Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Review: High-Res Gaming at a Premium Price

By Chris Angelini
published

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Fan Speeds, Clock Rates, and Temperatures

Gaming

GeForce RTX 2080 Super utilizes the same thermal solution as GeForce RTX 2080, yet it dissipates an extra 25W of waste heat. So it’s no surprise that the 2080 Super’s two axial fans start spinning up sooner than the 2080 Founders Edition, 2070 Super, or 2070 Founders Edition.

What’s more, the 2080 Super’s fans are still speeding up, even as our three-loop Metro benchmark ends. At that point, they’re at 2,100 RPM, or 250 RPM higher than the next-closest contender, GeForce RTX 2070 Founders Edition.

Faster-spinning fans are a symptom of higher operating temperatures. A TU104 processor with more active resources and higher clock rates naturally runs warmer.

Despite its more aggressive fan curve, our sample tops out at 78°C through this real-world gaming test, surpassing even AMD’s Radeon VII. In comparison, the GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition, 2070 Super, and 2070 Founders Edition all maintain temperatures closer to 70°.

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Nvidia needs a higher voltage setting to maintain GeForce RTX 2080 Super’s more aggressive clock rate. At the beginning of our three-run Metro loop, we saw frequencies as high as 1,980 MHz. By the end, GeForce RTX 2080 Super bounced between 1,890 and 1,905 MHz.

FurMark

As we saw under Metro, FurMark’s intensive nature causes the GeForce RTX 2080 Super’s fans to kick in earlier than the rest of Nvidia’s cards. This time around they approach 2,200 RPM—350 RPM higher than GeForce RTX 2070 and 2070 Super.

AMD’s Radeon VII heats up faster than Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 Super, but they both get to the same 78°C during 15 minutes of running FurMark’s stress test. The other GeForce boards we included hover around the 70° mark in comparison.

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Running into a power limit takes its toll on GeForce RTX 2080 Super’s peak clock rate. However, the card is still able to stay within a range of 1,665 and 1,695 MHz through our run. That’s higher than Nvidia’s base frequency rating in a worst-case scenario.

We call this out because, after reviewing five new graphics cards this month, all of them except for GeForce RTX 2080 Super dip below their rated clock rate floors.

MORE: Best Graphics Cards

MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table

MORE: All Graphics Content

Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini
Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.
45 Comments Comment from the forums
  • shmoochie
    "Even more so than GeForce RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super, the 2080 Super looks very, very similar to its predecessor"

    TLDR It's basically just a price drop. You could overclock your founder's edition for the same performance increase.
    Reply
  • Aspiring techie
    I don't understand why this card got a 4/5 star rating, which ties with the RX 5700. This card is way overpriced. Technically, both cards are, but at least the Navi card is a much better value than competing Nvidia cards.
    Reply
  • redgarl
    It scored higher than the 5700XT...? Toms... these reviews are useless if they don't make sense... you know?!!!

    There is no way this product can be recommended... NO WAY in hell.

    Score should be 2.5/5
    Reply
  • TCA_ChinChin
    The least exciting of the Super refreshes that weren't that exciting in the first place. I'll say it again, screws early adopters (this time only a little bit) and new customers still don't get a good value since the RTX-2080 range price/performance is garbage anyways. The least improvement for the least worth it product in Nvidia's lineup.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    shmoochie said:
    "Even more so than GeForce RTX 2060 Super and 2070 Super, the 2080 Super looks very, very similar to its predecessor"

    TLDR It's basically just a price drop. You could overclock your founder's edition for the same performance increase.

    Not quite? The 2060 Super includes more memory and more memory bandwidth along with more shaders.

    All the cards have more shaders and also probably will have more clocking headroom. This is not like the HD7970GHz edition that was a binned speed chip. These are binned but binned with more total shaders.

    Aspiring techie said:
    I don't understand why this card got a 4/5 star rating, which ties with the RX 5700. This card is way overpriced. Technically, both cards are, but at least the Navi card is a much better value than competing Nvidia cards.

    Because price is only one aspect of the total score for a card?

