Nvidia owes everyone an apologia , and that ’s precisely what theRTX 4080 Super feels like . It ’s a credit of how crucial note value is among thebest graphics circuit board , and how the original model fell woefully curtly of hitting that value patsy .
The RTX 4080 Super is n’t an exciting GPU departure ; I ’ll get that out of the room upfront . It does n’t move the phonograph needle for operation compared to the base role model , just like its specs suggest . It does , however , make the card much more attractive in terms of value , not only liken to Nvidia ’s own lineup , but also to the competition from AMD .
Nvidia RTX 4080 Super specs
The RTX 4080 Super is n’t all that unlike from the base RTX 4080 . A speedy breakdown of glasses evidence that the two GPUs are selfsame outdoors of core count . The RTX 4080 Super has a 5 % bump in cores , allowing it to fully take reward of the AD103 GPU . It ’s a very nonaged gibbousness , specially on the heels of theRTX 4070 SuperandRTX 4070 Ti Super .
Everything else is the same — same memory interface , same clock speed , and the same power draw poker . Given that there ’s a higher CUDA count , however , there ’s the same small protrusion to Tensor and ray decipher CORE . That facilitate the RTX 4080 Super earn a svelte edge in shaft tracing applications , which I ’ll get into later .
spec are n’t what ’s important for this GPU , though . It ’s safe to retrieve of it as arebranded RTX 4080 , and my benchmarks back up that supposal . The crucial note here is the price . The RTX 4080 Super is releasing for a leaning cost of $ 1,000 , while the understructure model originally liberate at $ 1,200 and has confine steady at that price since .
That ’s the defining dispute between the RTX 4080 Super and the RTX 4080 . This Super refresh is replacing the base model , in effect making this a exacting Mary Leontyne Price cold shoulder .
Synthetic performance
As mentioned . the RTX 4080 Super is n’t much different than the RTX 4080 . In 3DMark Time Spy , the Super role model is a mere 1 % ahead of the home interpretation . That ’s well within the variance you ’d see even between two identical GPUs . You could run this test a dozen times with each GPU , and they ’d trade places constantly .
Call it “ statistically insignificant . ” If there ’s anywhere we should see the average 3 % advance Nvidia claims for the RTX 4080 Super , it ’s in a synthetic bench mark . Based on my tests , though , the variability when performance start out this close is too big to overcome , even for a run design to take variance out of the par .
That ’s only one side of the story . In 3DMark Port Royal , the RTX 4080 Super is ahead by 1.5 % . That sounds peanut — and on the whole , it is — but that ’s to the dot where you ’ll consistently seesomeimprovement over the basis model . It ’s not a heavy improvement , but the extra ray tracing cores are at least doing something .
There ’s some significant expectation setting here , though . Overall , you ’re look at a performance gains in the low undivided digits , with some game showing no improvement at all . count even Nvidia ’s claim of a 3 % improvement optimistic — this is the RTX 4080 , just with the Super badge .
4K gaming
Further proving the power point that this is just the RTX 4080 , look at my 4 K average . The Super refresh is just 1 % ahead of the base model found on all of my psychometric test . Once again , I could run these tryout several times and get a solvent where the substructure RTX 4080 comes out on top .
Rather than belabor that pointedness , let ’s take this as a competitive reassessment of where the RTX 4080 fits in the GPU landscape . Its main competition was ( and remains)AMD ’s RX 7900 XTX . The RTX 4080 Super is around 7 % quicker on average , admit games with beam tracing . That ’s a straight profits for Nvidia considering the RX 7900 XTX is still selling for $ 1,000 .
Nvidia reckon good inHorizon Zero Dawn , especially , where it shows not only an upthrow over the base RTX 4080 , but also the RX 7900 XTX . That ’s the only plot I test where the RTX 4080 Super looks strictly comfortably , however .
In every other biz I test , there ’s nearly a bland line across the RX 7900 XTX , RTX 4080 , and RTX 4080 Super . InRed Dead Redemption 2 , Returnal , andAssassin ’s Creed Valhalla , the three GPUs all patronage waste within a few frames of each other , and there ’s usually even less of a difference than that . This is all fresh data , too — I rebroadcast tests on every GPU you see here to make certain it ’s all as current as possible .
Resident Evil 4is the most telling , with less than a individual frame of division between these three graphics cards .
What ’s surprising is that the RX 7900 XTX come out with a more important lead in some game . InCyberpunk 2077 , Forza Horizon 5,andThe Last of Us Part One , it leads by a few frames . It ’s not a lede that changes the gameplay experience much , beware you , but it ’s much more movement than we can see in other games .
It also queer one of the RTX 4080 Super ’s key constituent . It ’s mostly evenly match with the RX 7900 XTX , but AMD ’s GPU come out ever so more or less ahead in some games . The factor working in Nvidia ’s favour is ray tracing , which I ’ll compass into by and by .
1440p gaming
And so the stemma begins . Down at 1440p , the RTX 4080 Super is 1 % fast than the base RTX 4080 , but that ’s a rounding technicality . It ’s actually a whole 0.7 % faster ; it ’s monovular . More relevant is the RX 7900 XTX , which falls behind once again . The RTX 4080 Super is 7 % in the lead , mainly on the back of irradiation tracing .
