3080 vs 6800XT

[Sarra]

I took a peek, and I didn't really see anything about this specifically, so I figured I'd give one a shot.

 

For me, personally, I'm coming from a Haswell CPU and a GTX 980. I've already upgraded to a 3900x, with a 5900x planned (X570 board already), which means this will be my first ever, proper, top of the line system. I've had a Core2Quad before, but that was after it was no longer 'top of the line', and the i7 already existed.

 

The problem is, choosing a graphics card. I was set on the 30 series, until Big Navi was announced.

 

Now, after the embargo lifted and benchmarks came out, I'm not sure.

 

In the very end, though, I think that I'm going to get a 3080. I'm slightly disappoint at the smaller amount of memory, but I don't think it will make too much difference, at least not for a few years, but this machine will be running for more than 5 years, at least, based on my past PC use patterns.

[eeeee1]

well nvidia still has ray tracing and higher res gaming under their belt.

if you will only game at 1080p i see no reason to go with nvidia.

[Moonzy]

do you need RTX features? shadowplay? nvenc?

these are the main factors that will determine which gpu to buy

 

pure rasterization, they're almost on par so whichever u can get near MSRP would be ideal

[Coolmaster]

They're both good options, and I would get the first one that is in stock. The 6800XT is $50 cheaper, but the 3080 has better ray tracing, DLSS, the Nvenc encoder which allows better streaming, RTX broadcast which will be useful for working from home, and CUDA which has better productivity support.

[GravityHurts]

25 minutes ago, eeeee1 said:

if you will only game at 1080p i see no reason to go with nvidia.

If you're considering 6800xt or 3080 at 1080p you should probably be using a 240hz monitor

[Sarra]

I'm actually considering a 1440p monitor that does 144hz. I'd like a 4k monitor, but I don't have space for a reasonably sized one, and 27" seems like it would be a good size for a 1440p monitor. What I REALLY want is an ultrawide monitor that's twice as wide as a 24" monitor, but the same height, while being 1440p and 144hz. Sadly, these seem to have all pooft, so I'm looking at a 27" instead.

 

I really want to play with RTX. I pretty much refused to buy a 1080TI because of bitcoin miners, plus they were literally not available when I was prepared to upgrade, followed by them being removed from production, followed by the 2080TI being ridiculously expensive.

[BTGbullseye]

Bear in mind that current games either have no raytracing optimizations at all, or ar only optimized for RTX cards due to nothing else having the hardware for it. In upcoming games, that is a completely different situation, and in Dirt 5, even the 6800 beats the 3090 for raytracing performance. AMD has an effective monopoly on console raytracing hardware, so any cross-platform titles or engines will inevitably start using AMD raytracing optimizations in the near future.

 

Raytracing performance on current titles is entirely unrepresentative of the future of raytracing, or even of actual raytracing hardware performance.

[Sarra]

Just now, BTGbullseye said:

Bear in mind that current games either have no raytracing optimizations at all, or ar only optimized for RTX cards due to nothing else having the hardware for it. In upcoming games, that is a completely different situation, and in Dirt 5, even the 6800 beats the 3090 for raytracing performance. AMD has an effective monopoly on console raytracing hardware, so any cross-platform titles or engines will inevitably start using AMD raytracing optimizations in the near future.

 

Raytracing performance on current titles is entirely unrepresentative of the future of raytracing, or even of actual raytracing hardware performance.

I actually think that NVidia, with the GDDR6X, will take back the performance when they get their resizable BAR implemented...

 

I did, however, forget to mention that I will be going with watercooling for whichever card I get. GTX 980 ran between 60 and 63C under full load at stock speeds in my old system, but it runs over 74C full load in the new system, mostly due to much reduced airflow (I had a side panel intake on my old case blasting fresh air straight into the GPU, new case has the GPU suffocated between the PSU shroud and a glass side panel). GTX 980 will go back in my old system when I get the 3080 or 6800XT...

 

As for your actual comment about RT, well... This is actually the biggest reason I'm still on the fence. I'm kind of in a wait and see mode, which is why I waited so long to pull the trigger on a 3900x (and soon, a 5900x).

 

I'm really excited about all of this, I've waited for 3 years now to do a new PC build, and it feels really good having most of it together.

[BTGbullseye]

2 minutes ago, Sarra said:

I did, however, forget to mention that I will be going with watercooling for whichever card I get.

You'll get significantly more out of the 6800XT then, as it actually has overclocking headroom, and it's a much cooler GPU. Adding a waterblock should give you at least 5% extra performance.

4 minutes ago, Sarra said:

I actually think that NVidia, with the GDDR6X, will take back the performance when they get their resizable BAR implemented...

Bear in mind that it's not really going to affect it that much. VRAM speeds don't matter to the performance increase from BAR related changes. All BAR does is remove some of the overhead when transferring files to/from VRAM, which would actually mean that faster VRAM would likely benefit less.

[PriitM]

Hardware ray tracing is still a gimmick. The standard (optimal) way of doing it is still in development: either Nvidias dedicated RT cores or AMD with RT spread out for scalability. So, neither will give anything but hardcore enthusiast reasons. Plus the library is not well optimized, with 99% of any entry developed for Nvidias RT core technology. You will see AMDs RT gain performance once VulcanRT gets implemented in games. That will open up more resources for AMD that has to (and always have had to) deal with un-optimised games.

 

For the average gamer RIGHT now and 3-5 years from now, 1440p 144Hz+ and 4K performance will matter more. And 4K requires more onboard memory. So, the inevitable 4K upgrade will leave you with two options if you go with 3080 right now: new GPU with more RAM and maybe a better design. Or you go with AMD and more RAM now, with bigger overclocking headroom, InfinityCache and more open platform to get boosts via driver updates. 

 

And in the end of the day, you need to be lucky to even get anything. Because the stonks have never been lower 

[Sarra]

Just now, BTGbullseye said:

You'll get significantly more out of the 6800XT then, as it actually has overclocking headroom, and it's a much cooler GPU. Adding a waterblock should give you at least 5% extra performance.

Bear in mind that it's not really going to affect it that much. VRAM speeds don't matter to the performance increase from BAR related changes. All BAR does is remove some of the overhead when transferring files to/from VRAM, which would actually mean that faster VRAM would likely benefit less.

Ah, I hadn't thought of it that way, that does make sense. I think I'll probably wait for a 6800XT, then... Though, I'm sure Jay will have some benchmarks of WC systems vs stock, or something similar. For me, though, it's mostly just about keeping temps reasonable. I do want to give a custom loop a shot, though, and always have; I'll probably just do the GPU, since I don't want dual rads, and I only have room for a 280 or 240.

[xAcid9]

3080 at 4K or higher. 
6800 XT below 4K. 

[Exeon]

The main question is, what is the price?

MRSP aside local prices can differ quite a bit, for me the 6800 XT is nearly 200€ more than the current price of the 3080 and nearly 300€ more than what my pre-order was.

If the difference is say 50€ then deciding becomes a bit more difficult, if it's more than I would just go with the cheapest.

 

If ray tracing matters to you I'd say go with the 3080, otherwise at the same price I'd go with the 6800 XT for the VRAM

 

32 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

3080 at 4K or higher. 
6800 XT below 4K. 

 

I disagree with this, although benchmarks show the 3080 to be better at 4K, the limiting 10GB VRAM is going to punish it at some point.

For 1440p I still believe 10GB's is "fine" but even now there are titles out there pushing above 10GB's @4K