Review Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Review: More Efficient, Still Expensive

[Giroro]

High end RTX cards have become status symbols amongst gamers.

But have they though? I mean, I know Nvidia is dumping an obscene amount of money to have their celebrity influencer network to use the generic "snob appeal" sales tactic, but real status symbols are usually something you can show off to impress people, like a middle-aged guy driving a brand new $80k dualie truck to his white-collar accounting job. One doesn't buy a fancy purse because it's really good at holding stuff. One buys it so they can flex, brag, and act like their ability to buy cheaply built consumer products makes them better than everybody else.
One of the problems Nvidia is facing with this by-the-book "snob appeal" tactic though, is that is it incongruous with the "plain folks" appeal that celebrity gamers use to bilk poor people out of donation funds. The mega-influencers are either "way better/richer/smarter than you", or "just some normal person doing what they love (and probably isn't a multimillionaire, so don't even bother looking it up)". They can't sell themselves as both at the same time.

To my point though, when is a gamer going to be able to show off their GPU?
I mean, I guess you could just tell everybody in every game you play what your setup is, but it would be a lot cheaper and just as effective to lie, you know?
Is there some trend with amateur streamers where they point their camera at their GPU instead of at their face?

 

[spongiemaster]

I am one who likes to have the best to push games to the limit. And I'm usually pretty good about staying on top of current hardware. I can definitely afford it. I "clamored" to get a 3080 at launch and was lucky enough to get one at market value beating out the dreadful scalpers. But makes no sense this time to upgrade over lest gen just for gaming. So I am sitting this one out. I would be curious to know how many others out there like me who doesn't see the real benefit to this new generation hardware for gaming. Honestly, 60fps at 4K on almost all my games is great for me. Not really interested in going above that.

Not buying something that doesn't provide any improvement over your existing option is just being smart. Complaining about prices for things people don't need in the first place has become a full time job for some on the internet. Most people don't have a GPU at the 3080 level or better, so for them, upgrading to a 4000 series could well make sense. If you buy a new gpu every 4 or 5 years, a 4080 could be what someone is looking for. It's expensive, but that cost gets spread out over a number of years.

Buying every generation just because has never really been the smart way to go, though there was almost always tangible gains that could be made. This is the first generation of GPU's where the high end isn't going to be any faster than the previous generation for the overwhelming majority of users. Top end Ampere can already max out most people's displays all the way up to 4k 60hz displays. If you own an 3090 or 3090Ti, you really need to be using a 4k 144Hz or 8k screen to get any tangible improvement with a 4090, and that's an infinitesimally small crowd.

 

[DougMcC]

I don't believe that anyone is actually buying these. Celebrity influencers do not actually buy the products that they are paid to sell.

On the one hand we have people complaining that they sell out in minutes, and on the other 'no one is buying'. There has to be a reality:

• The cards are selling out in minutes at these prices and therefore Nvidia priced them too cheaply.
• The cards are selling at a decent pace, priced about right.
• The cards are not selling and are overpriced.

Evidence would seem to suggest the first, but hard to be sure without sales and production data.

 

[AgentBirdnest]

Just wanna chime in and express my appreciation for Jarred's work here.
I thought it was a really good, detailed review. Nice work with all the benchmarks and insights. I can't imagine how much time this took!

 

[InvalidError]

I want 200W 4060 Ti with 16GB VRAM that cost $499

I want a 150W RTX4050 with 8GB of VRAM for $200. May end up getting an RX6600 instead, probably going to hit about the same hypothetical performance targets apart from RT.

 

[Amdlova]

I want a 150W RTX4050 with 8GB of VRAM for $200. May end up getting an RX6600 instead, probably going to hit about the same hypothetical performance targets apart from RT.

I want 75w gpu with 8 gb for Fullhd 75hz one slot four display 200 dollar max

 

[Phaaze88]

🍿
Nvidia has lost it[Title of GN review video]. No, they haven't...

