RTX 3080 review compilation

They make noise, too.

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CA_Steve
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RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Sep 17, 2020 4:03 pm

Early look: a step and a half to two steps up from RTX 2080, but at the cost of additional power. Some of the aftermarket cards are pushing the core voltage/ power limit a tad harder than others. more to come.

In brief: 2160p performance 35% faster than RTX 2080Ti. 320W TDP, but OEM stock OC'ed cards WILL use more at stress loads. PCIe 4.0, but just a hair faster than 3.0 in benchmarks..probably don't need to run out and get a PCIe 4 mobo for this one. Finally have HDMI 2.1 along with Display Port 1.4a. Supports dual link DVI-D but not analog. May have the new 12-pin PCIe Graphics power connector - OEM cards may have more. Dimensions stated as: a" x b" x c" are from mfgr websites - others are from reviews. No SLI support.

Crash to Desktop issue: Some cards are experiencing failures in the field. Analysis points to capacitor filter designs not handling the high frequency filtering required at the highest boost frequencies causing the system to crash to the desktop. Here's an update from mfgrs via Techpowerup..
9/30/20 update: Nvidia released a driver update to improve stability (w/o saying how they did it - one plausible explanation is the boost clocks freq changes were slowed down so bypass caps could cope). MSI and Gigabyte's statements on it.

Roundups:

Reviews with acoustic testing:

MSI RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio (12.6-12.8" length, 5.5" height, 2.7 slot (2.2"), Three 8-pin PEG, 340W power target (max 350W), passive idle. 3 DP, 1 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C. 700rpm starting speed.
Techpowerup
Guru 3D
Hexus
KitGuru
ComputerBase

ASUS RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC (11.8-12" length, 5.5-5.7" height, 2,7 slot (xx"), Two 8-pin PEG, 340W power target (max 375W), passive idle. 3 DP, 2 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C. 1150rpm starting speed.
Techpowerup
Guru 3D
Hexus
ComputerBase

Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity (12.6" length, 4.7" height, 3 slot (xx"), Two 8-pin PEG, passive idle. 3 DP, 1 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C.
Techpowerup

Palit RTX 3080 Gaming Pro (11.6" length, 4.5" height, 3 slot (xx"), Two 8-pin PEG, passive idle. 3 DP, 1 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C.
Techpowerup
Guru 3D

Gigabyte RTX 3080 Eagle OC (12.6" length, 5.15" height, 3 slot (xx"), Two 8-pin PEG, passive idle. 3 DP, 2 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C.
KitGuru

GalaxRTX 3080 SG (12.2" length, xx" height, 3 slot (xx"), Two 8-pin PEG, passive idle. 3 DP, 1 HDMI). Passive fan hysteresis: fans off with drop to xxC; fans on with rise to 60C.
Guru3D

Abula
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Re: GTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Abula » Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:02 am

Asus TUF seems to be best with the dual bios.

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Re: GTX 3080 review compilation

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:36 am

At first look, I think it's a toss up between the Asus and the MSI Gaming X Trio. The former might be a dB quieter and a better cooler, but the MSI is slightly faster and uses less power for both 2D and 3D tasks.

Abula
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Re: GTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Abula » Fri Sep 18, 2020 2:26 pm

CA_Steve wrote:
Fri Sep 18, 2020 11:36 am
At first look, I think it's a toss up between the Asus and the MSI Gaming X Trio. The former might be a dB quieter and a better cooler, but the MSI is slightly faster and uses less power for both 2D and 3D tasks.
I was set on MSI, specially because the lack of seeing higher end cards like STRIX, AORUS EXTREME, LIGHTNINGHT, etc, so the TRIO seem like a beefier card than the rest, but the ASUS TUF seems like its a STRIX in disguise.

From Techpowerup ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC Review
TUFvsTRIO.png
Forget the 32vs31, so lets assume they are the same noise wise because it can be well with in margin of error, but there are 5C difference that might give you better sustain boost clocks.

