Review Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super review: Slightly faster than the 4080, but $200 cheaper

[RandomWan]

Just because you're not gaming at that resolution, doesn't others are not and 12 GB of VRAM is more than enough!!

This was in response to a person using a GPU that would struggle at 1080 High+ settings for modern games, not to mention anything beyond that. The person I was commenting on will need a significant video card upgrade before he could even worry about maxxing out VRAM.

If you're gaming at 4K, you might have a valid complaint, but as been shown, using the larger textures isn't changing your results much.

 

[bit_user]

27" is too small for a 4k screen. Fine for 1440p, but I wouldn't go smaller than 32" for a 4k screen. If you have to scale, you end up wasting most of the gained screen real estate as you said.

I fully agree with this. I find it strange that people pay the 4k tax (i.e. in terms of price & 3D performance) for detail you can hardly see, by using 4k at 27".

I've long used tiny fonts for editing code. Those fonts were almost unreadable on my 32" 4k screen. I computed that I'd probably need to go almost up to a 40" screen to have equivalent DPI as I do on 27" 1440p screens.

 

[Colif]

4k screen was an unexpected Birthday present. So It wasn't even my choice what I got... they never asked. My brother already had the same screen so he just assumed I would like it... it cost me money to use as I only had a GTX 960 at the time and it struggled just to run screen fast enough, so I upgraded to a 980. It still wasn't great but best I could do at time.

4k icons on the 27inch were tiny. Using 150% scale was necessary to see most of the icons

Logitech app ignored scaling so changing it to 100% wouldn't have fixed my ability to read it, just make rest of windows harder to see. I avoided using Logitech Gaming Software... at least G Hub scales right... it just didn't see my keyboard. You know, one fix leads to another problem sometimes.

 

[newtechldtech]

I fully agree with this. I find it strange that people pay the 4k tax (i.e. in terms of price & 3D performance) for detail you can hardly see, by using 4k at 27".

I've long used tiny fonts for editing code. Those fonts were almost unreadable on my 32" 4k screen. I computed that I'd probably need to go almost up to a 40" screen to have equivalent DPI as I do on 27" 1440p screens.

4k at 27-28 inch is noticeable .. aside from the tiny font problem , it is alot better thhan 1440p ... and anyways cange the font size because it will be the same if compared to 1440p.

 

[bit_user]

4k at 27-28 inch is noticeable .. aside from the tiny font problem , it is alot better thhan 1440p ... and anyways cange the font size because it will be the same if compared to 1440p.

Oh sure. I've seen a 28" 4k monitor and it looked nice. Side-by-side, I'm sure you could tell the difference (except, maybe not in fast-paced games).

For my eyes, the extra detail just isn't worth the "tax" of so many more pixels to paint. For me, it's not worth switching to 4k unless you go up to at least 32". At that point, you can actually fit more text on the screen and that's what makes it worthwhile.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

I fully agree with this. I find it strange that people pay the 4k tax (i.e. in terms of price & 3D performance) for detail you can hardly see, by using 4k at 27".

I've long used tiny fonts for editing code. Those fonts were almost unreadable on my 32" 4k screen. I computed that I'd probably need to go almost up to a 40" screen to have equivalent DPI as I do on 27" 1440p screens.

I've often thought that picking up an OLED 120Hz / 240Hz 40-inch or larger TV for 4K use was the best route. Good thing I don't have to buy most of the hardware I use for testing. 🙃

 

[bit_user]

I've often thought that picking up an OLED 120Hz / 240Hz 40-inch or larger TV for 4K use was the best route.

I just bought a new LCD monitor, last year.

ROG Strix XG27AQMR | Monitors | ROG United States

27”, WQHD (2560 x 1440), Fast IPS, 300 Hz, 1 ms GTG, G-Sync compatible, Variable Overdrive, DisplayHDR 600, ELMB Sync

rog.asus.com

I looked at OLEDs, but passed for two reasons:

1. I keep monitors for a long time & want to see at least a few years' data on burn-in of the current tech.
2. The sub-pixel layout was said not to be optimal for text, which is the main thing I'd use it for.

