Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsDon't Overpay, Don't Over-volt; Undervolt and Enjoy a Great, Efficient Card
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2022
Great GPU even if the 3080 Ti should have been this price point. During the height of the GPU Apocalypse where no GPU's were available, Nvidia decided every 3080 Ti that couldn't quite hit validation should be sold for more than the MSRP of $700 of the 3080 or the actual going rate of $1100 for 3080's during the worst period. They came up with the 3080 12G and released it without an official MSRP.
Estimating the MSRP meant that it was about $1k, which would put it mostly between the $700 of the reference 3080 and the $1200 of the reference 3080 Ti. I waited until this card was available from Amazon at said $1k. Given that this was an OEM card and a upper tier one at that, that MSRP-like pricing seemed fair. A week later Nvidia put out an announcement that the MSRP retroactively was in fact the $999 I estimated. So I guess I'm good at math.
Card is quiet except for a soft clicking sound when the fans stop. I only noticed it when my side panel was off, but I do use a Fractal Design Define 5 with no windows, which I got for the sound insulation. The heatsink is huge. I really like it. Kinda reminds me of my Noctua DH15 in bulk.
It has some RGB that looks quite bright and nice, but I don't use it. My case is about cooling and I don't even have a window on the side panel (omg, I know!). So I can't tell you how well the RGB is. I also can't tell you about EVGA X1, the control software, I should be using.
Instead, I am using MSI Afterburner, but I'm not overclocking. I'm undervolting at the same speeds. Card runs very hot at default settings, but that's because it has a 400 watt default power limit (higher than a lot of other 3080 12G's) and Afterburner can push it up to 450 watts if you like. I wouldn't recommend that, though. I would instead suggest lowering the voltage to get more consistent speeds without heat-related throttling, which absolutely will happen at defaults.
Card could hit 1.1v doing even the most standard speeds, which I've found in testing to be pushing the limits of my case's ability to push heat out. I could have raised speeds of the fans and the EVGA card is less loud than whooshing at that.
But undervolting leads to a quieter card and a faster one, too, depending on which voltage/speed you choose. Testing with Control (in 4K sans RT and DLSS Quality with RT), ER, Metro Exodus Enhanced, and Monster Hunter World I found a balance that made it run fast in games that prefer speed (ER, MHW) plus fast in games that prefer power (Control, Metro Exodus Enhanced). Most undervolt guides will tell you to change your curve via the curve editor in Afterburner to a flat performance/volt and let it stay there forever. I found that reduced performance in games that crave high megahertz without soaking up power. So I recreated the curve the card has by its nature except I optimized the voltage for each voltage level.
So my card wound up being good at: 825mv - 1815mhz, 850mv - 1860mhz, 875mv - 1875mhz, 900mv - 1920mhz, 925mv - 1950mhz, 950mv - 1980mhz, 975mv - 1995mhz, 1000mv - 2010mhz
The curve editor prefers you go at 25mv intervals and clockspeeds at every 15mhz. Those numbers are for the first few minutes before heat levels hit above 70 degrees. Then they will drop down 15mhz, so 2010 becomes 1995 at the top range and 1995 becomes 1980 at the same voltage level. I shaved off the top one to keep the card from going above 1000mv, so my card doesn't go above 1995 and usually hangs around 1980 in ER at a temperature of 74 degrees, but since the card adjusts its temperature based on the performance (instead of being set at max) there are many times the card is sitting at 60 degrees (dungeons, indoors areas, anywhere really without trees and leaves blowing with terrible shadow optimizations).
Speaking of Elden Ring, if you care, you should know I've played a lot of this game with this card and it's smooth 60fps except in certain places where there are lots of trees and leaves. There, you will find the card bouncing between 55 and 60. A shame, but From Software's fault probably. Head's up, though.
DLSS is great. Honestly, it's amazing and seeing FSR 2.0's limitations (especially related to the weird fringing artifacts around objects that obscure other objects, DLSS is voodoo by comparison. I can definitely tell I'm using it versus native, but native usually has a worse AA method (often TAA), so you win some and you lose some. Overall, the AA offered by DLSS is really nice. Diablo 2R is a pretty heavy game, all things considered, for what it does and DLSS makes that game a walk in the park for the card. You get superior AA and the card is sitting at 60 degrees most times because the clockspeed is low.
On the other end of the spectrum, Control with full ray tracing plus DLSS Quality is a power hog. It will gobble up whatever power limit you give it if you hit anywhere near the speeds I'm hitting. Some areas in that game still drop below 60fps.
So, uh, card is great. Quiet. Shame they didn't just price the 3080 Ti at this price point because it's where it should have been, but this card is halfway between a 3080 and that card, it has more memory, which could come in handy as this generation of consoles starts to stop having ports capable of being run on last gen consoles as that will likely end with games having higher VRAM requirements. Plus, I think anyone gaming at 4k60 like me is going to find the higher memory bandwidth will come in handy as games get more advanced similar to how the 1080 Ti aged better compared to a 1080 (which was the card I upgraded from). My 1080 was basically a 4k30 card for the majority of its lifespan while the 1080 Ti was a 4k45-60 card for quite a long while.
The 3080 12G destroys the 1080, which it should. But I was shocked by how often it was destroying it while using less power to run a game. Like in MHW. Or Horizon Zero Dawn. I had to lower settings in HZD to get 4k30 on the regular and my 1080 8G would regularly hit above 200watts. Using max settings with my undervolt, my 3080 12G will regularly benchmark well below 200 watts and be a smooth 4k60 native. At DLSS, it would sit way below, around 150 watts, and have superior AA to boot.
This card is amazing. The price is not. I wish I felt like the 40 series would be available to met in 2022, but I do not. I spent two years trying to get a card during shortages, parts shortages, scalpers, and online sites that refused to create queues to help smooth out the frustration. Not me, not again. I'd rather have what I can guarantee I can get now and probably get 4070-like performance with what I assume will be a modest increase in price over that later card but it's in my hands right now with superior memory bandwidth.
Hopefully, this helps anyone else. TLDR; card is quiet, has great power limit to help you do whatever you're trying to do, the company has a great warranty and a history of great warranty service, it looks great if you're into staring at your card, it performs well, the 12G of VRAM is handy for future games as we look like we're finally leaving the Xbone behind, DLSS is nice, and, if you're like me and you think you might stream even once on Twitch or Youtube, you probably want NVENC over AMD's alternative because NVENC is way, way, waaaaaaay better at x264 encoding via the GPU than AMD. Look up EpoxVox if you need to and see the difference.
Oh, and Ray Tracing is better than the competition, I guess. It's great, but it's easy to forget about it after a few minutes of it being on and you'll often decide whether you want 4k native or DLSS with RT. I often just go DLSS without RT because, for example, a game of Control will go from 400 watts with my undervolt to 200 watts, both using DLSS. That's a lot of power for a small improvement in visuals, isn't it? Control's RT is pretty convenient as a benchmark if your undervolt is going to crash, though.
I hope this helps.
