72 PCWorld NOVEMBER 2020REVIEWS TESTED: NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3080
1080p, but the overall margin of victory
plummets precipitously, and there’s no
tangible performance lead whatsoever in
some games.
If you have a 60Hz to 144Hz 1080p
display, you’d probably be better off opting
for a cheaper, but still plenty fast graphics
card (though you’ll probably want to put off
upgrading until cheaper RTX 30-series or
next-gen Radeon rivals start rolling out).
That said, the RTX 3080 FE could give
competitive esports gamers an edge if you
plan on cranking down visual settings to push
(ugly) frames as high as possible, especially
paired with a 240Hz or 360Hz monitor. The
company’s new Nvidia Reflex technology
helps you achieve even lower latency in
esports games where you’d drop visual
settings for maximum responsiveness, in
games that support the new API. We haven’t
tested the GeForce RTX 3080
with Reflex or a 240Hz-plus
monitor yet, however.- THIS SMOKING-
FAST GPU NEEDS A
LOT OF POWER
Pushing frame rates so high
requires compromise, however.
Nvidia made technological
improvements to the Ampere
GPU architecture that make it
more efficient than previous-
gen RTX 20-series GPUs, and
the company heavily optimized the Founders
Edition design. That said, the RTX 3080 still
stresses your power supply more than any
prior GeForce GPU.
In our whole-system power tests, the
GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition draws
50 watts more than the former 2080 Ti
flagship, over 100W more than its direct 2080
predecessor, and an eye-opening 200W
more than the GTX 1080. Custom versions of
the card revealed thus far are all massive and
equipped with two or three 8-pin power
connectors. They could push power
demands even further, especially when
overclocked. Nvidia’s Founders Edition sticks
to reference speeds.
It’s worthwhile for the ludicrous
performance on offer, in our opinion, but you
may need to upgrade your power supply to
feed the RTX 3080. Nvidia rates the total boardNvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition uses a proprietary
12-pin power connection.