 

[mhmarefat]

It appears some people just want to worship a company and close their eyes shut no matter what it
does. Let's look at this benchmark again and see how some people responded:

Let's see how people respond when Nvidia's "RT" cards encounter REAL "RT" games and run them at 3 f***ing FPS:

I mean, you clearly just cherry picked the one result from the TPU review RT section where the game happened to need >12GB of VRAM. The cards at the bottom of that chart are falling over due to running out of memory, not due to RT

Seeing as all 4 of those bottom cards dumped because they ran out of VRAM due to 4k+RT your point isn't as clever as you seem to think.

I also said "High End Hardware" Gaming at 4K with RT on a middle tier card is brain dead.

This is a user problem. They are trying to run RT game at 4k. They are simply braindead and also nothing is wrong with these cards, user is trying to search hard to find a case against Nvidia's perfect GPUs. Unbelievable.

This is INSANE. Some people here, you truly deserve to be milked hard by nvidia and the likes of it. you truly deserve it.

 

[mhmarefat]

And what makes you think ray tracing isn't ready?

It's not like Nvidia's cards don't support RT. The potential, is there. It's up to game developers to find ways to meaningfully implement it into modern gaming.

Can you just feel this potential? wow. There is simply a GREAT nvidia POTENTIAL here so much that even though the $1.2K 4080 is running "real RT" at 50 FPS (at 1080p BTW) at nvidia sponsored CP2077 no less, the fault still lies at the game development side to find this potential and "meaningfully implement" RT accordingly as Nvidia's perfect RT capabilities are beyond question.
Thank you.

 

[lumineZ]

As always I vote with my wallet. And if the prices keeps up where they are now or even going up for the next generation. I am done with buying or building computers. Sad to be honest since I have been playing and building computers since Intel 166mhz era... And once you reach the point where you can really say you are a grown, grumpy fart (me) there are enough of other stuff that you can throw your money at like the house as an example. And the prices for GPU, MOBO, fans, waterblocks, etc... It has really gotten to the point for more than me that we just go... "stop... this has gone to far and is not worth it" If I was to build a new one today with the specs that would make me happy. I would say I am somewhere in the 7k - 9k range... And that is simply stupid.
The current industry atm if you ask me is kinda in a suicide mode. It will hit a point where the bread and butter for the industry will have to say "sorry I am off to a new hobby cause I simply can't afford or it is not worth it anymore"
And I don't think they have used one second thinking that "all we then do is drop the prices and say "hey look at us how nice we are" but forget that alot of us then have in fact moved on to an another hobby etc. But got to admit it has been a good 30 year ish of ALOT of joy. Still enjoy the rig I have. But it has reached the point that I don't wanna throw a <Mod Edit> of money at pure greedy company's. Enough is enough. It's been fun. But enough. If the the next generation of computer parts is still going up I give up and will move on. Hifi is expensive to but lord it last ALOT longer than computers. My monoblocks electrocompaniet Nemo AW600 is about 9k eatch. So I have 2. But they are now about 13 years old and still work flawless and has MORE than enough power to run any speakers I put on them. Good luck playing cyberpunk in 4k with all settings close to max on a 13 year old computer.

 

[drivinfast247]

As always I vote with my wallet. And if the prices keeps up where they are now or even going up for the next generation. I am done with buying or building computers. Sad to be honest since I have been playing and building computers since Intel 166mhz era... And once you reach the point where you can really say you are a grown, grumpy fart (me) there are enough of other stuff that you can throw your money at like the house as an example. And the prices for GPU, MOBO, fans, waterblocks, etc... It has really gotten to the point for more than me that we just go... "stop... this has gone to far and is not worth it" If I was to build a new one today with the specs that would make me happy. I would say I am somewhere in the 7k - 9k range... And that is simply stupid.
The current industry atm if you ask me is kinda in a suicide mode. It will hit a point where the bread and butter for the industry will have to say "sorry I am off to a new hobby cause I simply can't afford or it is not worth it anymore"
And I don't think they have used one second thinking that "all we then do is drop the prices and say "hey look at us how nice we are" but forget that alot of us then have in fact moved on to an another hobby etc. But got to admit it has been a good 30 year ish of ALOT of joy. Still enjoy the rig I have. But it has reached the point that I don't wanna throw a <Mod Edit> of money at pure greedy company's. Enough is enough. It's been fun. But enough. If the the next generation of computer parts is still going up I give up and will move on. Hifi is expensive to but lord it last ALOT longer than computers. My monoblocks electrocompaniet Nemo AW600 is about 9k eatch. So I have 2. But they are now about 13 years old and still work flawless and has MORE than enough power to run any speakers I put on them. Good luck playing cyberpunk in 4k with all settings close to max on a 13 year old computer.

