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Review: Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC

by Tarinder Sandhu on 17 September 2020, 14:01

Tags: ASUSTeK (TPE:2357), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaeoam

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Conclusion

...offering superb temperatures and low-noise operation that's better than the FE on both fronts.

GeForce RTX 3080 serves the needs of the gamer who wants lusty framerates at QHD and smooth gameplay at UHD with all the bells and whistles turned on, and it currently has no performance peer at the $699/£649 price point. Though eminently fast, Nvidia's decision to crank TDP to 320W brings challenges and opportunities in equal measure.

The Founders Edition card sets a new bar for aesthetics and does well in thermals and acoustics, putting renewed pressure on add-in card partners to do more with limited scope for improvement. Asus duly takes on that challenge with the Strix and TUF cards.

The TUF Gaming OC's enlarged form factor and 2.7-slot cooling deals easily with the board's elevated 340W TDP, offering superb temperatures and low-noise operation that's better than the FE on both fronts. Build quality is top-notch, the aesthetic restrained, and there's little to complain about once you realise that Asus doesn't go overboard with the price. At £689, the extra 75MHz out-the-box boost speed offers a frame or two extra in most titles, but there's not a whole heap extra silicon headroom to go faster still.

Thoroughly reasonable on the value front for a mid-OC effort, we'd actually veer away from this model and choose the non-OC version that is identical in every way apart from the relatively small overclock, saving yourself £40 for investment in a triple-A title or two.

Bottom line: the Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC is a Founders Edition-beating card without the usual overly steep price premium.

The Good
  
The Bad
Solid build quality
Brilliant temps
Low-noise operation
Restrained RGB
Good value for OC model
  
Not much further OC headroom
Being TUF, 5-year warranty preferable



Asus GeForce RTX 3080 TUF Gaming OC

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TBC.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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HEXUS Forums :: 25 Comments

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Posted by 3dcandy - Thu 17 Sep 2020 15:04
340w shows that NV pushed it hard to get the required performance…

Big card, big power draw but capable of big results. Not for me however
Posted by phoenix198 - Thu 17 Sep 2020 15:31
Priced at £689.99 in the Scan advertising links within the article.

Priced at £739.99 on the Scan website.

Let the rip-offs begin!
Posted by Tarinder - Thu 17 Sep 2020 15:49
We were told by Asus UK, categorically, that it would be £689.99. Given there is so little stock, if any, the inevitable price gouging is taking place, which is super-frustrating for all concerned.
Posted by Roobubba - Thu 17 Sep 2020 16:10
Tarinder
We were told by Asus UK, categorically, that it would be £689.99. Given there is so little stock, if any, the inevitable price gouging is taking place, which is super-frustrating for all concerned.

Presumably this lack of stock is planned and deliberate (on the part of NVidia here, not any 3rd party vendors I mean)? Announce cheap, limit day 0 availability to allow the market to inflate prices from the original announcement, then release stock to sell once it's become the new accepted price.

Or am I just an old cynic?

It's good to see some significant performance improvements with this generation. I'm really hoping that AMD can have a good cycle with big navi so we get some proper competition again. My totally unfounded suspicion when I heard the original announcement from Nvidia and their initial pricing was “what do they know about AMD that we don't yet know?” I fluctuate between this and the aforementioned “so few available at the announced price” loss-leader type of scenario to encourage sales.

I hope I'm wrong!
Posted by Stu C - Thu 17 Sep 2020 16:44
Roobubba
Presumably this lack of stock is planned and deliberate (on the part of NVidia here, not any 3rd party vendors I mean)? Announce cheap, limit day 0 availability to allow the market to inflate prices from the original announcement, then release stock to sell once it's become the new accepted price.

Or am I just an old cynic?


I would guess the price gouging is being done by retailers. If Asus say that they consider the price locked at £689, then they will not be varying and increasing the wholesale price when they supply retailers.

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