GeForce RTX 3080

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the flagship graphics card announced by NVIDIA on September 1, 2020. This is one of the first graphics cards built on the new Ampere architecture, which replaced the previous Turing architecture. Ampere is a major update designed to improve performance and energy efficiency, as well as introduce new features and technologies.

The Ampere architecture uses Samsung's 8nm process to increase transistor density and performance over previous generations. The architecture also uses new technologies such as NVIDIA RTX IO for faster downloads and streaming, and improved support for ray tracing and DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling).

Characteristics

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is equipped with 8704 CUDA cores, 272 tensor cores, and 68 RT cores. The video card has 10 GB of GDDR6X video memory with a 320-bit interface and a bandwidth of 760 GB / s. The TDP for the RTX 3080 is 320W, making it more energy efficient than previous flagship models.

Gaming performance at release vs. competitors

At the time of its release, the RTX 3080 was one of the most powerful graphics cards on the market, offering outstanding gaming performance at 4K resolution and high graphics settings. In many cases, the RTX 3080 outperformed its predecessor, the RTX 2080 Ti, by 40-60% depending on the game and graphics settings.

The main competitor of the RTX 3080 at the time of release was the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT graphics card. While the RX 6800 XT could deliver comparable or better performance in some games, the RTX 3080 continued to dominate games with ray tracing and DLSS support. This allowed the RTX 3080 to hold the edge in games where these technologies were used.

Interesting facts about the video card

1. The GeForce RTX 3080 was the first graphics card to use the new 12-pin PCIe Gen 4 auxiliary power connector, which was designed for greater power efficiency and ease of connection.

2. Cooler and Design: NVIDIA has implemented a new cooling design for its Ampere Founders Edition graphics cards, which includes a unique dual axial fan cooling system. This allows the graphics card to maintain lower operating temperatures with comparable performance.

3. Shortly after the release of the RTX 3080, the graphics card became the subject of a huge demand, which led to a shortage in the market and a significant increase in prices. This was driven, in part, by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused supply and production issues, as well as increased interest in cryptocurrencies and mining.

4. The GeForce RTX 3080 was the first graphics card to support HDMI 2.1, enabling 4K resolution at 120Hz and support for new features such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).

Overall, the GeForce RTX 3080 represents a significant breakthrough in graphics technology, offering improved performance, energy efficiency, and new features that make this graphics card one of the most popular and sought after on the market. Due to its power, it continues to be one of the most preferred choices for gamers and enthusiasts around the world.