To the editorial board of the portal GameMAG.ru the test got a new video card from the company ASUS – model TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 O10G… It is one of the most advanced graphics accelerators on the architecture NVIDIA Ampere with support DirectX 12 Ultimate and real-time ray tracing technology for 4K projects. In the official store, the cost of this card is 103990 rubles…
PACKAGING AND APPEARANCE
The video card is traditionally packed in two boxes. The outer thin packaging is colored mainly black and green. On the front side, as usual, flaunts the product image, huge logos of ASUS and the TUF GAMING series, as well as the inscription NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 on a traditionally black and green background. On the reverse side, the manufacturer indicated information about the key advantages of this model.
The inner box is already made of two-layer black cardboard. It opens like a box, and inside you will find the video card itself, surrounded on all sides by black foam polyethylene. There you will also find a quick start guide, a certificate of reliability and a thank you card.
The card weighs 1,393 kg and, due to the massive cooling system, occupies 2.7 slots in the computer, and its length is 30 centimeters. It is very large and may not fit if you have something installed opposite the PCI Express slots, such as hard drives. To use the device, the manufacturer recommends a power supply with a capacity of at least 850 watts. We used a 750 W unit from Thermaltake and it was enough for our head.
In terms of design, the new TUF Gaming line has changed, although ASUS still takes a powerful cooling system with three Axial-tech fans with double ball bearings and a huge wide heatsink as a basis. At the front, all this is clothed in a completely aluminum gray casing with a rather beautiful embossed surface. The back of the PCB is also covered with a metal plate with a wide ventilation opening to remove hot air. There is also a reinforcing plate under the GPU, which prevents deformation of the printed circuit board, which could happen due to the huge weight of the cooling system.
This card also has RGB backlighting. At the front, there is a small glowing line above the TUF GAMING lettering. The manufacturer has applied the luminous RGB TUF logo to a special area on the side. There are also two additional power connectors, both 8-pin. In addition, a mode switch is installed next to the contacts. On a board without an app, you can switch the card from quiet to productive mode and back. Two HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a are available from video outputs.
SPECIFICATIONS
The video card is based on the GA102 GPU, or rather its slightly cut version GA102-200-KD-A1 with NVIDIA Ampere architecture. The chip is built on an 8-nm process technology with a crystal area of 628 mm2, on which 28.3 million transistors fit. The GA102-200-KD-A1 GPU contains 6 GPC clusters with 12 SM modules each. However, in two of the clusters, 2 SM modules are disabled, which ultimately gives 68 SM and 8704 CUDA cores.
Also, this chip uses 96 raster units, 68 second-generation RT cores, 272 third-generation tensor cores and 272 texture units. The base frequency of this chip is 1440 MHz. In game mode, the frequency rises to 1785 MHz, which is 60 more than that of the reference model from NVIDIA itself. In OC mode, the frequency increases by another 30 MHz and reaches 1815 MHz.
Also, with the change of generation, memory has changed. Unlike the 20-series NVIDIA RTX, the older 3080 and 3090 cards use GDDR6X memory, which operates at an effective frequency of 19000 MHz. A 320-bit bus with a bandwidth of 760 Gb / s is used to transfer data between the GPU and memory.
With HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4a, the graphics card can deliver a maximum resolution of 8K (7680 x 4320 pixels) at 60 Hz. Despite having 5 video outputs, the system only supports up to four monitors at the same time.
SOFT
To configure and overclock a video card, the company has its own proprietary software – ASUS GPU Tweak II. This application provides complete information about the operation of the video accelerator in real time, for example, the temperature, the speed of operation or the load of the video card. Optionally, the application can be configured to display data while playing. It also allows you to configure the operation of the card itself, either manually or using the factory settings (OC, Gaming and Silent modes). In addition, you can create your own profiles. The program has a Gaming Booster option that automatically optimizes the system to speed up gaming performance.
As for the backlight, the manufacturer has an ASUS AURA application for it. As in all similar applications, through it, you can adjust the colors, effects and speed of the backlight, as well as synchronize it with other devices from the ASUS family. In addition, the app works in conjunction with Philips Hue lighting solutions, which will come in handy for those who like to decorate a room with custom illumination.
SYNTHETIC TESTS
We traditionally use several third-party benchmarks to test the performance of video cards. All subsequent tests (synthetic and gaming) were carried out in the factory overclocking mode (OC Mode). As a test bench, a PC with a 6-core Intel Core i7 5820K processor with a frequency of 3.3 GHz and 16 gigabytes of DDR4 memory with a frequency of 3000 MHz was used. For fast downloads, games and programs were installed on an NVMe drive from ADATA.
To begin with, we launched the Superposition 3D benchmark from Unigine, which is famous for its semi-synthetic tests. Developed on the Unigine 2 engine, the test takes us to an abandoned laboratory in the mid-20th century with photorealistic graphics. The test was carried out in three available settings – 1080p Extreme, 4K Optimized, 8K Optimized, and in all cases the GPU was used at 100%, and the maximum recorded temperature did not exceed 76 degrees:
- 1080p Extreme – 10351 (40 to 98 FPS, average 77)
- 4K Optimized – 13085 points (26 to 135 FPS, average 98)
- 8K Optimized – 6150 points (38 to 54 FPS, average 46)
Next, we launched the Chinese benchmark Boundary, which is based on the upcoming tactical online shooter of the same name in a space setting. This test uses ray tracing technology. The test was carried out in three resolution settings – 1080, 1440p and 4K – with tracing and DLSS in the quality and ultra-performance modes:
- 1080p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 105.1 FPS (from 9 to 460 FPS)
- 1080p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 201.7 FPS (12 to 550 FPS)
- 1440p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 71.1 FPS (from 9 to 269 FPS)
- 1440p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 152.1 FPS (0 to 436 FPS)
- 2160p, RTX, DLSS Quality – 35.8 FPS (from 0 to 203 FPS)
- 2160p, RTX, DLSS Ultra Performance – 102.8 FPS (0 to 457 FPS)
The maximum temperature in the Boundary test was recorded at around 80 degrees.
