A new line of graphics cards only comes every couple of years. But cards as ambitious as Nvidia’s RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti? They’re a rare bird indeed.
After an entire year of anticipation, we finally have these two new, powerful GPUs loaded into our systems. But the first thing we wanted to test wasn’t the fancy, ray tracing abilities or AI-powered anti-aliasing. No, no. Here’s the question we sought to answer: Do they actually deliver a substantial improvement on performance worth their high price tag? The answer may surprise you. And disappoint you.
IN-GAME TESTING
Our standard suite of test games includes Shadow of the tomb raider, Battlefield 1, Rise of the tomb raider , Metro last night and hitman, for kicks. 4K is still the holy grail when it comes to gaming, but we started out our testing in 1440p to see how the 2080 and 2080 Ti could handle lower resolutions. If you’re playing games in 1080p or lower, no need to drop this much cash on a graphics card. GTX 1060 or 1070 / RTX 2070 or / RTX 2060 should do you just fine.
The framerates we got lined up well with the precedent set by the 3DMark scores. In terms of game performance, the RTX 2080 comes in above the GTX 1080 — and just behind the 1080 Ti. In 1440p, games like Hitman look beautiful and play smoothly on the RTX 2080, and it will even take full advantage of your high-end 144Hz panel. Same story for Fortnite, where we averaged 142 frames per second. That’s around a 20-25 percent increase over framerates delivered by the GTX 1080, but a bit behind what the GTX 1080 Ti can pump out. It’s not the massive leap forward we’d hoped for, but it’s on par for a new generation of GPUs.
When jumping up to 4K,
We are happy to report the RTX 2080 can handle almost every game this resolution with settings maxed. Civilization VI, Battlefield 1, and Fortnite easily cleared the 60 FPS hurdle, and that’ll be indicative of most modern demanding games you currently play. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided presented a bit of a stumbling block in 4K, but it’s an outlier in terms of how it’s optimized.
Again, those are positive numbers. They just don’t quite match the hype of Nvidia’s marketing — and thanks to the price of the card, certainly don’t bring 4K gaming access to the masses.
In a second-round of testing we compared how the RTX 2080 performed when paired with different CPUs and although there was a difference between a system running an Intel Core i9-9900K and an AMD Threadripper 1920X, the 2080 performed well in each case. It managed more than 60 FPS in Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey at 1440p with Ultra detail settings, and even in the always-intensive Deus: Ex Mankind Divided, at 1440p with High settings, it could reach as much as 90 FPS on average.
The RTX 2080 Ti, on the other hand, has some raw power that we haven’t seen before. We’re seeing a similar 20 to 30 percent framerate increase in games like Deus Ex and Battlefield 1. It’s a bit more exciting when you’re stepping into uncharted territory.
Regardless of the resolution, the 2080 Ti has a ton of power at its disposal. Games like Battlefield 1 and Fortnite feel nearly wasted, tapping out over 150 FPS. When you see some of those beautiful environments in Battlefield 1 rendered in brilliant, smooth 4K, it’s hard to be disappointed.
If you’ve been waiting around for a graphics card to properly match that huge, 4K monitor sitting on your desk, the 2080 Ti is as close as you can get. It still sank under 60 FPS during Deus Ex with an average framerate of 49 FPS, but this chip makes nearly every game we tried look like a walk in the park. The same could be said of the 1080 Ti, which was already a very powerful chip, but the 2080 Ti takes it one step further.
Numbers
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
The most recent game to be added to our benchmark suite is a pretty one: Assassin's Creed Odyssey, released in late 2018. The game provides a stern test even for modern high-end hardware, thanks to epic vistas and detailed materials. The RTX 2080 outperforms the GTX 1080 Ti at 1440p with a 2fps lead, which doubles to a 4fps gap at 4K. However, the RTX 2080 is in turn outdone by the RTX 2080 Ti, with the latter scoring 22 higher than the second-place RTX card at 4K. The Radeon 7 is much more competitive than its predecessor, the Vega 64, with a result that sits between the GTX 1080 Ti and RTX 2080 at 4K.
Battlefield 1
Our second test is Battlefield 1, which came out in 2016. There's no dedicated benchmark here, so we're using part of the War Stories mode which sets the player in a British tank racing across French no man's land. While there are a few frame-time spikes thanks to randomised explosions throughout the run, the performance is representative. The standout performer here is the Radeon 7, which eclipses the RTX 2080 by a solid eight per cent at 4K. In turn, the RTX 2080 Ti is able to turn in an average of 103fps at 4K, a result 15 per cent faster than the Radeon 7. Meanwhile, the RTX 2080 makes do with 78fps, seven per cent better than last year's GTX 1080 Ti. In last place, the GTX 1080 still at least manages to eclipse the 60fps mark.
Assassin's Creed Unity
Our second game is the now classic title Assassin's Creed Unity, which was released in 2014 but remains a challenge even for modern GPUs at 4K and the ultra high preset that we're using. The RTX 2080 offers near-identical performance to the GTX 1080 Ti at around 45fps, while the RTX 2080 Ti becomes the first card to squeak over the 60fps waterline. AMD's highest-performing card, the Radeon 7, only manages 40 frames per second at 4K by comparison. AMD hardware in general struggles with the game's depth of field effect, explaining the wider variance in its run.
Crysis 3
More than 11 years after the series debuted and five years since its latest iteration, running Crysis remains the shorthand for having an awesome gaming PC - and running it at 4K remains a legitimately challenging test. Even the RTX 2080 isn't able to hit 60fps here, with only the RTX 2080 Ti surpassing the figure at 68fps. The RTX 2080 is poor by comparison, at just 53fps, about 23 per cent slower than the new fastest card on the market. The RTX 2080 also comes behind the GTX 1080 Ti, which just outperforms it at 54fps. This may indicate that newer games may perform better on the new cards, and older games may prove relatively more challenging - though few other 2013-era titles are as tough on hardware as Crysis!
Far Cry 5
2018 release Far Cry 5 replaces 2016's Far Cry Primal in our benchmarks. The RTX 2080 Ti is at the top of the pile once again, with an average result of 75fps at 4K, 25 per cent faster than the the RTX 2080 and Radeon 7 at 60fps. However, that's still enough to moderately outpace the GTX 1080 Ti, which manages only 56fps in the same test.
The Witcher 3
We couldn't test a graphics card without having a good old run through Novigrad on the back of our favourite gaming steed. We're talking of course about The Witcher 3, which was released in 2015 and remains a challenging test at 4K. The RTX 2080 Ti unsurprisingly takes home the top prize with an average frame-rate of 77fps, compared to 60fps for the RTX 2080 and nearly the same for the Radeon 7. The GTX 1080 Ti performs better than expected here, with an average of 64fps. However, the GTX 1080 still manages a tolerable score of around 45fps, allowing the last-place card to reach 60fps through a little settings tweakery.