What to do..? Imma have to do an almost complete overhaul anyway.
Wait some more, I guess...

Spoiler

You can't have 2 halo products when there's no demand and the previous gen still exist.

I get the feeling some don't know what halo and flagship are. I mixed them up too at first.
Flagship is the most hyped or prominent, leading product on offer by a company. For the 40 series, that's the 4090.
Halo is a step above that, always coming at a later time.
4080 is neither of these.

No demand? There clearly is demand. 4090 is selling, these will do the same.

Cloud gaming suddenly looks more attractive when I realize I won't need to pay to run a GPU at 300 watt.

Yeah - no... everyday household appliances dunk on that, and the cost of cloud subscription - any subscription(screw you, EA Play) really - over time will pass up the small bump in yearly gpu operating costs easily....
Plus, many regions are still getting shafted by their ISPs.

High end RTX cards have become status symbols amongst gamers.

The demographic is shifting, and not necessarily in a good way. If some think Nvidia isn't making more profit off these higher priced cards even if fewer are buying... it's clearly having a 'positive effect' on profits, otherwise they'd have changed it back, yes?
So if it's good for profits, where does the bad come in? Reduced support/aid from the tech community. But who cares about that?
Troubleshooting is something that comes with this territory; any problems that the user can't resolve, will see a harder time getting help from others. The interest in the hardware may still be there, but the hands on experience will be less.
Hell, one can already see some of this going on now...

When people complain they can't afford a luxury item it seems to me like a sense of entitlement that they think should be able to get one. Especially when there are plenty of lower cost value cards out there. Luxury items are priced as such, not intended to sell at cost.

They were more affordable to more folks 5+ years ago. ~700USD xx80Tis were expensive(depending on POV), but more folks could snatch one up without giving up a kidney or whatever.
Now, with higher costs on darn near everything, and stagnated wages? The 2080Ti, 3080Ti, and this? Including inflation, this is banana nut crunch, and I like banana nut crunch(cereal)...

when is a gamer going to be able to show off their GPU?
Is there some trend with amateur streamers where they point their camera at their GPU instead of at their face?

Reddit, youtube, and other social media. Even this site, TPU, LTT forums, etc...

 

[Zerk2012]

The RTX 408 isn't even built on the same die than the RTC 4090. Close to half the size/cores. and only a 256 bit wide memory bus, Yikes!
Are we sure the RTX 4080 16GB isn't just a rebranded RTX 4070? That makes me think the "RTX 4080 12GB" was probably designed to be a ~$400 RTX 4060 or 4060 Ti, at least until Jensen stepped in with his uncontrollable lust for unlimited profit and karaoke girls. The lack of shame in their greed makes my skin crawl.

I guess Nvidia is giving themselves headroom for multiple price increases when they launch their RTX 4080 Ti Super Duper Pro Plus (we really mean it this time Edition).

You left off Extreme Gaming

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I understand the issue with the price brackets of this years cards, but to say something like DLSS 3 is needed for performance is ridiculous. This card has stellar performance. Being pissed about the price shouldn't make the editor bias across the board like this.

If the 4080 needed the help of DLSS 3.0 to achieve adequate performance, that means every other card in the world is awful other than the 4090.

Toms has really gone downhill with their reviews.

In terms of price. How can these be priced any less with a massive amount of 30 series cards left on the market at dirt cheap prices? Those cards can't be pushed lower without destroying the market and putting resellers in a position to sell a card at a serious loss.

If you're a cost conscious buyer, why are you even buying a 40 series card to begin with? The 30 series cards are the value buy here. That's what the pricing is trying to tell you. The performance in modern games is stellar. Name one game that has been released that the 30 series can't dominate. You're talking multitudes faster than any modern console.

My suspicion is that the COVID supply chain issue caused the 30 series supply problem and this years launch has no place in the market other than the high end. Look at the pricing brackets for the 30 series. Everyone raved about them. That's what Nvidia would have liked to happen.

