This card goes for $999 on EVGA's site, but the least I've seen it for online is about $1,170 (you can get the reference card on nVidia's site for $1,199). This always happens when cards are originally released that people will buy them and then scalp for higher than retail. I was originally really upset that nVidia decided to make the 2080 at above the 1080 Ti release price and the 2080 Ti at the Titan Pascal price. What's the game changer is the TU102 chip, 11GB of GDDR6 VRAM in the 2080 Ti along with DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and ray tracing. This really is a professional card.
I game at 1440p so the 1080 Ti was a great choice. I still love that card, but wanted to try the new features of the 2080 Ti. The price is silly, but the new hardware is no joke. There still are only a handful of games (and 3DMark) that use DLSS or ray tracing; I've only tried the benchmark in 3DMark, but ray tracing and DLSS really are amazing. Granted, 3DMark made a specific test to show this off (and nVidia has made a test for DLSS), but the reflections and lighting are incredible. nVidia wanted to get in the market before AMD to charge crazy prices so there really are few games that can use this new tech, but it will happen soon enough. I am bummed that the 2080 doesn't give much of a performance bump over the 1080 Ti because of the price. I had to shell out another $400 bucks to get about 30% better frames at 1440p.
I've only had time to play Monster Hunter: World and Far Cry 5 with the new card. With the 1080 Ti I was getting 60-75 FPS on Monster Hunter and about 60-100 FPS on Far Cry 5. Monster Hunter hasn't gotten much better as I'm now getting about 60-90 FPS with the 2080 Ti, but Far Cry 5 has gone up to 90-144 FPS (144 Hz monitor). Monster Hunter World requires a serious amount of hardware, so I'm not too worried about the performance difference. I am excited to try Tomb Raider and Metro Exodus. I've seen from other reviews that turning on ray tracing decreases performance. The other HUGE thing is that because of the adoption rate of the 2080 and 2080 Ti, nVidia is releasing ray tracing on Pascal cards. They will probably take a fairly deep dip in performance since they don't have the same processing power as the 2080 and 2080 Ti, but at least nVidia is trying to give new software enhancements to people that can't afford the new flagship cards. DLSS can increase quality while also increase framerate when programmed correctly. The 1xxx series cards can't do that.
Yes the price is crazy, yes scalpers are getting extra money, but this card is the real deal. The only faster consumer card is the Titan RTX, but it goes for an incredible $2,500 with only about a 10% increase in FPS. You could SLI two 2080 Ti's for cheaper. I've heard the 2080 Ti can run most games in 4K at 60 FPS which is the holy grail of gaming. I tend to side with professional reviewers that framerate is more important that resolution which is why I have a 1440p monitor and not a 4K monitor. The other issue is getting a 4K monitor that can go over 60 FPS. There are only a handful of them out there and they cost at least a grand.
If you have the money, the 144Hz+ monitor, and the patience to wait for features to be released for new games, this is the best choice. If you're on a 900 series card and are running 1440p or 1080p, this card is overkill- go with the 2070 or 2080. It's ironic that 1080 Ti prices have climbed again so you're paying the same or more than for the 2080.
I have quite a few fans in my case, so using the Precision X1 software, I'm able to keep the card at about 73 C using the auto fan curve feature. I can hear the card, but it's not any louder than my 1080 Ti Founder's Edition. Being able to change the LED is nice since I have a blue theme in my case. I've almost always gone with EVGA because their customer support is the best and they provide so many choices in cards. Even though there is the FTW3 and cards that are better cooled, I'm still able to get about 1800 MHz on the card just using the X1 software. I don't see a huge need to spend $100-300 more for that, but that's my opinion.
Enough rambling. If you have the $ and want high resolution, high framerate goodness, buy this card.
Machine Specs:
MSi MEG z390 ACE Mobo
Intel i7-9700k OC to 5 GHz with Corsair H80i V2 cooler
EVGA 2080 Ti Black Edition
16 GB Corsair RGB DDR4 3000 MHz
Samsung 850 Pro SSD for OS
Seagate SSHD 4 TB for games and storage
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2, 80+ PLATINUM 1000W PSU
| Memory Speed | 14000 MHz |
|---|---|
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 11 GB |