7
$7-$9k? What? Why? Why do NEED such an expensive PC?

 

[Deleted member 2961511]

Can you just feel this potential? wow. There is simply a GREAT nvidia POTENTIAL here so much that even though the $1.2K 4080 is running "real RT" at 50 FPS (at 1080p BTW) at nvidia sponsored CP2077 no less, the fault still lies at the game development side to find this potential and "meaningfully implement" RT accordingly as Nvidia's perfect RT capabilities are beyond question.
Thank you.

Every time a new graphics technology has been introduced, it always took time and refinement, before it reached the desired stage.

That's what happened in the past, and that's what's happening right now, with Ray Tracing.

There are literally hundreds of successful RTX games on the market, in the sense that the vast majority of them had a more than satisfying balance of RT visual quality/performance.

You chose to pick just two of them, 'cause you thought it better serves your purpose.

But, Cyberpunk 2077 & Alan Wake II, are basically one and the same: they 're the only ones using Path Tracing, a feature which is still pretty much in experimental stage.

So, keep up your quite enjoyable efforts of presenting Ray Tracing as a failure.

Meanwhile, let me get back to gaming. I'm a 4090 owner, my GPU pretty much destroys 99.9% of all current titles at 4K Ultra RT settings.

And, as for the rest 0.1%, which only includes Path Tracing at Alan Wake II/Cyberpunk 2077 and Unobtainium settings at Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora?

Well, all i have to do about them, is set DLSS at Quality and Ultra Performance, respectively.

I still get to enjoy amazing graphics, with a smooth-as-butter gameplay, at more than 90 FPS.

I'm gonna bow out of this thread now and unwatch... nothing else to see here.

 

[bit_user]

"stop... this has gone to far and is not worth it" If I was to build a new one today with the specs that would make me happy. I would say I am somewhere in the 7k - 9k range... And that is simply stupid.

You're really undermining your own point, with this. It's like complaining about the price of cars and then saying you'll stop driving entirely because the Porsche you want is too expensive.

$7-$9k? What? Why? Why do NEED such an expensive PC?

No one does, unless you need a big workstation CPU for work, research, or rendering. Even if someone insists on having a RTX 4090, that figure is close to double what you could build such a system for, even if you don't reuse any existing components.

Plus, the cool thing about PCs is they're modular and upgradable. @lumineZ could just upgrade the GPU of an existing system to a RTX 4090 now, and then wait a year to upgrade the rest of the system to Arrow Lake. Or vice versa, but obviously the GPU will tend to deliver the biggest visceral improvement. Maybe upgrade the monitor over the following year, since you'll have enough power to push some additional pixels or refresh rate.

I tend to buy my PCs over the course of a couple years or so, as I see good deals on various different components. Then, I do one major set of upgrades during their lifetime (i.e. RAM, storage, and GPU). That's how I get 5-10 years out of them. I used to have a workstation CPU, but now I'm on a mainstream platform and actually fine with it. Mainstream has come a long ways...

 

[lumineZ]

$7-$9k? What? Why? Why do NEED such an expensive PC?

Please keep in mind that this is for a new complete system. I buy everything new every time I upgrade. case, monitor, mouse, keyboard. Everything exept the sound system part.
And I don't shop in the 100 dollar range as an example for cases. The one I have now as an example is the phanteks enthoo elite. Here in Norway that case alone cost 13499 NOK convert that to dollar and that is today 1271,94 dollars. so for me it will run up in dollars pretty fast. Now ofc one can argue do you need it? no ofc I don't but since I can and I want I do. Some use a <Mod Edit> of money on a rifle, cars, girls, plants, art, and the list goes on for miles.

You're really undermining your own point, with this. It's like complaining about the price cars and then saying you'll stop driving entirely because the Porsche you want is too expensive.