I you're looking for value, I would buy a 30 series. If you have a 30 series, skip this cycle and wait for the market to correct.

If you're like most gamers and just want the latest graphics cards, you're going to be paying a premium or rolling AMD (which is still a premium over normal pricing but more to stomach).

Lastly, Inflation is easily going to push these up 20%. So expect that the more inflation rises, especially with government money printing in the US.

Take a chill pill. As I've said elsewhere, cons are not "THIS IS THE WORST EVER" but merely negative points.

Nvidia claimed over double the performance of the RTX 3090 Ti with the RTX 4080 when the cards were announced (2X to 4X the performance with the RTX 4090). That's highly misleading, and if you think you're going to see those sorts of gains without DLSS 3, you need to reconsider. Performance is faster than a 3090 Ti, but price is very high. And it's not consumers' fault that there's a bunch of RTX 30-series cards in the channel. That's from corporate greed and all the companies chasing miners for two years suddenly losing that market.

People don't want to buy two year old hardware for a higher price to get decent performance. They want the equivalent performance of two years old hardware at much lower prices. That's the problem, and yes, it's getting harder to offer generational price and performance improvements at the same time. But AMD's pricing proves just how much extra Nvidia is charging. Full stop.

 

[Sluggotg]

I know a lot of you think expensive Gaming Video Cards are a new thing but back in the day I spent over $600 for a 2D/3D video card, (but it didn't really do 3D). I later added the new VooDoo 3D video card for $300. (Diamond Card). A few years later I replaced it with a VooDoo 2, (I believe it was $500) then a few months later added a second for a Killer SLI setup. (Note, that is 3 cards in one machine, the VooDoo1/2 were 3D only, you needed a 2D card too). That was horrifying amounts of money in the 90s.

As to power draw. Yes it is vast but my last SLI setup was a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Black Ops Edition cards drawing up to 250 watts each. Later I replaced them with the original Titan Video card for $1,000. (One card, not SLI). That Sandy Bridge with the Titan is still in service.

I don't hate people that buy luxury hobby items. Nor do I hate Companies that offer expensive hobby items. Vote with your wallets. You can game very nicely on an inexpensive system with a small monitor, (of what ever Brand keeps you happy). Some people spend $70K on a car, I drive old used cars/pickups.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

In the 4k dx11 charts for flight simulator, 99th...
4090 65.4fps
4090 58.5fps

Yet in the DLS charts
4090 native 71.5fps
4080 native 51.9fps

Is the DLSS results run in Dx12?

Yes, MSFS requires DX12 for DLSS3 and Frame Generation. Also, the test sequence was not the same. That's because the early access we had for the 4090 launch didn't include the map I normally use for MSFS benchmarks.

 

[Zerk2012]

So about 3/5ths of the card 1/2 is some areas for 4/5ths of the price.

Glad my free 2080 is still fine for me 2K gaming.
I say free but my brother charged me 100 bucks for it then I charged him 100 bucks to install his custom liquid loop took about 3 hours after filling and getting the air out of the system.

Card before that was a free 1070 from him.

Last card I paid for myself was a 980 back in the 4790K days LOL.

Asked him if he was getting the 4090 to bad he says he is skipping a generation since he has a 6900XT.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I know a lot of you think expensive Gaming Video Cards are a new thing but back in the day I spent over $600 for a 2D/3D video card, (but it didn't really do 3D). I later added the new VooDoo 3D video card for $300. (Diamond Card). A few years later I replaced it with a VooDoo 2, (I believe it was $500) then a few months later added a second for a Killer SLI setup. That was horrifying amounts of money in the 90s.

As to power draw. Yes it is vast but my last SLI setup was a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Black Ops Edition cards drawing up to 250 watts each. Later I replaced them with the original Titan Video card for $1,000. (One card, not SLI). That Sandy Bridge with the Titan is still in service.

