The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition is designed for gaming at the highest settings in both 1080p and 1440p, placing it firmly between its predecessor and successor. Although its 4K performance was average, it truly shined in 1440p tests.
Originally launched with an MSRP of $699 USD for the Founder's Edition, it is now challenging to find at a reasonable price, typically averaging $850 USD from partner manufacturers across various online retailers. While the new 40-series lineup offers a more competitive price-to-performance, the RTX 3080 continues to deliver excellent performance, making it a solid option for those who already own it.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
THE GOOD
- Performance
Delivered impressive results in 1440p gaming tests, significantly outperforming the RTX 3070 Ti in most tests.
THE BAD
- Price
The partner cards sells for a high average of $850 USD. In the majority of applications, the new 40-SUPER line provides a higher price-to-performance ratio.
THE REST
- Overall
A solid card. While the new 40-series offers a better price-to-performance, the RTX 3080 remains a good choice, especially if you already own one.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition utilizes 8nm technology and is built on NVIDIA's Ampere architecture. The card is based on the GA102 graphics processor, which has 28,300 million transistors within a 628 mm2 die. It features 96 Render Output Units (ROPs), 272 texture mapping units, 8704 shading units, and 68 ray tracing cores. With a typical board power of 320W, the card tested by Labs is manufactured by NVIDIA, and has a dual-slot, dual-fan design that fits in most computer cases. It has the standard RTX 30-series 3 x DisplayPort v1.4 output, and 1 x HDMI v2.1 ports.
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Front of the box.
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Front of the card.
The RTX 3080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and NVIDIA's GeForce Experience and G-SYNC features. As well as NVIDIA's full suite of DLSS 3 and ray tracing technologies.
It features NVIDIA's 7th Generation Encoder, and 5th Generation Decoder, with full support for H264 Encode/Decode, H265/HEVC Encode/Decode, but only AV1 Decode.
Performance-wise, the RTX 3080 delivered smooth gaming experiences at 1080p, but really excelled during the 1440p tests as it outperformed its predecessor, the RTX 3070 Ti, by 22 FPS in 1440p average FPS overall tests.
We will periodically retest graphics cards with updated drivers. We continuously monitor and update our results for accuracy. Stay tuned for the latest test results and insights on this product and others as we aim to provide up-to-date information on a consistent basis.
We actively address test bench variance in our evaluation process. Our methodology involved validation and calibration procedures to ensure consistency and reliability across all tests. The verified testbed variance for benchmarks in this product page is +/- 0.25%.
By monitoring and controlling variables such as hardware configurations, ambient temperatures, and system settings, we minimize potential sources of variance that could affect our results. This detailed approach enables us to deliver the most objective and accurate assessment.