Nvidia’s RTX 4080 didn’t have a heat reception when it first launched, however a collection of sluggish value drops have made it a extra enticing choice among the many finest graphics playing cards. However, inventory is shortly drying up, with most retailers providing just a few fashions at listing value. Is now lastly the time to drag the set off?
Stock is probably going disappearing resulting from Nvidia’s rumored Super refresh. A mountain of proof has all however confirmed that Nvidia is gearing as much as launch new graphics playing cards, together with the RTX 4080 Super. Without the official particulars, it’s robust to know should you ought to look ahead to the brand new GPU, however we’re right here to interrupt down the whole lot we all know concerning the card proper now.
Pricing and availability
The RTX 4080 has been round for months. Nvidia launched the cardboard over a yr in the past for an inventory value of $1,200. It didn’t maintain at that value for lengthy, with fashions out there for many of final yr between $1,000 and $1,150, however costs have slowly began to creep again up. At the time of writing, the most cost effective mannequin I might discover was this
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Why the sudden value improve? VideoCardz reviews that Nvidia has stopped manufacturing of the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti, presumably to clear the best way for brand new Super playing cards. If that’s the case, retailers are probably making an attempt to get probably the most out of their small remaining stock. If and when the RTX 4080 Super is launched, I think the previous few RTX 4080 fashions will go for a less expensive value.
As for the RTX 4080 Super, we don’t know the value but. Early reviews concerning the GPU instructed Nvidia would launch it on the similar listing value as the bottom mannequin: $1,200. That appears probably, on condition that the bottom RTX 4080 was extensively thought-about too costly at its listing value. It’s arduous to consider the Super mannequin can be standard at a fair increased value.
The greater query is that if the bottom RTX 4080 will nonetheless be in inventory when the Super card releases. We know there are treasured few fashions out there, and I think the remaining stock will dwindle within the coming weeks. That could possibly be alternative to get the bottom RTX 4080 at value, however you’ll should be prepared to choose one up should you spot a deal.
Specs
Outside of Nvidia confirming its keynote at CES 2024, the corporate hasn’t revealed something concerning the RTX 4080 Super. From a specs perspective, we’re dealing fully with rumors proper now, so hold that in thoughts as we go over the comparability to the RTX 4080.
From rumored specs, it seems the RTX 4080 Super is considerably of a lateral transfer for Nvidia. The card is rumored to come back with 10,240 CUDA cores, which is only a 5% improve over the bottom RTX 4080. It’s additionally rumored to come back with the identical 16GB of GDDR6X reminiscence on a 256-bit bus and with the identical energy draw of 320W.
Elsewhere, rumor has it that the utmost enhance clock velocity is getting a 2% bump to 2,550MHz, and the reminiscence velocity goes from 22.4 Gbps to 23 Gbps. According to reporting from VideoCardz, out of all the Super playing cards, the RTX 4080 Super will obtain the smallest bump in specs.
That in all probability explains the sooner reviews about Nvidia stopping manufacturing of the bottom RTX 4080. Based on specs alone, it seems the Super mannequin serves as a method for Nvidia to increase the lifetime of the RTX 4080 with out dropping its value any additional. Nvidia appears to be pushing the RTX 4070 Ti Super and RTX 4070 Super a lot tougher, suggesting these playing cards will ship a bigger efficiency improve over their base fashions.
Performance
Given the rumored specs of the RTX 4080 Super, it’s arduous to think about will probably be a lot quicker than the bottom RTX 4080. The bump in core rely and clock velocity will assist it maintain an edge, however I think that edge will probably be within the decrease single digits in most video games.
Let’s get some context, although. The RTX 4080 comes with 36% extra CUDA cores than the subsequent step down in Nvidia’s present lineup, the RTX 4070 Ti. It additionally comes with a bump to reminiscence, 100W extra energy, and a slight bump to clock velocity. After including all of these components up, the bottom RTX 4080 finally ends up about 26% quicker than the RTX 4070 Ti at 4K on common.
As you’ll be able to see, a core rely improve doesn’t scale linearly with efficiency, clock velocity, or energy calls for. In most instances, the efficiency bounce is lower than the sum of its components in real-world efficiency.
How does that relate to the RTX 4080 Super? Well, we will see from the rumored specs that there in all probability gained’t be an enormous bounce over the RTX 4080. Given that, the efficiency enhancements will probably be small, and in some video games, there is probably not efficiency enhancements in any respect.
Should you wait?
With costs of RTX 4080 fashions holding at round $1,200, I might advocate holding off on selecting up a card till we see what the Super refresh has to carry. Assuming it would launch on the similar listing value, it’s higher to get a small efficiency bump, irrespective of how small that efficiency bump could also be.
However, that doesn’t imply the RTX 4080 Super is the higher card. As talked about, costs on remaining RTX 4080 fashions will probably drop in response to the Super launch, and there will probably be a slim window to choose up these remaining playing cards. That’s the perfect play for most individuals. It doesn’t seem just like the RTX 4080 Super will present an enormous benefit over the bottom RTX 4080, so should you can rating a deal on Nvidia’s older card, that’s the best way to go.
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