG fans? The FE is looking better all the time!

 

[Homer J.]

Both Cards utilize similar mechanics the 2nd/ 3rd furthest away fan blow through since Asus has also a cut out window on the back plate. So the Asus design is not too far away from the FE design. All test so far indicate a superior heat concept which translates to a lot cooler running card.

 

[Homer J.]

$50 more, same performance and you don't even get RBG fans? The FE is looking better all the time!

You get a quieter and cooler card, not sure for what you need RGB bling. I take cool and quiet over RGB bling any day.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

You can already get the specs for the RTX 3080 ROG Strix from the site and yes the O10G version (the factory OCed board) will be higher than the TUF O10G. Much higher:

https://www.asus.com/Product-Compare/?products=zrhjrntq3glfuxyd,qd2z2fai4rv29irz&b=0

120MHz higher on the OC mode compared to the TUF OC. Not much on the default though.

I do wonder though if the larger heatsink will allow for better temperatures but I will very much assume at that OC level it will really draw power.

Still the TUF is impressive. Better cooling is always a plus and it just squeaked under 60c. The FE is already a pretty cool running card for the performance so anything better is always welcome.

I guess I went to the wrong area of the Asus site or something. LOL. But ... I'm super skeptical of the ROG Strix actually maintaining a 115MHz higher boost clock. I mean, the TUF I looked at was running at basically identical clocks to the 3080 FE (+10-15MHz is all), despite a 75MHz spec advantage. I've got an MSI card that's supposed to have an 1815MHz boost. I'll have to check what the average clocks are on that, but while I saw initial clocks break 2000MHz, I don't think it maintained that. And the Strix is supposedly 100MHz higher still? I mean, maybe it really is overclocking that well. Certainly I'll be looking to check it out.

 

[Vefucis]

Imo its not really worth to upgrade if u rocking 2070 or 2080 :/

 

[nofanneeded]

Imo its not really worth to upgrade if u rocking 2070 or 2080 :/

The new cards are aimed at 1440P and 4K gaming , if you are gaming on FHD there is no need at all to upgrade.

 

[PrinceThrakhath]

Thank you for a thorough and informative review.
I have been following Tom's hardware for some time and I have one complaint to this review and to reviews in Tom's hardware in general...
If you can benchmark fan speed, temperature and wattage, why can't you also benchmark noise levels?
To me noise is the number 2 most important factor when purchasing hardware, only after performance.
Do you and your
readers not care about noise levels?

 

[Homer J.]

Imo its not really worth to upgrade if u rocking 2070 or 2080 :/

ok, so to finish this discussion thread, I'm going to ask you one question, the RTX 2080 FE is 2 slot, this card is out in the market for quite a while now, how much does the RTX 2080 FE measures in Height in terms of mm, because if you told me it's Height, then that means that we know how much the RTX 3080 FE measures in height as well.

The 2080 fe is 35mm in depth.

If you want to play 1440p and you own a 2080 you are not interested.

If you want to play 4k ultra settings you will be interested .

If you want VR on high to ultra setting, you will be interested.

 

[nofanneeded]

Thank you for a thorough and informative review.
I have been following Tom's hardware for some time and I have one complaint to this review and to reviews in Tom's hardware in general...
If you can benchmark fan speed, temperature and wattage, why can't you also benchmark noise levels?
To me noise is the number 2 most important factor when purchasing hardware, only after performance.
Do you and your
readers not care about noise levels?

Techpowerup are the best when it comes to GPU testing.

check this review of the same card

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC Review

The ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC comes with a small factory overclock and a huge cooler that achieves amazing temperatures that are much better than the NVIDIA Founders Edition. The TUF also features a dual BIOS with a "quiet" mode that makes this 4K monster card almost silent.

www.techpowerup.com

 

[PrinceThrakhath]

Techpowerup are the best when it comes to GPU testing.

check this review of the same card

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC Review

The ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC comes with a small factory overclock and a huge cooler that achieves amazing temperatures that are much better than the NVIDIA Founders Edition. The TUF also features a dual BIOS with a "quiet" mode that makes this 4K monster card almost silent.

www.techpowerup.com

Thanks for the link.
I have seen that review and I am interested to know if someone else, in this case Tom's, can confirm that TUF OC is both cooler and more silent than MSI gaming X? If that is the case I will probably go for TUF OC instead of Gaming X since the performance difference and all other parameters seem to be of negligible difference. Unless AMD steals the show in October. I am not in a rush.

