Tremendous January is drawing to an in depth and the Nvidia RTX 4080 Tremendous is the final of the inexperienced group’s Tremendous playing cards to launch—for now anyway. Although it is simply the quickest of the three, it is arguably the least thrilling, even when it is arduous to complain a few card that is quicker than its non-Tremendous counterpart, whereas costing much less.
Nvidia’s late resolution to delay the embargo of MSRP playing cards for a day means all RTX 4080 Tremendous playing cards might be unveiled on the identical day. Following on from Dave’s evaluate of the RTX 4080 Tremendous Founders Version comes my evaluate of the tongue twistingly named Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo. It guarantees to be a bit of quicker, a bit of cooler, and hopefully a bit of quieter than the Founders Version, albeit costlier at $1,099 versus the $999 value of the FE.
Earlier than I get to the Zotac flavored RTX 4080 Tremendous, I am going to briefly cowl what’s underneath the hood.
The RTX 4080 Tremendous comprises a barely quicker variant of the AD103 GPU discovered within the RTX 4080 (and now the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous as effectively). However whereas the RTX 4070 Tremendous obtained a comparatively giant improve in shader rely and the RTX 4070 Ti Tremendous acquired extra shaders and a reminiscence system improve, the RTX 4080 will get the least thrilling improve, with simply an additional 512 shaders, and a slight improve in increase and reminiscence clock. Nothing too thrilling there, however at the least its official value has dropped, from the very steep $1,199 of the RTX 4080 to a barely extra palatable $1,099 for the Zotac RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo and a $999 MSRP for reference-clocked variants.
All thought of, the RTX 4080 Tremendous is a barely quicker RTX 4080 that prices $200 much less. Considered in isolation, that feels like a reasonably whole lot, although a Tremendous improve with a minimize down model of the AD102 GPU—even when it caught with its unique $1,199 value—would have been rather more thrilling.
Zotac Gaming RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo fast verdict
Purchase if…
✅ You are upgrading from an RTX-20 sequence or older card: An improve from an xx80 card of yesteryear will deliver you a dramatic efficiency uplift, to not point out the efficiency boosts that DLSS 3 and Body Era will ship.
✅You had been considering shopping for an RTX 4080: Congratulations! Your persistence is about to be rewarded with a quicker RTX 4080 at a less expensive value.
Do not buy if…
❌ You have already got a non-Tremendous RTX 40-series card: The Tremendous refreshes, whereas welcome, aren’t sufficient of an improve over non-Tremendous counterparts to justify going out and dropping one other wad of money on one.
❌ You charge silent working very extremely: The Zotac is not what you’d name a loud card, however it does not obtain the superior low noise ranges we have seen (or is that heard) from the likes of MSI’s Suprim or Asus ROG Strix RTX 4080s.
Zotac’s RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo is a card effectively price contemplating for those who’re out there for a excessive finish graphics card, notably for those who worth ray tracing efficiency or need to make use of DLSS 3 and the wizardry of Body Era. RTX 4080 homeowners can skip the Tremendous.
It is a premium card in each means. It is acquired a 60MHz manufacturing unit overclock, an enormous 3.5 slots price of cooling capability, a full-length metallic backplate and twin BIOS. Plus, I feel the RGB mild bar working throughout the highest of Zotac’s IceStorm 2.0 cooler is without doubt one of the greatest implementations seen on any RTX 40-series card.
Operationally, the Zotac is unquestionably succesful. It was capable of keep a mean increase clock of two,764MHz, which is effectively above its formally rated 2,550MHz. I in contrast it to at least one the very best RTX 4080 playing cards, within the type of MSI’s Suprim, and it was persistently quicker, however solely by a mean of 5% at 4K. That is not an thrilling acquire, however quicker is quicker, and it’ll enchantment to these upgrading from older technology playing cards.
Given what we all know in regards to the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 Tremendous, the Zotac does not throw up any surprises. Nonetheless, up to date benchmarks with a Sapphire RX 7900 XTX Nitro+ actually did shock me. AMD’s drivers have come a good distance. When you do not care a lot for ray tracing efficiency or DLSS 3, the 7900 XTX is a formidable competitor on the $1,000-ish value level.
The cooling capability of the Zotac is excellent, with a peak recorded temperature of 65°C after about 10 minutes of operation. Not dangerous in any respect for a 320W card. If there is a weak spot, it is that the cardboard is kind of audible underneath a heavy load. It is nothing alarming by any means, however there will probably be higher choices if noise minimization is important for you.
Zotac Gaming RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo specs
The RTX 4080 Tremendous is actually an RTX 4080 with a cherry on high. It consists of the absolutely enabled AD103 GPU, with all 10,240 shaders unlocked. Nvidia’s solely different choice would have been to make the shift as much as the AD102 GPU, however it’s protected to say that chip is more likely to seek out its means into extremely profitable skilled playing cards than it’s an RTX 4090 Lite.
The reminiscence system additionally will get a slight tweak. The RTX 4080 Tremendous comes with the identical 256-bit bus, however it will get an improve to 23Gbps GDDR6X reminiscence, a small improve over the RTX 4080’s 22.4Gbps reminiscence. In bandwidth phrases, that provides the RTX 4080 Tremendous a theoretical restrict of 736.3 GB/s, a rise of 19.5GB/s over the RTX 4080’s 716.8 GB/s. It is higher than nothing, however an AD102 with a 384-bit bus would have given it a 50% bandwidth improve as a substitute of an insignificant 3%.
Yeah I do know, it is wishful pondering.