There ’s a little more crusade at 1440p compared to 4K. InResident Evil 4,for example , the RTX 4080 Super is a duo frames ahead the basis model , as well as 4 % ahead of the RX 7900 XTX.Horizon Zero Dawnis once again a in force vitrine for operation gains , with the RTX 4080 Super coming out almost 8 % firm than the RX 7900 XTX .
Still , most game do n’t show much a conflict . Such is the case inRed Dead Redemption 2 , Assassin ’s Creed Valhalla , andThe Last of Us Part One . you’re able to trade these GPUs out in a blind exam , and it would be unsufferable to tell the difference between them .
And once again , the RX 7900 XTX have some compelling leads in a few title . Most notably , it express an improvement of a few frames inForza Horizon 5 , Returnal , andCyberpunk 2077.The latter is the most surprising , as even AMD ’s tacky RX 7900 XT is able to match the two RTX 4080 models , while the RX 7900 XTX shoot ahead .
The games where the RTX 4080 Super leads have shifted , the finale has n’t . The RX 7900 XTX remains slightly faster overall , even if the lead is just in a handful of game . But the RTX 4080 Super is lay down up basis in its overall carrying out with ray tracing , which is an area AMD still struggles in .
1080p gaming
There is n’t much to peach about at 1080p for a GPU that cost $ 1,000 . With how performant the RTX 4080 Super is , you ’re not just wasting money if you lean this GPU at 1080p — you ’re actively forcing your system to tend in a sorry state with a nastyCPU bottleneck . At this resolution , the RTX 4080 Super maintains a lead of just 1 % over the base model .
Interestingly , the RTX 4080 Super is unaired to around 10 % quicker than the RX 7900 XTX at this settlement . That ’s likely exposing some of the biz asymmetry in how they handle the GPU and CPU at this resolution , give that it ’s a tumid gap than what we see at higher firmness of purpose . It ’s not exactly relevant , though , considering you should n’t be using a $ 1,000 GPU down at 1080p anyway .
Ray tracing and DLSS 3.5
It should n’t come as a surprise that the RTX 4080 Super leads the RX 7900 XTX inray tracingperformance . Sometimes the lead are monumental , such as inCyberpunk 2077.Without upscaling , the RTX 4080 Super is provide cabinet - comparable performance at 4K. The RX 7900 XTX ca n’t even manage 20 frames per 2d ( Federal Protective Service ) .
Returnalis a bit lighter in terms of ray line demand . The RTX 4080 Super leads once again , but it ’s not as far ahead . Still , it ’s able to acquit the 60 Federal Protective Service mark at 4 K , while the RX 7900 XTX battle to remove it .
Stepping even further down toResident Evil 4,there are n’t a short ton of differences between the RTX 4080 Super and RX 7900 XTX . It ’s a dependable reminder that not all irradiation tracing effectuation are go to tax your GPU as much as something likeCyberpunk 2077 .
Still , on the whole , Nvidia leads in ray trace with the RTX 4080 Super . More significantly , the identity card has admission toDLSS 3.5 . you’re able to see how bounteous of a difference DLSS Frame Generation makes inCyberpunk 2077andReturnal , and although AMD now has itsFSR 3 featurewith frame contemporaries , it ’s only available in a handful of game .
The braggart cost increase for the RTX 4080 Super , in particular , is Ray Reconstruction . This is only usable inCyberpunk 2077andAlan Wake 2right now , but it whole changes the visuals of those two games . Withfull path tracingat the helm , it feels like the premium 4 kilobyte gaming experience Nvidia has been selling since 2018 . The RTX 4080 Super brings that experience to sprightliness in a way the competition just ca n’t .
Nvidia has been building its features around DLSS for the past few years , and the RTX 4080 Super is the perfect display case of how all of those features come together . You may not need to grow on DLSS in every game , but it makes all the difference when those PM titles likeAlan Wake 2orCyberpunk 2077roll around .
Should you buy the RTX 4080 Super?
Nvidia has changed the math a lot with the RTX 4080 Super . It does n’t provide much of an uplift over the infrastructure model , but it did n’t need to . It bring the price down , and that make this GPU a hatful more compelling .
AMD ’s RX 7900 XTX puts up a good scrap , but it at long last amount up shortsighted . If it stays at the same $ 1,000 list Leontyne Price it has carry unfaltering at , AMD ’s flagship is n’t going to last long . I suspect it will rapidly miss in price once the RTX 4080 Super is out for a few weeks . Right now , though , Nvidia has the clear competitive win .
More interesting is the moral force between the RTX 4080 Super and theRTX 4090 . It ’s exculpated the RTX 4090 is faster — much faster , as you’re able to see in my benchmarks — but it ’s also much more expensive at $ 1,600 . When the original RTX 4080 released , it made signified to save up some special money and get the RTX 4090 because it ’s so much faster . With the RTX 4080 Super come in at a much lower price , that math changes . It ultimately feel like the RTX 4080 has its place .
And that ’s probably the most impressive matter about the RTX 4080 Super . Throughout this coevals , Nvidia has struggled to find the right lieu for its GPUs among mellow - destruction gamers , with most cards missing on the relationship between price and execution . The RTX 4080 Super , underwhelming as it may be compare to the base model , brings those scales back in balance .
