Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti vs RTX 2080 Ti: Should you upgrade?

Two and a half years after the launch of the GeForce GTX 10 series, the next generation of Nvidia graphics cards has finally arrived and the GeForce RTX 2080 and 2080 Ti cards have become our best performance. But should you upgrade to GeForce RTX 2080 Ti ($ 1,200 on GeForce.com) if you already have a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti? As always, the answer is "it depends".

This is easier to explain than the decision to buy a GeForce RTX 2080 or a GTX 1080 Ti, because these graphics cards offer virtually identical performance. Let us dig.

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti vs GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

In our performance tests on a variety of games, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition exceeded by 33% on average overclocked PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8, and by 45% in Middle-earth: Shadow of War and Rainbow Six Siege. Nvidia's new flagship product has cleared 60 frames per second in 4K resolution with graphics options set to Ultra settings in every game, but Ghost Recon Wildlands, whose high-end settings were designed to completely melt GPUs. If you give up the anti-aliasing and drop the graphics settings in the games at a high value – a common visual configuration for 4K compressed monitors – the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti erases 80 frames per second in all games. our test suite.

Brad Chacos / IDG

But here's the thing: most 4K monitors available today exceed 60Hz, a speed that the GTX 1080 Ti always meets at all levels if you drop some visual settings to High in games. Heck, the GTX 1080 reaches or reaches almost 4K / 60 with everything that is mounted on Ultra in most games in our test suite. If you already have a 4K, 60Hz monitor, you will not see any of the performance gains of the GeForce RTX 2080, because your screen will simply not be able to track it. The GTX 1080 Ti is already pushing it hard enough.

There are cases where upgrading from a GTX 1080 Ti to the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti can bring you a significantly better experience (however, I leave you the choice to invest $ 1,200 or more in a graphics card for 33% more performance) is really useful).

This summer, the first 4K, 144Hz G-Sync HDR displays, such as the Acer Predator X27, made their appearance. They are completely glorious-Fast, pixel-packed and flamboyant at 1000 nits robust. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is the first graphics card capable of exceeding 4K / 60 and feeding these beautiful screens at ultra-fast speeds. If you have already invested in a G-Sync HDR monitor and want the best gaming experience possible, no matter the price, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti calls you. G-Sync monitors 4K, 144Hz, cheaper – and "cheaper", come out this year from Acer with 1300 dollars.

Similarly, if you have a 1440p, 144Hz gaming monitor and are not happy with the power of the GTX 1080 Ti, the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti could offer you better performance. Note however that the performance advantage of the RTX 2080 Ti slightly decreases with a resolution of 1440p, where it is 27.9% faster than the GTX 1080 Ti. It's still a very noticeable boost, but again, I'll let you decide if it's big enough to invest $ 1,200 more in your gaming platform. (GTX 1080 Ti costs $ 700 at launch.)

Brad Chacos / IDG

The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti could still progress if Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), an AI-enhanced anti-aliasing technique that offers a similar visual fidelity to temporal anti-aliasing (TAA), 39% faster, takes off with the developers. Twenty-five games already support real-time ray tracing or DLSS, although you do not find any active technology at the moment. The GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti include RT hardware and a dedicated tensor core that enables these advanced features. The GTX 1080 Ti does not do it.

That said, new gaming technologies have uneven track records in terms of developer support, especially in the short term. The ones we spoke to are motivated by ray tracing and DLSS, but we do not recommend taking into account the promise of ray tracing and improved AI graphics if you decide to buy a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti today. 'hui. If you want to know more about how ray tracing and DLSS work on a technical level, check out our dive into the Turing GPU in the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti.