Best bang for buck graphics card around $800

[kestrel79]

Looks like more and more gpus are finally in stock again. Couple guys at work got 3080s recently...what's the best model to get? I see 10GB and 12GB versions. Looks like the EVGA FTW version is getting very good reviews on newegg. What does everyone prefer?

 

Or should I wait for next gen 4000 series? I'd love to run VR with a higher fps and more eye candy.

[1Sascha]

Depends on your VR-set, I suppose. My puny Rift-S works pretty well with my 2070 Super. But my buddy's Reverb G2 was a bit too much for that card (I bought the card off him). He's now using an RX 6800 XT with his G2 and that seems to work very well for him. I tried that setup in IL-2 on his PC and it was pretty damn smooth. But even with that kind of GPU he still can't turn all the bells and whistles on in VR - MSAA is still a bit of a no-no.

 

Any higher res than the G2 and you should probably be going for a 3080 Ti or 3090 (or the AMD equivalent).

 

S.

Edited June 14, 2022 by 1Sascha

[kestrel79]

I have a Rift S too. 

[1Sascha]

5 hours ago, kestrel79 said:

I have a Rift S too. 

I've played around with graphics-settings quite a lot and IMO the relatively low resolution of the Rift-S means that additional eye-candy won't have as much of an impact on your gaming experience... but maybe that's just me..

 

I'm using the "high" preset, and most stuff on low to medium with FXAA 2x, HDR and sharpen ON and 1.10 pixel density. The game looks quite good like that and I'm getting good frame-rates. Flying to target on an offline mission I'll be maxed out at 80 FPS, but if it's a busy mission with lots of planes around I will get drops once enemies show up and the shooting starts. I usually only notice when I glance at the FPS counter - the game doesn't get laggy or anything like that.

 

That said: I get the feeling that the 2070 is still a bit overwhelmed under these conditions and my guess is that a 3060 Ti or 3070 would probably be the performance sweet-spot for the Rift-S in IL-2 with high to very high settings. Looking at HWmonitor I'm pretty sure it's my GPU that's bottlenecking things. My i5-12600K doesn't go higher than 50 to 80 Watts power-consumption during sessions while the 2070 Super sits pretty close to its power-limit (180 - 200 Watts).

[kissTheSky]

I think around $800 is 10GB FTW3 fits your bill. It is at $870 direct from eVGA website. 12GB versions seem to be around 1100-1200.

 

I strongly suggest buying direct from eVGA. If you have a local Microcenter, I think they’re following eVGA discounts as well.

[kestrel79]

Newegg has some Gigabyte 12GB 3080s in that $850 range too. But the FTW3 has much better reviews and seems faster despite less RAM. But what would be best for flight sims in VR probably more RAM? I can't go over $900 that's my limit. That already seems crazy high to me for a gpu. 

[1Sascha]

Both 10 and 12GB will probably be overkill with the current crop of games, even AAA ones. Of course, if you want to do some "future proofing" you can go higher than 8GB, but by the time you'll be needing that additional VRAM, you'll probably be looking to buy your next GPU anyway, so...

 

In my experience, lots of VRAM on certain cards is just a marketing gimmick (like the 12GB RTX 3060, but manufacturers have been doing this for years and years). If you can get a good deal on the 10 GB version and are set on the 3080, just buy it. Chances are, you wouldn't notice a difference between it and the 12 GB variant. Remember to check your system's total power-consumption with the new card in and that your PSU can handle it. I did manage to fry a PSU with a too powerful GPU way back in the day.

 

 

 

S.

Edited June 15, 2022 by 1Sascha

[kestrel79]

This is my power supply. It's right at the minimum for the gpu, 750w. 

 

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-hx-series-hx750-cp-9020137-na-750w/p/N82E16817139206?Item=N82E16817139206

 

Do I even have enough 6x2 pin connectors for a 3080 gpu? How many does it take 2 or 3?

[kissTheSky]

Power supply might be on the limit, but should be OK, especially if you underclock slightly. I think 3080 should take two 8 pin supplies, which your Corsair should have three of. 
 

As you know, iRacing doesn’t allot more than 8gb of GPU memory, so you’re safe with a 10GB memory. If I remember correctly, I’ve read il2 may go up to 11gb on occasions, but not frequently. EVGA FTW3 seems to fit your budget, and has a 3 year warranty, with their customer service being famous for taking care of the customers (heck, there were quite a bit of failed 3090 cards due to incorrect EK waterblock standoffs, and they’ve replaced 3090 cards of people even though the failure was clearly due to EK waterblocks).

 

I don’t have any experience with gigabyte cards, so I really can’t comment on those. 

[1Sascha]

3080 12 GB specs, TDP is 350W, recommended PSU is 750W (under "board design")

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3080-12-gb.c3834

 

3080 10 GB specs, TDP is 320W, recommended PSU is 700W:

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-3080.c3621

 

Pretty good power calculator here:

https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

 

^ Just FYI: This thing seems to (wisely) err on the side of caution. In this calculator, my BRD ODD for example contributes 30 Watts to my overall draw - which might even be true under certain circumstances (though I doubt it), but I don't see how it would draw its maximum while the rest of the system (CPU and GPU mostly) would also draw their maximum. So I decided to ignore those 30 Watts, which puts my 550W PSU well within spec for my system - and 550W is exactly what is recommended for the 2070 Super according to Techpowerup.

 

Famous last words before my PSU goes "Poof!", perhaps... ? but I'm pretty sure you have *some* wiggle-room.

 

 

 

 

Also:

 

12 GB 100%, 10GB 97%. So not much in it at all between these two. I'd make this entirely about price.

 

In fact, from what I can tell, Passmark doesn't even distinguish between the two variants.

 

 

3DMark seems to, but the average scores don't seem that different to me - the gap's certainly not big enough to spend a few 100 more IMO, especially when you consider that the "normal" 3080 is already pretty damn powerful. Plus these things don't just compare "raw" GPU capability AFAIK. These cards don't operate in a vacuum, so I strongly suspect that the rest of the system(s) (plus OCing vs non OCing, etc) also play a role in what kind of GPU-score you'll be getting.

10 GB:

 

https://www.3dmark.com/search?_ga=2.189626475.1732536505.1655364068-1939307219.1647188127#advanced?test=spy P&cpuId=&gpuId=1338&gpuCount=0&gpuType=ALL&deviceType=ALL&storageModel=ALL&memoryChannels=0&country=&scoreType=graphicsScore&hofMode=false&showInvalidResults=false&freeParams=&minGpuCoreClock=&maxGpuCoreClock=&minGpuMemClock=&maxGpuMemClock=&minCpuClock=&maxCpuClock=

 

12 GB:

 

https://www.3dmark.com/search?_ga=2.189626475.1732536505.1655364068-1939307219.1647188127#advanced?test=spy P&cpuId=&gpuId=1429&gpuCount=0&gpuType=ALL&deviceType=ALL&storageModel=ALL&memoryChannels=0&country=&scoreType=graphicsScore&hofMode=false&showInvalidResults=false&freeParams=&minGpuCoreClock=&maxGpuCoreClock=&minGpuMemClock=&maxGpuMemClock=&minCpuClock=&maxCpuClock=

 

 

S.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by 1Sascha

[Jaws2002]

With crypto in free fall, you should wait few weeks.

 A boat load of graphics cards are about to be dumped by miners and that will force down the price of new cards as well.

[1Sascha]

2 hours ago, Jaws2002 said:

 A boat load of graphics cards are about to be dumped by miners and that will force down the price of new cards as well.

The price drop finally seems to be starting in earnest. 3060 Ti is nearing €500 for the first time since I've started monitoring prices in February or so. And the 3070 just went below €600. I do agree however that this will probably continue - considering the 40xx series being launched soon-ish and that the current prices are still way too high for most cards. And once miners start to unload their cards on the used market ...

 

On 6/15/2022 at 6:27 PM, kestrel79 said:

Do I even have enough 6x2 pin connectors for a 3080 gpu? How many does it take 2 or 3?

 

According to two hardware-sites I checked, your Corsair PSU seems to come with four 6/8 pin PCIe connectors. Most 3080s I checked (both 10 and 12 GB versions) take two 8-pin PCIe connectors The EVGA FTW3 10 GB takes three 8-pin connectors - for some reason, since it has the same 320 Watt TDP as the reference-board and 12 GB versions with higher TDP seem to be doing fine with just two 8-pin plugs. Perhaps the extra juice is meant to create more head-room for additional OCing? No idea.

 

So power- and power-connection-wise you should be good, no matter what you buy.

 

 

S.

Edited June 18, 2022 by 1Sascha

[Cravis]

Consider that Nvidia will probably introduce the 4090 by end of October and by end November the 4080. AMD will introduce the 7000 series around end of November start of Dezember.

Those cards are rumoured to feature a massive performance increase. However they probably will also come with a considerable price increase as well.

 

Anyway after release of those new cards if you still want to go with a 3080 or RX6800XT instead to save money their prices will drop due to people switching to new hardware.

Unless the crypto market picks up again by then there is a good chance price for current gen cards will be low around November.

[kestrel79]

Cool thanks I'll probably hold off then another year or so. I have no time for simming much these days anyways. Just live vicariously through you guys on the forums  

[elawsonjr30]

I just got this for $799. It's currently listed at $899 but there's a $100 off promo code.

 

https://www.newegg.com/msi-geforce-rtx-3080-rtx-3080-ventus-3x-plus-12g-oc-lhr/p/N82E16814137712?Item=N82E16814137712

[1Sascha]

9 hours ago, elawsonjr30 said:

I just got this for $799. It's currently listed at $899 but there's a $100 off promo code.

That is a pretty decent deal. Encouraging to see the high end cards returning to more reasonable prices - even it it's by means of a $100 promo code.. ?

 

S.

[kestrel79]

Good price for the 12GB model!

[Soarfeat]

 

FYI

currently

MSI RTX 3080 ( 12gb ) $769.00 ( after $ 30 rebate ) 

Prices dropping fairly well on these cards.

 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Soarfeat

[1Sascha]

9 hours ago, Soarfeat said:

Prices dropping fairly well on these cards.

Yup... 3060 Ti just went under €500 for the first time over here. If it dropped another €50 or €60 we'd be around MSRP for that card I reckon.

 

Crypto market can't collapse quickly enough if you ask me - probably already quite a few small-time miners unloading their cards right now. IIRC, no crypto-currency is currently profitable at typical KWh rates.

 

S.