No I am not. And we can use the Porsche as an example. If lets say the 911 GT3 RS did cost 250k dollars for you out the door. The next year the new one would cost 500k next model after that 750k somewhere down the line you go "hang on... this is getting alittle nuts and I will not spend that"

And when it comes to computer and how fast (and this is a loaded word I will use now so don't get me wrong people) obsolete and this is totally up to the user ofc when that is. And I totally understand what you are saying. Do I agree and could I do what you do? Not a chance cause I would not be happy using computers like you are. Now that is not saying I or you are wrong, we are just different as humans are supposed to be.

 

[bit_user]

we can use the Porsche as an example. If lets say the 911 GT3 RS did cost 250k dollars for you out the door. The next year the new one would cost 500k next model after that 750k somewhere down the line you go "hang on... this is getting alittle nuts and I will not spend that"

Sure, but what if that newest model performed like a Koenigsegg? Because that's what the RTX 4090 is, compared to the RTX 3090. Nvidia swung for the fences, with that one.

​

It's an outlier. A unicorn. You pay top dollar, but unlike the Titan GPUs of days past, you're really getting a lot for that high price tag.

Compare that to your $9k monoblock amplifiers and I'm sure those offer only marginal differences relative to models costing about 1/10th as much. Oh, and amplifier technology is also improving, with class D getting better all the time. Smaller, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient.

In my opinion, active speakers are the best technology. You should have a digital crossover and Eq that's matched to the precise transducers, cabinet design, and amplifiers. You've no doubt heard of Genelec?

And when it comes to computer and how fast (and this is a loaded word I will use now so don't get me wrong people) obsolete and this is totally up to the user ofc when that is. And I totally understand what you are saying. Do I agree and could I do what you do? Not a chance cause I would not be happy using computers like you are. Now that is not saying I or you are wrong, we are just different as humans are supposed to be.

I have no claims about how you choose to spend your money, but it seemed like you were using your personal example to make a broader point and that's where we find some disagreement.

 

[jeremyj_83]

7
$7-$9k? What? Why? Why do NEED such an expensive PC?

Compensating maybe?

 

[lumineZ]

Sure, but what if that newest model performed like a Koenigsegg? Because that's what the RTX 4090 is, compared to the RTX 3090. Nvidia swung for the fences, with that one.

Good point. And if a GT3RS would suddenly have performance like an Agera I can see why they would pump the price up simply because the tech to pull that of aint cheap. Would I still buy it? No simple because... it's still a Porsche It's alittle like if a Volvo V90 should cost 650k USD because it performs like a koenigsegg... It's still a Volvo and not worth that kind of money... On the other side it depends on the buyer what a thing is worth or not 😀
Stepping into the hifi comparison was a bad move by me cause that is like politics and religion and can get heated very fast 😀
Class D vs A. Ofc class D is more efficient than A etc. But sound is also personal. I hate class D amps no matter what brand it is (trust me I am pretty sure I have heard most brands in the world to be totally honest) and a class D is a class D no matter how you build it, same with A, tubes, etc.
I love the warmth a class A makes. Tubes even better.
But again a speaker brand that wins prices year after year in Audiovector. I remember listening to the Audiovector R 8 Arreté... about 70k for the speakers alone. With a full Gryphon 300 as an amp and a Gryphon Essence as preamp. Gryphon Ethos as cd player. For vinyl they used the Acoustic Signature Ascona NEO. Price for the complete system was far from what I could afford but one thing that was funny. I played several songs I like and love. Not once did my head move to the beat, neither did my foot move to it, neither did my hand hit my leg after the beat. The sound was as lifeless they could just as well have played no music at all. Was it correct? Oh you bet. But I don't listen to music through an oscilloscope where I can measure how correct the sound is etc. Remember walking out thinking that is a sound system I honestly would not pay 100 bucks for even.
So when I listen to my system I am happy, cheap? no (depends who you ask ofc.)
Active speakers are great I agree with you there. I use the Kef LS50 Wireless II on my PC and I love the sound in them. But I would never use active speakers where I sit and listen to the music. Reason is simple. I like to the option to swap out dac's, amps, pre, cables. Everything if I so feel like it. And if just one thing should go wrong with an active speaker you are... well... f*****. If something happens to my Nemo 600 amps as an example, I can just blow the dust of my old trusted AW 180 monoblocks while the 600 is getting fixed.
But again that is just ME. Active speakers are great and totally understand why people want them and love them. There is no way I want big ass amps, dac's, pre-amp's, power cleaners, etc etc just to have sound on my computers. No way. Could I have just the LS50 Wireless II and my daily sound system. Honest? You bet cause I love them. But since I can and I love my sound system even more. The sound stage is WAY bigger, SPL ofc louder if I want to, it's a full 3-way system and the list goes on but I am pretty sure you get the point and understand what I mean.
Have I heard of Genelec? Oh yes a friend of mine has either the Genelec 8341A or it is the 8351BM I am not sure. The sound is pretty good but for me they are alittle to mutch on the analytical side. But that is me. But why music producers etc are using I can totally understand since they are as I say alittle on the analytical side.