Apart from the small will increase in shader rely and reminiscence clock, The Zotac Amp Excessive Airo will get a 60MHz core overclock, bringing it as much as an official increase clock of two,610MHz, although as I discussed above, it is able to holding effectively above 2,700MHz when thermal and energy situations enable it.
I didn’t take away the cooler however the seen elements seem like the identical as these of the Zotac RTX 4080 Amp Excessive Airo, which has a strong 24-phase VRM. Relying on the way you do within the silicon lottery, you may be capable of cross that 3,000MHz clock pace barrier. The cardboard itself is an enormous’un, at 356mm in size and 150mm tall. It is definitely not one you’d look to make use of in a small kind issue case.
The Zotac consists of a typical complement of a single HDMI 2.1 port plus three 1.4a DisplayPorts. DP 2.0/2.1 remains to be lacking in motion on RTX 40-series playing cards. It is now sure we’ll have to attend till the following technology to see it on Nvidia playing cards.
Different fascinating options embrace an RGB header for controlling an exterior strip and twin BIOS with efficiency and quiet modes. Unusually, it is managed by a button moderately than a swap, with the change utilized after a reboot.
Zotac Gaming RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo benchmarks
Zotac Gaming RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo efficiency
The benchmark outcomes do not throw up any surprises, except you are speaking in regards to the RX 7900 XTX. It is a very critical contender and it is in all probability the explanation behind Nvidia’s resolution to drop the worth of the RTX 4080 Tremendous by $200. Actually, if I used to be given the selection between an RTX 4080 Tremendous and a Radeon RX 7900 XTX, I would critically take into account the Radeon choice at this time limit based mostly on its wonderful raster efficiency.
Except—and there is at all times a caveat is not there—you charge ray tracing, DLSS 3 and Body Era notably extremely. They’re not area of interest applied sciences. AMD’s ecosystem nonetheless has a solution to catch up.
The RTX 4080 Tremendous is a hell of an improve for any person coming from any RTX 30-series card.
There will probably be some who take into account the RTX 4080 Tremendous to be pointless in comparison with the RTX 4080, and there is logic in that, however the level is not to check it to the RTX 4080, it is rather more related to customers of older playing cards. Simply take a look at the way it destroys the RTX 3080 Ti. It is 40% quicker at 4K! When you take that in isolation, the RTX 4080 Tremendous is a hell of an improve for any person coming from any RTX 30-series card.
The Zotac RTX 4080 Tremendous, just like the RTX 4080 earlier than it, is kind of an influence environment friendly card for the quantity of efficiency you get. It leaves the RTX 3080 Ti and RX 7900 XTX in its shade.
Its working temperatures are on the spectacular facet too. Zotac’s monstrous IceStorm 2.0 cooler is able to dealing with a 450W RTX 4090, so the 320W TDP of the RTX 4080 Tremendous presents it with no problem. I would prefer to see a number of dB shave off its noise ranges, however it’s removed from being a deal breaker.
However how does it examine to the reference-clocked Founders Version? Nicely, the FE card runs cooler, quieter, and fewer power-hungry, too. But it surely additionally runs pretty considerably slower than this overclocked Zotac. It’s price noting, nonetheless, that huge clock pace modifications do not essentially imply huge body charge deltas.
On your additional $100 you will see efficiency beneficial properties of 5% on common throughout our 1440p benchmark suite and three% at 4K. These proportion numbers solely lead to a handful of frames per second on high of what the cheaper FE card delivers, and truthfully that is not going to really feel like a tangible efficiency bump in your cash.
Zotac Gaming RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo evaluation
Zotac’s RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo is a succesful high-end contender. I actually like its curvy design and its RGB mild bar appears to be like wonderful. It is a good different to the standard rectangular boxy designs of contemporary graphics playing cards.
The IceStorm 2.0 Cooler retains the cardboard cool, and subsequently allows it to keep up its highest increase clocks. Something much less can be a disappointment given its gargantuan dimensions. Its weak spot is a noticeable fan stage. It is undoubtedly not noisy, however I consider Zotac may tune it a bit of higher, even when it means sacrificing a number of MHz of increase clock.
$1,099 is lots to pay for a graphics card, although for those who examine the Zotac to the bottom $1,199 RTX 4080’s on the time of their launch, it’s higher worth.
On the time of writing, solely the US pricing was identified. At $1,099 it is priced $100 greater than base RTX 4080 Supers. That is lower than the $200 premium Zotac needed for its non-Tremendous RTX 4080 Amp Excessive Airo. My understanding is that flagship tier rivals such because the MSI Suprim and Asus Strix will probably be priced greater than this. It is arduous to say how the Zotac compares to such playing cards with out testing them, however a $1,099 value places it in good stead.
The Zotac RTX 4080 Tremendous Amp Excessive Airo is quick card, with nice appears to be like (although maybe not in accordance with all), its very effectively constructed, and naturally you get entry to all of Nvidia’s spectacular applied sciences. $1,099 is lots to pay for a graphics card, although for those who examine the Zotac to the bottom $1,199 RTX 4080’s on the time of their launch, it’s higher worth. A quicker card that is additionally cheaper is definitely a win-win.
But it surely does not exist in a vacuum. The RTX 4080 Tremendous is without doubt one of the much less spectacular members of the RTX 40-series’ Ada technology. If solely as a result of I really feel it is nonetheless too costly for what it’s. I presume RTX 4080 Supers will fall effectively underneath $999 within the months forward, and in that case it will turn into a really stable choice for a gamer that desires to construct a rig and have it play each recreation for the following few years. Including $100 for a cool working and excessive performing choice just like the Zotac Amp Excessive Airo, effectively, that is possibly a more durable promote given cheaper pricing is absolutely what the RTX 4080 Tremendous has going for it.