Nvidia RTX 2080 vs GTX 1080: a confrontation between next generation gaming computers

It is now two months since we are in the era of RTX laptops, it is time to pause and watch how this first wave of laptops with Nvidia 's new mobile graphics technology rates has been tested under real conditions.

If you live under a rock (or do not follow the ins and outs of PC component upgrades), The new RTX 20 GPUs from Nvidia are the biggest change in mobile game graph since 2016.

Several new key features differentiate RTX 2060, 2070 and 2080 cards from previous GTX cards. Real-time ray tracing simulates light better, allowing new types of reflections and more realistic scenes. Key is the ability to mirror off-screen objects, which was almost impossible before. Games that support including Battlefield V and Metro Exodus.

There's also DLSS, which stands for Deep Learning Super-Sampling, which uses cloud-based AI to simulate games at incredibly high resolutions and teaches your GPU how to emulate that level of detail. This requires DLSS-compatible games, and the initial list includes Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Darksiders 3 and Anthem.

We've already been able to test five RTX-powered notebooks from Lenovo, Acer, Asus, MSI and Razer, and others on the test stand at the moment. These are mostly models of existing laptops upgraded to new internal components. Native RTX notebooks, such as the Asus Mothership, come later.

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RTX notebooks

What's under the hood?

All these laptops, ranging from $ 2,300 to $ 3,300, use the same processor, the Intel Core i7-8750H processor at 2.2 GHz. And four out of five use the same GPU, the new Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q. Nvidia presented the Max-Q variant in 2017 as a way to get high-end GPUs in thinner laptops, but this has a modest effect on overall performance.

The fifth laptop, a new version of the excellent Razer's blade, contains the Nvidia RTX 2060 (other than Max-Q). To be honest, playing at $ 2,300 for the new low-end GPU in the family stings a bit, and the performance scores show how much there is to win with the top-end 2080 GPUs. Elsewhere one of my favorite gaming laptops, especially in the alternative white version that we have here.

For the most part, the results are as expected. The new 2080 Max-Q systems came out with the very expensive Asus Zephyrus usually winning a victory. Note that we used ready-made settings for notebooks such as the Acer Triton 500 offering software overclocking options.

One of our favorite gaming laptops of last generation, The Alienware R4 17-inch model, with a GeForce GTX 1080 full power (not Max-Q), was slower than the 2080 systems in all but one test, and the Razer with its RTX 2060 was consistently the least powerful, but frankly still very good to play at almost game with high end settings. Razer also offers the RTX 2070 and 2080 models, but their cost is much higher.

the Lenovo Y740 Frankly, it's a very good deal, even if it's not my favorite physical design. On its website, Lenovo offers a series of discounts and offers in constant evolution. At the time of writing these lines, you can get a 2080 Max-Q laptop priced at $ 2,087 (with less RAM and SSD storage than our test unit).

The test scores and system configurations are shown below, and we will update them with the new gaming notebooks as we go through our tests. See more news and reviews on laptops, tablets and PC and Mac desktops here.

Far Cry 5 (fps)

Lenovo Legion Y740-17 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

MSI GS75 Stealth 8SG (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Acer Predator Triton 500 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Alienware 17 R4 (Nvidia GTX 1080)

Razer Blade 15 (Nvidia RTX 2060)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (fps)

Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Lenovo Legion Y740-17 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Acer Predator Triton 500 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

MSI GS75 Stealth 8SG (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Alienware 17 R4 (Nvidia GTX 1080)

Razer Blade 15 (Nvidia RTX 2060)

3DMark Fire Strike Ultra

Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Alienware 17 R4 (Nvidia GTX 1080)

Acer Predator Triton 500 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Lenovo Legion Y740-17 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

MSI GS75 Stealth 8SG (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Razer Blade 15 (Nvidia RTX 2060)

3DMark Port Royal

Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Acer Predator Triton 500 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Lenovo Legion Y740-17 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

MSI GS75 Stealth 8SG (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)

Razer Blade 15 (Nvidia RTX 2060)

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System Configurations

MSI GS75 Stealth 8SG (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz; 32 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM memory; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB with Max-Q design; 512 GB SSD
Acer Predator Triton 500 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz; 32 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM memory; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB with Max-Q design; (2) 512 GB SSD RAID 0
Asus Zephyrus GX701 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)	Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (64-bit); Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz; 24 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM memory; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB with Max-Q design; 1 TB SSD
Razer Blade 15 (Nvidia RTX 2060)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz; 16 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM memory; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 6GB with Max-Q design; 512 GB SSD
Lenovo Legion Y740-17 (Nvidia RTX 2080 Max-Q)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); Intel Core i7-8750H at 2.2 GHz; 16 GB of 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM memory; Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 8GB with Max-Q design; 256GB SSD + 1TB hard drive
Alienware 17 R4 (Nvidia GTX 1080)	Microsoft Windows 10 Home (64-bit); 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7-7820HK; 16 GB of DDR4 2400 MHz SDRAM memory; 8GB of Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080; 512GB SSD + 1TB hard drive