 

[Gurg]

You get a quieter and cooler card, not sure for what you need RGB bling. I take cool and quiet over RGB bling any day.

Its only one decibel quieter which is pretty much imperceivable. The FE cooler and fans still keeps the GPU within very acceptable temperature ranges without throttling under high work loads and the lower temps in the ASUS OC don't translate into higher OC headroom. Both GPU cards still use about the same amount of electricity and therefore generate the same amount of heat, but the ASUS model cooler with three fans are slightly more efficient at removing the heat from the radiator and out of the GPU shroud.

If that is worth $50 to you then go for it. For $50 higher price I expect more in return like some red RBG lights on the fans to match the rest of my PC. After I bought my Corsair H115i Pro AIO I then spent an extra $44 to replace the stock fans with more efficient Red LED Fans. Aesthetics matter for some people. .

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

That's what i thought when i read the article. Thinking about how nvidia made videos about "finding new ways to cool" it is very strange. Was it just marketing or did they really failed amazingly to come up with something new but worse?

If i were a reporter, and if all partner cards with traditional design come up cooler and quiter, i would really ask about this video to some nvidia engineer. And ask them to explain art and science of their cooler 😀
Please do that.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEzI02SKALY

Keep in mind that the Asus cooler is 35% thicker (2.7-slot instead of 2-slot) and weighs about 100g more, plus it has an extra fan. The Founders Edition on 3080 definitely beat the Founders Edition 2080 for cooling performance. Could Nvidia have made a cooler more like the AIB cards? Sure. But I don't think it wants to blatantly crib from their designs. The FE cooler is very good, especially considering its size and dual fans. Adding a third fan and a bigger heastink, though, is a relatively easy way to further improve cooling capabilities.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

Thank you for a thorough and informative review.
I have been following Tom's hardware for some time and I have one complaint to this review and to reviews in Tom's hardware in general...
If you can benchmark fan speed, temperature and wattage, why can't you also benchmark noise levels?
To me noise is the number 2 most important factor when purchasing hardware, only after performance.
Do you and your
readers not care about noise levels?

I posted noise results, just not in a chart. Keep in mind that the case and AIO CPU cooler fans contribute as well.

From 15cm away, the noise floor for my test PC is 46 dB -- not extremely quiet. Sorry. All the 3080 cards have stopped fans at idle, so they're not contributing to that at all. Under load, the Asus noise level was 49 dB, while the Founders Edition was 50 dB. I don't have data from all the previous gen cards because of time constraints, but I'll work to gather that in the coming days.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

Thanks for the link.
I have seen that review and I am interested to know if someone else, in this case Tom's, can confirm that TUF OC is both cooler and more silent than MSI gaming X? If that is the case I will probably go for TUF OC instead of Gaming X since the performance difference and all other parameters seem to be of negligible difference. Unless AMD steals the show in October. I am not in a rush.

MSI 3080 Gaming X Trio is next up on my list for AIB card reviews. As it defaults to an 1815MHz boost (without having to load a utility and select OC mode), that's how I tested it. Performance is I think 1-2% better than the Asus and FE, but nothing major. It's a larger and heavier card as well, 1564g vs. 1398g on the Asus and 1355 for the FE. It also has a support bracket that's probably useful if you're installing such a heavy card (which isn't included in that weight). Noise levels under load are basically identical to the Asus (49 dB from 15cm). I'd have to verify the average temperatures, but I think it was also in that 60-ish C range. Full review should be up Monday or Tuesday.

 

[vinay2070]

So... nVidia paid about $155 per card for the fancy-schmancy cooler on the FE models and ASUS just turned around and proved that it wasn't necessary.

Jensen be like....

The cooler on the 3090 FE is really beefy. Its probably the 3090 cooler thats 150? Or did the 3080 FE cooler cost 150 as well?

 

[sizzling]

If you want to play 1440p and you own a 2080 you are not interested.

If you want to play 4k ultra settings you will be interested .

If you want VR on high to ultra setting, you will be interested.

I had a 2080S and game at 1440p. I was underwhelmed by the 2080S in gpu heavy games. COD MW for example took medium settings with RT off to average 120+ FPS. I’m very much looking forward to the 50%+ in performance and hopefully with some level of RT from my 3080 that should arrive tomorrow.