I don't hate people that buy luxury hobby items. Nor do I hate Companies that offer expensive hobby items. Vote with your wallets. You can game very nicely on an inexpensive system with a small monitor, (of what ever Brand keeps you happy). Some people spend $70K on a car, I drive old used cars/pickups.

I spent $650 for a Roland CM-32L sound module (MT-32 compatible) back in 1992. $550 for the CM-32L, and another $100 for the adapter card that let it work with my PC. Sierra Online and Origin Games back in the day had some amazing MIDI sound tracks. LOL

I also spent about $150 or $200 for a Cirrus Logic Super VGA card... that sucked rocks. Later, when the 3dfx Voodoo came out, I bought the first version and paired up with my steaming pile of S3 Virge "3D decelerator" and have been hooked on GPUs ever since.

But this isn't a $600 card, it's a $1200 card. That's the problem people have. By all rights, it probably should have been a $899 or maybe $999 card. Like if the past two years hadn't happened, GPU prices would have remained such that Nvidia would have no grounds to think it could push out a $1200 RTX 4080. It's the RTX 2080 Ti all over again, and I just hope no cryptocoins come around that suddenly make people want to spend more than they should on graphics cards..

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

On the one hand we have people complaining that they sell out in minutes, and on the other 'no one is buying'. There has to be a reality:

• The cards are selling out in minutes at these prices and therefore Nvidia priced them too cheaply.
• The cards are selling at a decent pace, priced about right.
• The cards are not selling and are overpriced.

Evidence would seem to suggest the first, but hard to be sure without sales and production data.

It's called "Scalpers", they exist to ruin everything.

"Scalping" should be a capital offense and those who "Scalp" should be given life in jail w/o chance of parole.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Take a chill pill. As I've said elsewhere, cons are not "THIS IS THE WORST EVER" but merely negative points.

I haven't heard that phrase in quite a while =D

Nvidia claimed over double the performance of the RTX 3090 Ti with the RTX 4080 when the cards were announced (2X to 4X the performance with the RTX 4090). That's highly misleading, and if you think you're going to see those sorts of gains without DLSS 3, you need to reconsider. Performance is faster than a 3090 Ti, but price is very high. And it's not consumers' fault that there's a bunch of RTX 30-series cards in the channel. That's from corporate greed and all the companies chasing miners for two years suddenly losing that market.

nVIDIA's FSR 3.0 or DLFG (Deep Learning Frame Generation) is what they use to justify those claims of 2x/4x performance.
That isn't worth it given the issues with DLFG, at the end of the day.
Native Rendering FTW and these cards are more than enough for 1K, 2K, 3K, 4K gaming @ High Refresh Rates & VRR & wide screen gaming (Wider than 16:9 Aspect Ratio).

nVIDIA brought it upon it's AIB's by chasing the Crypto Mining boom and creating a 1 year long excess backlog for the RTX 30-series.
nVIDIA ain't refunding the $$$, so AIB's are stuck between a rock & a hard place.

People don't want to buy two year old hardware for a higher price to get decent performance. They want the equivalent performance of two years old hardware at much lower prices. That's the problem, and yes, it's getting harder to offer generational price and performance improvements at the same time. But AMD's pricing proves just how much extra Nvidia is charging. Full stop.

Jensen Huang has been all about raising the ASP (Average Sale Price) and wanting ever higher & higher margins.

He's going to keep raising the MSRP.

RTX 3080 launched @ MSRP of $_700 on 2020/09-17
RTX 4080 launches @ MSRP of $1200 on 2022/11-15

~71.4% increase in MSRP for pitiful gains in raster relative to the price.

Going from 3080 10GB -> 4080 16GB
Average Raster Performance gains:
~ +27.7% @ 2K
~ +37.7% @ 3K
~ +49.4% @ 4K

Was that increase in Frame Rate worth the ~71.4% increase in MSRP?