For me ASUS TUF > MSI TRIO.
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Last edited by Abula on Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

CA_Steve
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Re: GTX 3080 review compilation

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Sep 19, 2020 7:50 am

Funny, I based my opinion on the same reviews :). I get annoyed when mfgrs throw extra core voltage at the problem driving up power use. Of course, a sample size of 1 isn't a good place for a judgement call. <shrug> You know I'm the xx60 guy, anyway. :)

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by CA_Steve » Sat Sep 19, 2020 9:10 am

first reviews are up. Some variation between them on Asus and MSI power use and acoustic performance, but all have Asus running cooler.

Abula
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Re: GTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Abula » Sat Sep 19, 2020 11:05 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Sat Sep 19, 2020 7:50 am
Funny, I based my opinion on the same reviews :). I get annoyed when mfgrs throw extra core voltage at the problem driving up power use. Of course, a sample size of 1 isn't a good place for a judgement call. <shrug> You know I'm the xx60 guy, anyway. :)
Check Optimum tech MSI RTX 3080 Gaming X Trio – Teardown, Thermals & Noise, check around 7min, where it compares the MSI n Asus.

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by bbalex » Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:47 am

Woah... I remember the GTX 980 similar thread! (have not been here in a long time, I'm afraid :( )

I have to comment on the MSI and Asus cards, because I see reviews are terrible in judging this from the point of view of a really silent PC. Short disclaimer first: I have neither of these two cards (could not buy them, others were too quick), so all I say here is not coming from me having tested them.

My experience with MSI and Asus graphic cards is that Asus have a worse sound profile, they take advantage of the fact that the dBA weighting counts lower frequencies less, and their noise emissions are very rich in that area. So, while the dBA rating of the two cards might be the same, when you have them both and compare them side by side you'll notice that one of them sounds worse than the other - and I'd wage it's the TUF that sounds worse if past experience repeats itself.

Unfortunately, noise rich in the lower frequency bands has a worse psychological effect that noise rich in the mid frequency band. That's because lower frequency noise has a masking effect that makes it harder to perceive mid and high frequency sounds (makes it harder to understand spoken words, for instance). To cover for that, you'll have to raise the volume of your speakers, and based on the type and intensity of the masking noise, you'll have to turn the volume up tens of dB more to be able to understand as well as you did when that lower frequency sound was not there. I'm not kidding, you can read about it on Wikipedia in the Auditory Masking article. Continuous exposure to lower frequency noise also gives a nasty "ears full" sensation after a long exposure.

That being said, I have not seen a FFT of the sound from either the MSI X Trio or the TUF, so don't know if that is still true.

In the Optimum Tech youtube video, the only thing I could notice was more of the "coil noise" like sound from the TUF while its fans were spinning than from the Trio X, to be honest. But that's a youtube video, recorded with who knows what kind of mics...

Another thing to consider is the start and end points on the fans control hysteresis curve. When I had 980's from both Asus and MSI, the Asus was worse because it was starting and stopping the fans a lot during normal PC stuff (nothing GPU demanding), as its fans start point was set at a low temperature that was reached often. The MSI GTX 980 had the fans start point at a much higher temperature, that was not reached while doing normal stuff on your PC, so the fans were kept turned off all the time while doing normal stuff on your PC. Only starting a game would make the fans start spinning. So yeah, the MSI card was running at a higher temperature most of the time, but if you are interested in a silent PC that's what you want as it means you never hear the fans spinning. The fans would start only when you actually do something that makes a large demand on the GPU. That constant turn on/turn off the fans is also more annoying than one could imagine, btw. Unfortunately, most of the reviewers don't understand this, they give big points to having lower temperatures all the time. Truth be told, most of these reviewers are either living in noisy environments or have plenty of fans spinning around in their "silent" PCs, so it's understandable why they don't understand this point. And the people watching their reviews are pretty much in the same situation, so the reviewers cater to this audience obsessed with low temperatures instead of silence.

