Power, Temperature, and Noise

With a large chip, more transistors, and more frames, questions always pivot to the efficiency of the card, and how well it sits with the overall power consumption, thermal limits of the default ‘coolers’, and the local noise of the fans when at load. Users buying these cards are going to be expected to push some pixels, which will have knock on effects inside a case. For our testing, we use a case for the best real-world results in these metrics.

Power

All of our graphics cards pivot around the 83-86W level when idle, though it is noticeable that they are in sets: the 2080 is below the 1080, the 2080 Ti sits above the 1080 Ti, and the Vega 64 consumes the most.

Idle Power Consumption

When we crank up a real-world title, all the RTX 20-series cards are pushing more power. The 2080 consumes 10W over the previous generation flagship, the 1080 Ti, and the new 2080 Ti flagship goes for another 50W system power beyond this. Still not as much as the Vega 64, however.

Load Power Consumption - Battlefield 1

For a synthetic like Furmark, the RTX 2080 results show that it consumes less than the GTX 1080 Ti, although the GTX 1080 is some 50W less. The margin between the RTX 2080 FE and RTX 2080 Ti FE is some 40W, which is indicative of the official TDP differences. At the top end, the RTX 2080 Ti FE and RX Vega 64 are consuming equal power, however the RTX 2080 Ti FE is pushing through more work.

Load Power Consumption - FurMark

For power, the overall differences are quite clear: the RTX 2080 Ti is a step up above the RTX 2080, however the RTX 2080 shows that it is similar to the previous generation 1080/1080 Ti.

Temperature

Straight off the bat, moving from the blower cooler to the dual fan coolers, we see that the RTX 2080 holds its temperature a lot better than the previous generation GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Ti.

Idle GPU Temperature

Load GPU Temperature - Battlefield 1

Load GPU Temperature - FurMark

At each circumstance at load, the RTX 2080 is several degrees cooler than both the previous generation and the RTX 2080 Ti. The 2080 Ti fairs well in Furmark, coming in at a lower temperature than the 10-series, but trades blows in Battlefield. This is a win for the dual fan cooler, rather than the blower.

Noise

Similar to the temperature, the noise profile of the two larger fans rather than a single blower means that the new RTX cards can be quieter than the previous generation: the RTX 2080 wins here, showing that it can be 3-5 dB(A) lower than the 10-series and perform similar. The added power needed for the RTX 2080 Ti means that it is still competing against the GTX 1080, but it always beats the GTX 1080 Ti by comparison.

Idle Noise Levels

Load Noise Levels - Battlefield 1

Load Noise Levels - FurMark

Compute & Synthetics Final Words
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  • PopinFRESH007 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link

    You are simply ignoring the facts. When Bluray players launched they didn't play Blurays because there were none, because there was no standard. It took 3 years before there was a standard and 7 movies were released. Before then they were just high-end DVD players.

    These RTX cards also work out of the box. Its crazy I know, they actually can play current games and all with the highest settings and fastest frame rates. Similar to what happened with bluray, they will also support those new fangled DXR and DLSS options in games as they come out.
  • imaheadcase - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link

    First Blu-ray movies would be released on June 20, coinciding with the release of the first Blu-ray DVD player from Samsung, and a Sony VAIO Blu-ray PC.Jun 13, 2006
    The first batch distributed by Sony was on June 20th, 2006:

    The Fifth Element
    50 First Dates
    Hitch
    House of Flying Daggers
    The Terminator
    Underworld: Evolution
    xXx

    What was that again about facts?
  • V900 - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link

    Working out of the box? You mean like the RTX 2080/ti/2070 cards?

    You’re willfully ignoring facts and pretend that it’s totally up in the air whether games will support RTX, and that they won’t be available for a long time...

    Which is entirely false.

    There are games that support RTX out right now. Like Tomb Raider

    More are coming this year: One of the biggest titles this year: Battlefield 5 supports it.

    And dozens of titles supporting RTX, many of them big AAA titles, are coming out in H1 2019.

    So no: Nobody is buying a card they “can’t even test.” If you buy an RTX card, it’ll work out of the box with RTX technology enabled.

    And it’s of course also the fastest card on the market for all the old titles that don’t support RTX.
  • sonny73n - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link

    @V900

    If you can’t compare performance per dollar of this gen and the previous, why even bother praising the new tech when currently none of the tech sites have any mean to test them?

    After reading your first comment, I couldn’t help but think that you’re a paid shill for Nvidia.
  • imaheadcase - Thursday, September 20, 2018 - link

    You just ignored the facts and even proved yourself wrong in own statement. lol

    Let me sell you a car with the fastest engine, but i'm not going to let you use all the Horsepower..but i promise i'll enable it when i get the right parts for it. Don't worry about the $100k price tag on the car, its going to be awesome i swear..

    Do you get paid for every post by nvidia, or just a lump sum?
  • mscsniperx - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - link

    You are comparing apples to oranges. There isn't even a raytracing game to compare to.. And when the truth comes out that even with RTX, there is a massive FPS hit.. well, it's game over.
  • DigitalFreak - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - link

    First you complain that there aren't any raytracing games to get benchmarks from, then you state there will be a massive performance hit. If there are no games available to test with, you can't have any idea what their performance will be like.
  • tamalero - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - link

    The slides/demos of Nvidia and the Beta of Battlefield brother..
    They show performance that could be potentially be "above" what users would expect.
  • imaheadcase - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - link

    Hello Hairworks would like a word with you..
  • CoachAub - Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - link

    Laser discs were a big hit! ;)

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