The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Review: Memories of the Future
by Ryan Smith on July 23, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
- GeForce
- NVIDIA
- Turing
- GeForce RTX
Power, Temperatures, & Noise
Last, but not least of course, is our look at power, temperatures, and noise levels. While a high performing card is good in its own right, an excellent card can deliver great performance while also keeping power consumption and the resulting noise levels in check.
GeForce Video Card Voltages | |||||
RTX 2080S Boost | RTX 2080S Idle | RTX 2080 Boost | RTX 2070S Boost | ||
1.05v | 0.65v | 1.05v | 1.043v |
Overall, the voltages being used for the RTX 2080 Super are not any different than NVIDIA’s other TU104 cards – or any of their other Turing cards, for that matter. At its highest clockspeeds the card runs at 1.05v, quickly stepping down to below 1v at lower clockspeeds. The 0.65v idle voltage is among the lowest we’ve ever recorded for an NVIDIA card, however.
GeForce Video Card Average Clockspeeds | |||||
Game | RTX 2080S | RTX 2080 Ti | RTX 2080 | RTX 2070S | |
Max Boost Clock | 1965MHz | 1950MHz | 1900MHz | 1950MHz | |
Boost Clock | 1815MHz | 1545MHz | 1710MHz | 1770MHz | |
Tomb Raider | 1937MHz | 1725MHz | 1785MHz | 1875MHz | |
F1 2019 | 1920MHz | 1725MHz | 1785MHz | 1875MHz | |
Assassin's Creed | 1920MHz | 1800MHz | 1815MHz | 1890MHz | |
Metro Exodus | 1937MHz | 1755MHz | 1785MHz | 1875MHz | |
Strange Brigade | 1920MHz | 1695MHz | 1770MHz | 1875MHz | |
Total War: TK | 1937MHz | 1740MHz | 1785MHz | 1875MHz | |
The Division 2 | 1937MHz | 1635MHz | 1740MHz | 1845MHz | |
Grand Theft Auto V | 1937MHz | 1815MHz | 1815MHz | 1890MHz | |
Forza Horizon 4 | 1937MHz | 1815MHz | 1800MHz | 1890MHz |
Looking at clockspeeds, we can piece together a couple of interesting pieces of information. On the clockspeed side, NVIDIA hasn’t actually changed the card’s maximum clockspeed all that much. Our RTX topped out at 1900MHz, and the RTX 2080 Super is only a bit higher at 1965MHz. That they’re doing it without more voltage is a bit more interesting – it looks like chip quality may have improved a bit over the past year – but not too surprising.
What is more surprising however are the average clockspeeds we recorded for the RTX 2080 Super. In short, the card spends a lot of time at or near its top turbo bins. With temperature compensation active, our RTX 2080 Super tops out at 1937MHz; a clockspeed that it holds at for over half of our games even at 4K. Quite frankly the RTX 2080 Super is almost a boring card in this respect (in a good way); there’s just not much in the way of power throttling going on here. If anything, the hard part is getting the card above 90-95% power usage.
This, ultimately, is why the RTX 2080 Super is as fast as it is versus the vanilla RTX 2080. The extra SMs help, but it’s the extra 100-150MHz on the GPU clockspeed that’s really driving the card.
Getting to power consumption itself then, idle is effectively unchanged, exactly as we’d expect it. Load power, on the other hand, is paying the price for those 1900MHz+ clockspeeds. Under both FurMark and Tomb Raider, our RTX 2080 Super-equipped system is drawing almost the same amount of power as the RTX 2080 Ti system with a difference of just a few watts. That performance doesn’t come for free. NVIDIA’s overall power efficiency is still quite good here (the Radeon VII won’t be touching it, for example), but it’s clearly regressed a bit versus the RTX 2080 Ti and vanilla RTX 2080.
It is worth noting, however, that often the card was clockspeed-limited rather than power limited. So while Tomb Raider was specifically picked to be a punishing game – a task it delivered on here – I fully expect that the RTX 2080 Super is drawing a bit less than the RTX 2080 Ti in around half of our other games.
With higher power consumption and the same cooler comes higher temperatures. Even FurMark’s 77C is still several degrees below the card’s 84C thermal throttle point, but it is a very straightforward consequence of the increased power consumption.
Last, but not least, we have noise. Again this is the same cooler as the RTX 2080 & RTX 2080 Ti, so the card has to work a bit harder to keep itself cool versus the original RTX 2080. The net result is that the RTX 2080 Super splits the difference between the original RTX 2080 and the RTX 2080 Ti, peaking at 46.5 dB(A). This is unlikely to be a very noticeable change as compared to the RTX 2080, but it’s louder none the less. I’m actually a bit surprised it didn’t pull even with the RTX 2080 Ti, but then our RTX 2080 Ti seems to run just a bit loud period – even at idle it’s a bit louder.
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Stuka87 - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
We already know that big Navi is expected early next year. It will fill in that 5800 spot. Small Navi comes in 1-2 months.Arbie - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
Why not round these multi-hundred dollar prices? Show $499 as $500 etc. What value are you bringing to the reader by going along with the obfuscation? You should be simplifying where possible, to help rather than hinder comparisons. We don't expect 0.25% precision in frame rates, watts, or temperatures, and it doesn't help to see it in prices.quorm - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
Because they are reporting MSRP set by the manufacturer, and the manufacturer sets prices ending in 99.Arbie - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
Um... yes, that is what Anandtech is doing. Obviously. But - unlike a retail outlet - they don't have to, and they can serve us better by *not* doing it. That was the entire point of my post.Arbie - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
Especially in the comparison tables.Ryan Smith - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
So that's actually a really good question, and it's something I've been mulling around as well.The issue on my end essentially comes down to accuracy versus usefulness. Round numbers are far more useful. But I also don't want to post inaccurate numbers, especially in a specification table. The card is $699, not $700. Which is totally a pricing trick meant to fool buyers; but at the end of the day it's still the price.
So let me flip things around here. You guys tell me: would you be okay if I listed a rounded price, even if it's not accurate?
SuperiorSpecimen - Tuesday, July 23, 2019 - link
How about in the specs/pricing charts show the accurate price, but when referring to price in the body of the article, go with the useful number?DanNeely - Wednesday, July 24, 2019 - link
ThisTilmitt - Wednesday, July 24, 2019 - link
Please round!igavus - Wednesday, July 24, 2019 - link
Yes. Please do round. It takes effort for my eyes to recognize the 99 suffix and bump the leading digit in my head. Here in northern europe, it's almost impossible to get anything at the MSRP so the 99 number doesn't help me anyways.