So, when looking at reviews from the point of view of a really silent build, like you have a fanless system except for this GPU card, then you should be careful at the temperatures of the start/stop points of the fans on the temperature hysteresis curve. TechPowerUp's reviews have such graphs where you can see the behavior, for instance. Another solution to this problem is to order the MonsterLabo Beast which will finally provide support for up to 3080 cards with full GPU cooling cover plate, but that's another discussion... :)

So, my notes on the Trio X and the TUF with this in mind are:

MSI Gaming X Trio:
TPU
- fans off until 62 C, then they start with a short peak at 900 rpm quickly coming down to 600 rpm -> 1200 rpm @ 70 C -> 1484 rpm @ 76 C -> stop after 590 s at 800 rpm @ 42 C -> idles at 0 rpm @ 44 C

Asus TUF Gaming OC
Quiet Mode (TPU)
- fans off until 56 C, then they start with a short peak at 1200 rpm quickly coming down to 1000 rpm -> 1480 rpm @ 70 C -> 1562 rpm @ 71 C -> stop after 510 s at 950 rpm @ 38 C -> idles at 0 rpm @ 43 C
Performance Mode (TPU)
- fans off until 55 C, then they start with a short peak at 1200 rpm quickly coming down to 1100 rpm -> 1993 rpm @ 63 C -> stop after 460s at 1200 rpm @ 38 C -> idles at 0 rpm @ 42 C

SInce this only tells us the fans RPM vs temperature, we also need to look at what noise levels were recorded at those fan RPMs:

TechPowerup - Brüel & Kjaer 2236 mics
MSI Gaming X Trio: 20 dBA 44 C idle, 0 rpm -> 1500 rpm @ 32 dBA 76 C
Asus TUF Gaming OC: 20 dBA 43 C idle, 0 rpm -> 1562 rpm @ 31 dBA 71 C Quiet mode (2014 rpm 35 dBA 63 C Perf mode)

PurePC.pl - anechoic room, Brüel & Kjaer mics
Asus TUF Gaming OC: 17 dBA 36 C idle, 0 rpm -> ? rpm @ ? dBA ? C Quiet mode (1850 rpm 42 dBA 62 C Perf mode)
- they say fans start at ~60 C on the GPU core

Computerbase
MSI Gaming X Trio: 37 C idle 0 rpm -> 1570 rpm @ 35.5 dBA 77C
Asus TUF Gaming OC: 37 C idle 0 rpm -> 1730 rpm @ 36 dBA 73C in Quiet mode (45.5 dBA Perf mode)

Hexus
MSI Gaming X Trio: 28.7 dBA 39 C idle, 0 rpm -> ? rpm @ 34.7 dBA 72 C
Asus TUF Gaming OC: 28.7 dBA 41 C idle, 0 rpm -> ? rpm @ 35.5 dBA 68 C in Quiet mode (36.2 dBA 63 C Perf mode)

Guru 3D
MSI Gaming X Trio: 29 dBA 35 C idle, 0 rpm -> 1269 rpm @ 33 dBA 71 C
Asus TUF Gaming OC: 29 dBA 38 C idle, 0 rpm -> ? rpm @ ? dBA ? C in Quiet mode (1871 rpm 39 dBA 62 C Perf mode)

Looking at the TechPowerUp data, I would say history repeats itself: the TUF is worse for a silent build than the Trio X:
- the TUF fans start at lower temperature, so you'll hear them turning on and off more often
- the TUF fans run at higher RPM when in operation (at 70C the MSI fans spin at 1200 RPM while the TUF spins at 1480 RPM), while the noise levels at ~1500 RPM from both fans is the same (31-32 dB at ~1500 RPM from both the MSI and the Asus fans), which means that at 70C for instance the TUF will be louder than the Trio X.

Interesting conclusion, isn't it?

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Abula » Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:07 am

The EVGA certainly looks like a contender to the Asus/MSI, probably even better as it sustain higher clocks with the same noise.

TechPowerUP EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Review
This also makes the card the quietest RTX 3080 we've ever tested. The ASUS TUF with quiet BIOS is just as quiet, but you have to activate the 2nd BIOS, which runs a little bit slower.

