Ray Tracing Timeline

[TechSwagPimp1337]

I just finished a conversation with a customer support representative at a board partner with Nvidia. I am eligible for an upgrade from my 1080 (full MSRP refund) to either the GTX 1080Ti or RTX 2080, and both would end up costing me about $200. I asked him about the performance difference, and he said that they were essentially the same. I then asked whether he recommended having a higher frame buffer (1080 Ti), or having the Ray Tracing option. They then told me that Ray Tracing wouldn't really be properly implemented into games for about a year. So if you're paying for the card outright, wait. If you can upgrade for cheap, go for it. My recommendation is the same as Linus's. "It depends".

[Enderman]

If it costs the same then the 2080 is a better choice.

[Alex Atkin UK]

Considering they will cost you the same I'd got for the RTX 2080 personally.

 

In the reviews so far the only reason NOT to pick up an RTX 2080 over a 1080 Ti is because it costs more for the same performance, in your case they are the same, so no reason not have the extra bells and whistles.  Plus there's a chance driver optimisations will improve it further over time.