GAME BENCHMARKS
Next, we tested the video card in various gaming benchmarks, which included projects that have already become traditional for us: Gears 5, Final Fantasy XV and Forza Horizon 4.
We first tested the 3080 in the best open world race in years. This benchmark was run multiple times by internal benchmarking with the highest available custom settings at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. The temperature was kept in the range from 64 to 77 degrees, and the workload averaged from 55% to 99%, depending on the resolution:
- 1080p, all at maximum – 110 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 170.4 FPS)
- 1440p, all at maximum – 109 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 139.1 FPS)
- 4K, all at maximum – 92 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 97.1 FPS)
The second project with an in-game performance test was Gears 5, which recently received a major update with the addition of a beam setting for screen space global illumination, carried over from the Xbox Series X | S. In tests, the GPU temperature remained between 63 and 76 degrees, and the CPU load was almost always at around 100%:
- 4K, all at maximum + ultra textures – 51.9 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 52.5 FPS)
- 1440p, all at maximum + ultra textures – 64.6 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 70.3 FPS)
- 1080p, all at maximum + ultra textures – 64.7 FPS (average frame rate of the video card – 74.2 FPS)
The final gaming benchmark was the Windows version of Final Fantasy XV. The GPU temperature in the Japanese RPG benchmark from Square Enix ranged from 70 to 78 degrees. The benchmark was run on high graphics settings in 1080p, 1440p and 4K resolutions. On a test system with an RTX 3080 on board, the following scores were obtained:
- 4K High – 7621 (Fairly High)
- 1440p, High – 9783 (Very High)
- 1080p, High – 9955 (Very High)
GAME TESTS IN 4K, DLSS, RTX
Since the 3080 models are positioned as devices for comfortable gaming in 4K-resolution, we conducted tests in games exclusively in this resolution at maximum graphics settings, including ray tracing and DLSS.
To begin with, we launched the dynamic shooter DOOM Eternal, which is not the most demanding project in 2023 and runs well even on weak hardware. Consistent performance is essential in shooters, and the ASUS RTX 3080 excels at this. The average FPS value during battles in open locations at maximum graphics settings was about 115-130 frames. The maximum temperature was recorded at around 78 degrees with the accelerator loading up to 97%.
Next, we tested another shooter, but more demanding on the hardware. It was Metro Exodus from 4A Games. This is one of the first projects to receive support for ray tracing and DLSS. Naturally, in this game we also used the maximum settings, and also activated NVIDIA Hairworks and PhysX. In closed spaces, on average, the game produced about 70 frames per second, and in open spaces the average value was kept in the region of 60-65 frames. Occasionally there were drops to 40-45 frames in scenes with a large number of characters and in open space, for example, at the Volga level next to Aurora. The maximum temperature was observed at around 81 degrees with the GPU loading up to 98%.
Then we launched an ingenious project from Hideo Kojima. Death Standing, released in the summer on PC, is trying to use the latest technological innovations, including DLSS 2.0, which allows you to increase the resolution of frames using a neural network with minimal performance loss. At maximum settings in 4K with DLSS enabled in quality mode, the Japanese project was able to produce an average of 100 frames, which is more than enough for a comfortable game. At the same time, the GPU was loaded on average by 70%, and the maximum temperature did not exceed 71 degrees. When switching DLSS to performance mode, the frame rate increased by an average of 20 values at the same load and temperature. The picture has not changed much.
To boot the system, after Death Stranding, we decided to turn to a heavier and more technologically advanced project – Control from Remedy. The game supports not only ray tracing technology for creating realistic lighting and reflections, but also DLSS 2.0. With maximum ray tracing settings at 4K, a rendering resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and DLSS Control enabled, it produces an average of about 50-60 frames, which is quite a good result for a not-optimized project.
Finally, we also checked out Cyberpunk 2077 from CD Project RED. The long-suffering long-term construction uses the latest technologies, including DLSS 2.0 and ray tracing, which are transforming Night City. At the highest graphics settings with maximum RTX and DLSS parameters in the “Ultra Performance” mode in the city, the system produces a stable 60 FPS. But if you switch DLSS to “Quality” mode, the performance will drop to 30-35 frames, although the picture will become much clearer. With the “Balanced” DLSS setting, the average frame rate is around 40 FPS and the image quality is approximately the same as with the “Quality” setting. The game loads the GPU quite heavily up to 100% and a temperature of 80 degrees.
It should be noted that when playing in 4K in the factory overclocked mode (OC Mode), the cooler speed was kept at ~ 2600 rpm. The average noise from the enclosure with noise isolation during the tests was recorded at around 53 dB, which is quite a lot. But if you play with headphones or with loud high-quality acoustics, then the noise of the computer is unlikely to disturb you. The maximum power consumption was recorded at around 356W, which is within the normal range for the 3080 series.
RESULTS
ASUS TUF GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 O10G is an excellent card that, even on a far from the most current gaming PC, allows you to comfortably play the most modern projects with the best graphics and tracing, and for this you do not need to assemble a new computer from scratch. On the other hand, its cost is still far from even the recommended one, and for this money you can buy two consoles, and even remain on Xbox Game Pass. If you are only planning to assemble a modern PC for the next 5-7 years, then you will need at least another 100 thousand for the rest of the parts.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
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