I don't think it's worth it, but everybody's judgement value on what's worth it is different.

 

[10tacle]

I know a lot of you think expensive Gaming Video Cards are a new thing but back in the day I spent over $600 for a 2D/3D video card, (but it didn't really do 3D). I later added the new VooDoo 3D video card for $300. (Diamond Card). A few years later I replaced it with a VooDoo 2, (I believe it was $500) then a few months later added a second for a Killer SLI setup. (Note, that is 3 cards in one machine, the VooDoo1/2 were 3D only, you needed a 2D card too). That was horrifying amounts of money in the 90s.

I did the same with the Voodoo2 in SLI which was used alongside my AGP Nvidia Riva TNT2. I do not remember the price I paid for them all, but it had to be around $700 combined in 1999. That $700 in 1999 is about $1,300 in today's adjusted dollars. Note that was back in the good old CRT days where a 1600x1200 monitor was the hardware demanding equivalent of today's 4K and 1024x768 was today's standard 1080p (with1280x1064 being today's 2K GPU demands comparison).

RTX 3080 launched @ MSRP of $_700 on 2020/09-17
RTX 4080 launches @ MSRP of $1200 on 2022/11-15

~71.4% increase in MSRP for pitiful gains in raster relative to the price.

Going from 3080 10GB -> 4080 16GB
Average Raster Performance gains:
~ +27.7% @ 2K
~ +37.7% @ 3K
~ +49.4% @ 4K

Was that increase in Frame Rate worth the ~71.4% increase in MSRP?

I don't think it's worth it, but everybody's judgement value on what's worth it is different.

As a 4K user, yes that is worth it to me when I'm trying to get solid 60FPS locked in say MSFS, meaning that is the minimum frame rate I'll get in the heaviest scenery. And nowhere in the history of GPUs has performance and price been parallel in linear performance/price curves (IE: a 72% price increase means a 72% performance increase).

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

As a 4K user, yes that is worth it to me when I'm trying to get solid 60FPS locked in say MSFS, meaning that is the minimum frame rate I'll get in the heaviest scenery. And nowhere in the history of GPUs has performance and price been parallel in linear performance/price curves (IE: a 72% price increase means a 72% performance increase).

It's VERY rare that they increase linearly, in nVIDIA's case, it's pretty random on how much performance/price you get.

Spoiler: Historical Performance Changes between nVIDIA Flagships & what you should expect with each generational change.

 

[10tacle]

^^And that is exactly my point: there is a market for those who find it perfectly acceptable to pay a 70% premium for a 45% FPS increase. Perhaps no better diminishing returns example can be laid out than Nvidia's SLI and AMD's Crossfire. That second GPU didn't double your frame rates, but it doubled your price, and a lot of people ran them for a lot of years until newer generation GPUs were powerful enough to take over as one GPU albeit at a much higher entry ticket price (yours truly included who ran many several generations of SLI from Nvidia, and one from AMD).

 

[Geezer760]

they'll cry foul, grumble about the price and even blame retailers for the high price. but only while sitting in line to buy one.......

man how i wish folks could just get a grip on themselves and let these just sit on shelves for a couple months while Nvidia gets a much needed reality check. but alas they'll sell out in minutes just like always sigh

Very True, but Ngreedia banks on the stupid, you can't cure stupid, but you can get very rich off of the stupid.

 

[Geezer760]

Unfortunately the new batch of games is so politized that it makes buying a GPU a bad investment.
Even when they have the best graphics ever, the gameplay is not worth it.

Yeah, there isn't really any good games right now, nothing but unfinished games full of BUGS, or just plain crappy games.

 

[Geezer760]

It's called "Scalpers", they exist to ruin everything.

"Scalping" should be a capital offense and those who "Scalp" should be given life in jail w/o chance of parole.

I wouldn't doubt if Ngreedia ARE the scalpers too.

