Final thoughts on the RTX 4080
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 marks a big change in the GPU landscape but one something we’ve already been anticipating since 2021. Today we’re taking a look at graphics cards from NVIDIA, ASUS ROG, GIGABYTE AORUS and MSI with more cards to follow.
The RTX 4090 made big waves when it launched and has nearly lapped every modern card in existence and those coming soon. NVIDIA also made sure there’s still space to grow, maybe as their final weapon like the RTX 3090 Ti but moving our perspective to the RTX 4080, things do look a bit different. While the RTX 4090 went all guns blazing, the RTX 4080 is positioned as a more conservative player when directly compared to its bigger brother but for the most part, performance is excellent and with 4K monitors becoming more and more accessible, the true advantage fo the RTX 4080 shines when used in 4K gaming.
Only Cyberpunk at 4K with ray tracing enabled pushed the RTX 4080 to its knees at only Ultra mode but thankfully Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the technology partners for NVIDIA that promises Frame Generation: a key feature of DLSS3. WIth DLSS33, Frame Generation in-use along with ray tracing and Reflex, we get to see what NVIDIA refers to as the full-stack innovation for Ada Lovelace. For esports gamers looking to just max-out their FPS, you’d be very CPU restricted even with the latest flagship CPUs from both Intel and NVIDIA especially on low settings so if you’re planning to go for those upcoming 1080p 500Hz monitors, a framecap may be in order or I would recommend the potential xx70 entries in the RTX 40 line-up.
Final thoughts on the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 OC
The ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 continues ASUS’ line of GPUs aimed at brand loyalists and ASUS knows their customer base are rockstars and have the money for their products hence why the western pricing for the ROG STRIX RTX 4080 OC is set at $1550. With the ROG Strix RTX 4090 being priced at a handsome Php133,000 or $2300~, the Philippine pricing for the ROG Strix RTX 4080 is $1813. Putting that in context against the rest of the market, the AORUS RTX 4080 MASTER is around PHP99,000~, roughly $1728~. In terms of brand equity, the Asian market revels in ASUS ROG, especially with EVGA’s limited presence and their decision to withdraw from the GPU market, ASUS now has the extreme market in the palm of their hands. Take that how you will, but the given NVIDIA’s already steep pricing, I wouldn’t blame ASUS for passing the bill for the chonk cooler onto the users.
Forgetting price for a while, the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 4080 OC is easily the second most efficient card we’ve tested only bested by a hair by NVIDIA’s RTX 4080 FE. Both cards brandish a cooler made for beefier cards but that does bring with it some benefits, most importantly cooling. The ROG STRIX RTX 4080’s larger cooler and powerful fans are a mean combo and cools the ROG STRIX RTX 4080 very well. ASUS’s Axial-tech fans are whisper quiet even on load but talking about audible for a minute, there is a slight concern about coil whine. This is the first time I’ve tested a review unit with coil whine and this is a retail sample not a cherry picked one. It might just be a lemon, and doesn’t affect performance overall but it is an audible electrical hum rather than the high-pitched whine we’ve all come to hate.
Regardless, ASUS has done a fairly good job designing a cooler and while the merits of this cooler may just be second hand as it belongs to a larger card, its definitely ballsy of all these companies to reuse their larger coolers on cards that could make do without. That said, there is still that ROG tax but given the pricing structure of the rest of the market, one could look it more positively. And by positives, you get an extremely efficient and extremely well-cooled graphics card that’s easily at a contentious price point. Despite folks giving creds to AMD already without a card released yet, NVIDIA and by extension ASUS, was able to sell the ROG STRIX RTX 30-series card at extortionate prices in 2021 despite AMD selling much lower. That shows a lot of the brand power of ROG but now that the shiny new toy is out, those who may have wanted the ROG RTX 30 cards are now wanting the RTX 40 series cards, and with the RTX 4090 perhaps a little bit up in the clouds, the ROG STRIX RTX 4080 OC Edition is a more accessible entrance to the ROG club.