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by lb_felipe » Fri Nov 20, 2020 9:18 am


CA_Steve
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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Nov 20, 2020 3:27 pm

Saw that :) Monster cooler for sure.

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Abula » Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:43 pm

I wished someone reviewed the Gigabyte RTX3080/90 Aorus Xtreme/Master..... not sure why there isn't a single review of it.

lb_felipe
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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by lb_felipe » Fri Nov 20, 2020 5:23 pm

CA_Steve wrote:
Fri Nov 20, 2020 3:27 pm
Saw that :) Monster cooler for sure.
Computer Base reviewed the RTX 3090 variant of Suprim. If I got them, the card was very bad and not so quiet!

https://www.computerbase.de/2020-11/msi ... im-x-test/

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by lb_felipe » Thu Dec 17, 2020 8:27 am

Abula wrote:
Fri Nov 20, 2020 4:43 pm
I wished someone reviewed the Gigabyte RTX3080/90 Aorus Xtreme/Master..... not sure why there isn't a single review of it.
It's done. Guru of 3D did it. Noise wise, MSI wins.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/g ... iew,1.html

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by nalpagutt » Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:34 am

I'm using MSI but it's a bit noisy

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by lb_felipe » Wed Dec 23, 2020 4:19 pm

nalpagutt wrote:
Wed Dec 23, 2020 11:34 am
I'm using MSI but it's a bit noisy
Which model are you using, Trio, Suprim or other?

bbalex
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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by bbalex » Thu Apr 29, 2021 7:46 am

Forgot about this thread.

I've had two Gigabyte RTX 3080 Xtreme. Stay away from them, their fans sound profile is terrible. The fans have a very noticeable humming from their lowest fan speed, and at higher fan speeds the get whinier and sound the same as coil whine would sound. There is absolutely no RPM at which the fans of this card can't be noticed. Compared to my previous Gigabyte 1080Ti Xtreme, the 3080 Xtreme is much. much noisier in the same games - while the 1080Ti could not even be heard in some of them, the 3080 is always heard.

Yes, I got and tested two of them, to make sure the first was not just a fluke. The first one also had coil whine at higher power draw, while the second one is free of coil whine. But the fans, at high RPMs, sound like coil whine... (tested with manual control of the fans while the card was idling).

When I bought these cards, there were no reviews for them, except a video review on LinusTechTips, where Linus got the mic they use for recording him next to the card and he says the card can't be heard. Yeah... what bs.

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Re: RTX 3080 review compilation

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:23 am

Isn't something wrong with the card? Sometimes fans rattle, when they are not mounted evenly and one of the fans touches something near.

If not, sorry to hear, but typical Aorus - highly overclocked and overpriced, power hungry RGB sensation ;) Serie rather not known for quiet operation as Trio or Strix (or TUF rocking Amperes). But I know how's the situation with GPUs.

Did you try switching the bios to Quiet one? With your card it not only modifies fan curve as dual-bioses usually do, but also dicreases power draw - not much, but will make a difference. It will cut you maybe 4% performance, so nothing noticeable. I assume that you tried modyfying fan curve, but there are also undervolting or more radical dicreasing of power limit. It should be possible to make this card not noticeable, just staying below other components fans, but if you have some open mesh case, that will be harder, because they are for lower temperatures, not lower noise.

If you want to change your card, I can reccomend you ASUS TUFs as good quality, cool and quiet ones, but not for Strix money. Few months ago I built my friend computer with 3080 TUF OC. It performes great and in terms of sound profile sounds to me pretty normal (nothing bad I can say). Worth to mention that this build was in Define 7 case, so it did great job in terms of making things quiet with decent, but not the best on the market thermals. Forty minutes of Cyberpunk, three default case fans running 1000 rpm (really quiet), highest reached speed of GPU fans was low 1600's rpm with maximum temp of 68C, most of the time ~1500 rpm and ~65C, so to me damn satisfying.

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