Congratz you made me sidetrack 🤣 so back to the poor computer. I 100% agree with you that if you are smart you upgrade a little over the span of some time. A GPU one year, Maybe CPU / MOBO the next, new monitor 4 - 6 years down the road etc. I will not argue with you since that is 100% correct. Hell if you are smart you never buy a new car either since that is truly throwing money out the window 😊
But as you so perfectly put it: "I have no claims about how you choose to spend your money" and that one line there no one in the whole world can argue with since it is 100% correct. Even my wife have nothing to do with what I spend my hard earned money on.

So for some how I use money they might put they're head in the hand and go "my lord what an idiot he is" and thank god I am fine with that cause I will put my head in my hands when I see someone spend over a million on a darn painting or several millions into a darn boat.

Compensating maybe?

Maybe don't comment if that is all you have to come with. But a comment like that normally points towards jealousy... and if that is the case I wonder why because being jealous makes no sense. Should I then be jealous simply because someone has something bigger or better than me? Now that is a sad life to live since it's all just "stuff." Do you or me need all the "stuff" to live? hell no. Pretty sure someone is jealous at you simply because you most likely have running water in the place you live. So come on buddy. Don't be a troll.

 

[Lamarr the Strelok]

Meh. Just because a person criticizes someone that spends a lot of money doesn't always mean they're jealous.If people can afford a 4090 I'm happy for them. And I'm a Norwegian in the US but those solid state amps are too pricy IMO.It's neat they have a company like that there . Torroidals are cool. If I had mad money I'd get a McIntosh 4 -6550 or 4 -kt 88 per channel stereo amps type setup .200 watts per channel. If your sound is sterile add a tube preamp to your system.Properly done that will warm up the sound.

 

[RolandOlifant]

Thanks for another great analysis Mr. Walton; I think I will end up grabbing one due to my horrific experience with AMD drivers with two identical RX 7900XT MERC310 cards from XFX; both cards had serious power compatibility issues with multiple motherboards and also would often refuse to recognize one of my 4K displays (LG 48" Ultragear) over either displayport or hdmi; meanwhile my RTX 2080, 2080Ti, 3080, and 3080Ti cards (the latter drawing an extra 8 pin of juice more than the MERC310 cards) had 0 issues; the 7900XT cards also would not post at all on one of my X58 motherboards while all the aforementioned 2000 and 3000 series cards had no issue. Things like that make me less likely to go back to team red and stick with team green for products that have better compatibility/dependability.

 

[logainofhades]

Thanks for another great analysis Mr. Walton; I think I will end up grabbing one due to my horrific experience with AMD drivers with two identical RX 7900XT MERC310 cards from XFX; both cards had serious power compatibility issues with multiple motherboards and also would often refuse to recognize one of my 4K displays (LG 48" Ultragear) over either displayport or hdmi; meanwhile my RTX 2080, 2080Ti, 3080, and 3080Ti cards (the latter drawing an extra 8 pin of juice more than the MERC310 cards) had 0 issues; the 7900XT cards also would not post at all on one of my X58 motherboards while all the aforementioned 2000 and 3000 series cards had no issue. Things like that make me less likely to go back to team red and stick with team green for products that have better compatibility/dependability.

You are lucky any modern card worked on that X58 board, to be perfectly honest, as it most likely lacks a UEFI bios. Did you happen to try a CMOS reset when changing GPU's? My Asrock Z77 Extreme4 had to have CMOS reset done any time I changed the GPU, regardless of it being team red or green. My Asus Z270 Strix ITX was the same way, for whatever reason. Also, did you use DDU to remove old drivers, then install the latest? Seems odd that 2 of the same card would be bad like that.