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

Extreme performance and lots of RGB

By Jarred Walton
last updated
Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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It's difficult to determine the actual price of the Asus ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. Officially, it's supposed to be $2,199, but even then it's basically impossible to find the card anywhere. Amazon has a listing for the card, with two marketplace sellers asking $3,900 and $4,000. Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Most reputable places don't have any inventory, so for the time being this is basically vaporware.

When will the madness end? I don't know, but I think there's a good chance we'll see Lovelace and RDNA3 GPUs before we see RTX 30-series graphics cards on shelves selling at Nvidia's MSRPs — meaning, some time in late 2022 probably.

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

We get that this is an extreme card, and maybe some people could even justify paying $2,000 for it. Nvidia sold plenty of Titan graphics cards over the past five years, and this is basically as good as most of those (minus the 'professional' drivers). But when normal RTX 3080 Ti cards go for an average price of around $1,900 on eBay, and the air-cooled Asus ROG Strix RTX 3080 Ti has an average price of $2,250 on eBay during the past month, the liquid-cooled version will be out of reach of any 'normal' gamer.

That's basically the story of the past year. Every new graphics card we review feels like we're testing and writing about a product most people will never see or use. We keep hoping things will improve, but so far that hope has been all in vain. Hope can't change the realities of limited supply and extreme demand.

If a product like the Asus ROG Strix LC RTX 3080 Ti had launched a few years back, with a price of $1,200, we could have made a case for it being an extreme card built for enthusiasts. At potentially more than double that price, all we can do is give a sad shake of the head and look forward to better days.

Theoretically, Asus has an awesomely powerful and cool-running GPU for extreme enthusiasts. We'd love to be able to recommend buying one. Practically speaking, unfortunately, all we really have is a product page and a review sample; we don't even know where to point people to actually buy one, at any price. If you can find one in stock at a reasonable price, by all means, go for it. Given current market conditions, we continue to suggest figuring out what settings to use in order to play games on your current hardware while we wait (and wiat, and wait) this GPU shortage out. 

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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