2080 Super are practically the only
GPUs suitable for ray tracing at high
graphical levels right now.
Sadly, the Radeon VII falls behind.
While many hoped it would be a
GeForce-killer, no ray tracing and
lackluster frame rates killed that
dream. However, it’s worth noting that
the VII excels in other areas: 16GB
of VRAM, 2GT/s of memory speed,
and a stonking terabyte/s of memory
bandwidth mean it’s a powerhouse
when it comes to 3D rendering and
video editing. We’re looking at 4K
gaming here, but it’s a solid workhorse
GPU that doesn’t bite your wallet as
badly as Nvidia’s high-end cards, such
as the Quadro and the Tesla.Performance
Watch out, here comes another
spoiler—though we hope you saw
this one coming. The RTX 2080 Ti
obliterates the other cards when
it comes to performance, arguably
the most viable option for 4K ultra
gaming right now. The other cards
effectively demand a sacrifice of either
frame rate or graphical fidelity when
running games at 4K—even the Ti
struggles with some games, though.
The 2080 Super does its level best
to keep up, and performs admirably
considering it costs more than a third
less than its older brother. It’s also
worth noting that both are equipped
with ray-tracing tech, which the AMD
card lacks; indeed, the 2080 Ti andThe Radeon VII! No, just kidding, although
we don’t want to discredit AMD’s top-tier
GPU, particularly if you use your system
primarily for content creation. The real
winner is the GeForce RTX 2080 Super. It
was a close call, but we’ve got to give it to
the newer card; it’s simply better value,
and provides sufficient performance to
hold its ground at 4K without breaking the
bank. Ray tracing and the improved TU104
architecture only sweeten the deal.
When it comes down to it, the main
reason to buy an RTX 2080 Ti is because
it’s the best commercially available GPU
around. If you’ve got an urgent need to
have the absolute best of the best, sure,
it’s a great card. But twin-fan models of
the 2080 Super are available for scarcely
more than $700, and it’ll run most games
at a respectable frame rate in 4K—more
so if you’re willing to drop from ultra to
high settings. For $400 dollars less, it’s
hard not to admit that the Super is just that:
a super alternative to pricier 4K options.
And lastly, yes, we’re aware that the
Titan RTX exists. Despite ostensibly being
the best gaming GPU on the market, it
would lose every category except
performance, and the insane price tag
means we’d never recommend it for mere
4K gaming. Please don’t come after us on
Twitter for doling out some hard truths.And the
Winner Is...
ROUND 4
From lef t to right:
AMD kicked off 7nm
architecture with
the Radeon VII, later
using it for the
RX 5700 series.The RTX 2080 Super
is the baby of this
group, released
just a few short
months ago.The 2080 Ti remains
a mark of status
among PC gamers.RTX 2080 Super RTX 2080 Ti Radeon VIITom Clancy’s The Division 2 (fps) 47/40 59/50 39/33
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (fps) 43/35 53/40 37/27
Far Cry 5 (fps) 62/53 78/64 58/46
Shadow of the Tomb Raider (fps) 52/43 62/50 46/35
Middle Earth: Shadow of War (fps) 57/44 72/56 49/38
Metro Exodus (fps) 46/30 57/37 42/27
Total War: Warhammer II (fps) 59/47 72/57 43/32Best scores are in bold. Our test bed consists of an Intel Core i7-8700K, 16GB of G.Skill DDR4-3200, a Gigabyte
Z370 Aorus Gaming 7, and a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2. All games are tested at their highest graphical profile with
AA turned on at 4K. Figures provided are an average and a minimum (97th percentile) respectively.Winner: RTX 2080 Ti©^
AM
D,^
NV
ID
IA
maximumpc.com DEC 2019 MAXIMUMPC 21