 

[Geezer760]

I know a lot of you think expensive Gaming Video Cards are a new thing but back in the day I spent over $600 for a 2D/3D video card, (but it didn't really do 3D). I later added the new VooDoo 3D video card for $300. (Diamond Card). A few years later I replaced it with a VooDoo 2, (I believe it was $500) then a few months later added a second for a Killer SLI setup. (Note, that is 3 cards in one machine, the VooDoo1/2 were 3D only, you needed a 2D card too). That was horrifying amounts of money in the 90s.

As to power draw. Yes it is vast but my last SLI setup was a pair of EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Black Ops Edition cards drawing up to 250 watts each. Later I replaced them with the original Titan Video card for $1,000. (One card, not SLI). That Sandy Bridge with the Titan is still in service.

I don't hate people that buy luxury hobby items. Nor do I hate Companies that offer expensive hobby items. Vote with your wallets. You can game very nicely on an inexpensive system with a small monitor, (of what ever Brand keeps you happy). Some people spend $70K on a car, I drive old used cars/pickups.

I bought a VooDoo card back in the day and I paid $50-$60 for it brand new.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I wouldn't doubt if Ngreedia ARE the scalpers too.

You have to prove that nVIDIA are the scalpers on top of their MSRP first.

We all know a private pool of scalpers exist IRL, they roam the various markets, ready to scalp any and everything, driving up costs.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

1200 is overpriced for a card that is not even the top card. The value gpus in my opinion seem to be high end last gen cards. In other words the 6900xt and 3090 cards. I know for example I could pick up a 6900xt for a bit over 600. Personally I’m using a 1440p 32 inch monitor. A card like that should hold a couple of years honestly. 4K is nice and if you’ve got the money go for it. If I were in the market I’d probably be looking for the 7900xtx or xt.

To be honest though as someone who likes technology and who likes having more recent stuff, I’m sick of hearing all the tech reviewers even mention the 4080 and 4090. That tells you at least how irrelevant to my world they are. It’s great that they offer that level of performance. But at the prices they are asking they can keep those cards.

 

[xyster]

Thank you for the good article.

I'd agree that many professionals, includings those in AI, ML, and content creation will still prefer Nvidia, even with the higher price tag. AMD needs to prove itself in those spaces still before I jump ship, as they have totally neglected those markets previously. I really tried to get into OpenCL at one point, but CUDA got all the support in the end, forcing my hand. Same goes with the better H264 encoder on the Nvidia boards; it just offers a better result that professional streamers just can't ignore.

If it weren't for the stiff pending AMD competition, which is yet to be proven, the Nvidia 4090 and 4080 cards look pretty stellar in my eyes. I'd still obviously pick the 4090, as I have a 24GB Titan RTX currently, and anything less than 24-GB is a joke for ML these days. I was really actually hoping there would be a new Titan card with 48-GB of RAM, so now I don't really know what to do.

As such, the 4080 seems over-priced, as ML researchers will no-brainer pick the 4090 as it has the 24-GB of RAM. While two 4080 is appealing, it's an extra wasted slot and more sync issues, so it should not be more than 2/3rds the price. So, $1049 is the highest I'd price it, and to just round out the figure, I'd push it down to $999. This is relative to the 4090 pricing of course, which is steep, but I think is justifiable if considered to be a Titan-replacement.

 

[TerryLaze]

First point: I would really like to see NVidia's labor/material/fab cost list, with the R&D investment factored in. Everyone complaining here seems to have access to it but I can't seem find it anywhere.

You will never see the detailed numbers that you want, BUT
https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-third-quarter-fiscal-2022

Gross margin = 65% that's the money left over when subtracting the direct cost of production
Operating expenses = $1,960 = ~27% that's the money they spend on paying salaries doing advertising r&d and all the other ongoing costs.
Net income = 2,464 = ~35% that's the money they "put aside" and their "wiggle room" to make products cheaper if they wanted to.

But of course they also need a good net income to keep being a healthy company.