    Value is also in the eye of the beholder. Why did the owner of my company dump $140K into a Mercedes that has had massive problems after his $140K Audis transmission blew and he only got $20K for the trade? I mean hell its a construction company and he could have bought two very nice Ford Raptors instead which makes more sense but he likes the other cars more.

    Point being, while I agree the price is a tad too high, not everyone sees the RX 5700 XT as a good value when chasing the max FPS. Especially considering that down the road the RX 5700 XT will have to be replaced sooner than the RTX 2080 Super.

    redgarl said:
    It scored higher than the 5700XT...? Toms... these reviews are useless if they don't make sense... you know?!!!

    There is no way this product can be recommended... NO WAY in hell.

    Score should be 2.5/5

    It's always the same with you isn't it? Maybe both cards have their value but this one has better value for the market segment it is trying to reach.

    BTW Chris is probably the best reviewer TH has, I certainly miss the days when he was running the ship. They are typically fully fledged with plenty of information to help make a good decision.

    Yes the RX 5700 XT is a better "value" if price is your only concern but until AMD tosses GCN to the curb and pushes out a new uArch design that can truly push nVidia we wont see any real price war in the GPU market.

    Basically AMD needs to pull a Zen.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Value from a top dog? Some people needs a reality check in a capitalist world.

    Yeah, yeah, the 2080ti is the top dog... No, the Titan V was it? I can't remember as AMD is so far behind we have to deal with this pricing nonsense from nVidia to get decent performance.

    I sound* salty, because I am. I want prices to go down, but no company out there works as a charity. The only way nVidia will ever drop prices (even in the form of a re-brand / re-launch) is with competition.

    You can all hope AMD gets their act together and delivers with the next gen.

    Cheers!
    Reply
  • chickenballs
    Aspiring techie said:
    I don't understand why this card got a 4/5 star rating, which ties with the RX 5700. This card is way overpriced. Technically, both cards are, but at least the Navi card is a much better value than competing Nvidia cards.
    Maybe you have forgotten about the famous Tom's article about the RTX cards before they were even released:
    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-rtx-gpus-worth-the-money,37689.html
    Just buy it!


    Qeb3IhsZSCMView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeb3IhsZSCM
    Reply
  • TCA_ChinChin
    Title changes from "Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Review: Leaving Navi In The Dust" to "Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 Super Review: Leaving Navi In The Dust At Nearly 2x the price" to "Nvidia Geforce RTX 2080 Super Review: High-Res Gaming at a Premium Price". Maybe y'all should have just used the last title in the beginning? Even this comment thread still has the original name. If you guy's kept it as is, then it would've been the save as "Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super Review: Leaving RTX 2070 In The Dust" or simply anything else in the 400$ bracket. Imagine comparing a 700$ card to a 400$ card.
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    chickenballs said:
    Maybe you have forgotten about the famous Tom's article about the RTX cards before they were even released:
    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-rtx-gpus-worth-the-money,37689.html
    Just buy it!


    Qeb3IhsZSCMView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeb3IhsZSCM

    That was an Op-Ed by the head of TH. Myself, and most moderators, were very much against it anyways as they are always pointless.

    However that has NOTHING to do with Chris and his review. Chris has never been that way and always gives an honest opinion for the product.
    Reply
  • ingtar33
    chickenballs said:
    Maybe you have forgotten about the famous Tom's article about the RTX cards before they were even released:
    https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-rtx-gpus-worth-the-money,37689.html
    Just buy it!


    Qeb3IhsZSCMView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeb3IhsZSCM
    bingo, don't question nvidia, just buy them! I for one am all for our corperate overlords.

    setting that sad social commentary aside, I love how THG ignores the fact that the 2080 super is just a 1080ti, being sold at $700+

    the Rt2070 xt just tested at or just above 2070 speeds (depending on the reviewer), and sells for <400

    If that isn't attractive for anyone then you'll never see lower prices from nvidia. Why? because it's people like those, waiting for the mystical nvidia price drop that allows them to NEVER drop their prices. The longer they refuse to buy team red, the more they lock in nvidia's monopolistic practices.

    and the more tech journalists and publications like THG ignores NVIDIA's predatory monopolistic pricing, the worst the situation gets.
    Reply