Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Review: The Fastest Card We've Ever Tested

Extreme performance and lots of RGB

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Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We were more than a little underwhelmed with the Zotac RTX 3080 Ti Amp Holo Black, which basically tied the Founders Edition in terms of performance. The Asus ROG Strix LC scoffs at such paltry improvements and zips past the other 3080 Ti cards, then keeps right on going as it waves to the RTX 3090. Currently, the Asus ROG Strix LC RTX 3080 Ti is the fastest graphics card — out of the box — that we've ever tested.

Overall, the Asus card was 7% faster than the Zotac and Founders Edition cards at 4K ultra, and 4% faster than the RTX 3090 Founders Edition. Okay, that's not a massive difference, but it's at least measurable and consistent. We even saw up to a 12% lead over the other 3080 Ti cards in Watch Dogs Legion and The Division 2, and the Asus was up to 7% faster than the 3090 FE in individual game results at 4K.

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Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We start to encounter some GPU bottlenecks once we drop to 1440p, and it's only going to get worse at 1080p. AMD's Big Navi architecture also tends to do better at lower resolutions, as the Infinity Cache provides proportionately larger improvements in effective bandwidth. There were several games in our suite where AMD's RX 6900 XT beats even the Asus ROG Strix LC, and at 1440p Horizon Zero Dawn joins Assassin's Creed, Borderlands 3, and Forza Horizon 4 in favoring Team Red. Still, overall the Asus card was 5–6% faster than the Zotac and Nvidia cards, and 2% faster than the RTX 3090. It was also 5% faster than the RX 6900 XT.

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Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

Cards like the RTX 3080 Ti aren't really intended to run at 1080p, at least not without other stuff like ray tracing. The Core i9-9900K becomes more of a limiting factor, and the 128MB Infinity Cache on AMD's Navi 21 GPUs helps push the RX 6900 XT to the top of the overall chart. Of course, that's also thanks to our use of Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is laughably biased toward AMD's latest GPUs. Then again, even Watch Dogs Legion has the RX 6900 XT and RX 6800 XT beating the fastest Nvidia GPUs.

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Jarred Walton
Jarred Walton

Jarred Walton is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on everything GPU. He has been working as a tech journalist since 2004, writing for AnandTech, Maximum PC, and PC Gamer. From the first S3 Virge '3D decelerators' to today's GPUs, Jarred keeps up with all the latest graphics trends and is the one to ask about game performance.

15 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Tech0000
    yeah so high end graphics cards RTX-anything and AMD-anything are unobtainium - therefore any review is frustratingly meaningless. Scalpers and crypto mines are the only buyers - don't see this changing anytime. Hopefully "Lovelace" will have better availability when it launches next year. At this stage in the product generation cycle, you might as well skip and RTX 30xx all together. Stick with what you got until next year.
    Reply
  • saunupe1911
    So you guys have never tested a Kingpin??? Heck I should have resold you mine at a fair price LOL!!!!
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Tech0000 said:
    yeah so high end graphics cards RTX-anything and AMD-anything are unobtainium - therefore any review is frustratingly meaningless. Scalpers and crypto mines are the only buyers - don't see this changing anytime. Hopefully "Lovelace" will have better availability when it launches next year. At this stage in the product generation cycle, you might as well skip and RTX 30xx all together. Stick with what you got until next year.
    Depends where you are. I’m UK and I’ve just looked and can find several 3080Ti versions in stock between £1400-£1700 for delivery tomorrow.
    Reply
  • Jim90
    sizzling said:
    I’ve just looked and can find several 3080Ti versions in stock between £1400-£1700 for delivery tomorrow.

    But..!!!....in all honesty, only the braindead would shell out £1400-£1700 (-$2336.90) for a 'gaming' (!!) GPU.

    Shocking, disgusting, pathetic...need I say more!
    Reply
  • sizzling
    Jim90 said:
    But..!!!....in all honesty, only the braindead would shell out £1400-£1700 (-$2336.90) for a 'gaming' (!!) GPU.

    Shocking, disgusting, pathetic...need I say more!
    I agree the price is insane, I paid £750 for my 3080. You can’t compare GBP to USD as we have 20% VAT on the price. Usually the USD and GBP numbers are similar so 750GBP would normally sell at about 750 USD. However the point was they are in stock, if people would stop paying these prices they would drop.
    Reply
  • Schlachtwolf
    I have the Asus 6800xt version of this Asus WC line-up, apart from the Asus logo on the side it is nearly identical. And yes it is a 1440p beast.... cool, quiet (once I replaced the poor quality Asus fans that had a lot of play in them and rattled with Noctua fans) and looks a peach !!!
    Reply
  • LolaGT
    What a monster, but these are never seen owned by the masses, not even the similar cards of ten years ago. These are for the elite with literally money to burn.

    Also, PoW isn't going away any time soon. Certainly not in months, not in 2022, maybe in a couple years.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    I just find it harder and harder to get excited about GPUs as long as the prices are so out of whack, the economy looks worse every day, and the upper end becomes out of reach for more and more people.

    Back before this insanity and we had the $1200 2080 Ti it was expensive for sure, BUT it was the ultra high end AND with 12 month financing affordable for most anyone with a steady job, so it wasn't out of reach for the majority.

    In 2021 with rampant inflation affecting everyday life and insane GPU prices, it's a far different story. When you're talking upwards of $2000 for a GPU, even though it is ultra high end, it's not exactly attainable for most people anymore .

    And to me that just takes all the fun out of it. Unlike other things far too expensive for most people to ever dream of owning, such as an exotic car or expansive house, there's nothing about a GPU to marvel at or to get excited about for not owning one other than knowing that one day that performance will become the next mainstream and then entry level performance.

    The problem is, if the trend continues, that performance boost for mainstream and entry levels will be followed by a major price increase.
    Reply
  • Co BIY
    Every graphics card over $1000 should have a AIO style remote cooler.

    It seems like the marginal added cost shouldn't be very much. The difference between high end air and AIO is not too much.
    Reply
  • JWNoctis
    If I could have a guess, the middling people with both the income and financial sense to keep a healthy rainy-day reserve (but not much more) are also often financially too sensible to buy high-end GPUs like these for themselves at current prices, unless they need it for a living.

    Sometimes I wonder that - mining wannabes and actual miners excluded - how many of these are really bought by those both with the use themselves, as opposed to their offspring or S.O. etc., and the means themselves, as opposed to those of their guardians, or some other windfall.
    Reply