Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition Graphics Card Review

Peter Donnell / 6 years ago

Final Thoughts

How Much Does it Cost?

The Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition is available now directly from Nvidia. It’s priced at $799.00 in the US and £749.00 in the UK.

Overview

I’m loving the new cards from Nvidia, and while they’re a little expensive, they’re showing a lot of promise. The GTX 1080 Ti and the RTX 2080 are closely matched in some benchmarks. However, when it comes to 4K performance, there’s certainly an edge to be found with RTX. Of course, if you invest in the more expensive Ti edition, 4K game performance is pretty darn easy.

To The Future

RTX cards are just out of the gate, on infant drivers and many of their biggest features aren’t even in any games yet! The GTX 1080 Ti, for example, is about as optimised as it’ll ever be now. RTX series still has a lot to give, and upcoming driver updates will no doubt tap into this. Furthermore, the upcoming release of DirectX RT will allow developers to release any Ray Tracing and DLSS features to the public. It’s all software from here on out, and big changes are coming. Want to know more about RT and DLSS? Check out our benchmarks and guide here.

Build Quality

The old Founders Edition cooler were superb, and very nicely made. However, the new RTX model really kicks things into high gear. The switch to dual fans and bigger fans at that means noise levels are greatly reduced. Furthermore, they deliver great cooling performance in addition to the vapour chamber design. The most impressive thing though is the metal housing. The machined parts of the fan mounts, the black finish on the radiator and PCIe mount, and the backplate. It’s all very well put together, and possibly one of the best looking and made GPUs I’ve ever seen.

Should I Buy One?

For high-frame rate and 4K gaming, the RTX 2080 series is superb. Some of the aftermarket cards are a smidge faster than the Founders Edition. However, they’re a little more expensive too. That being said, I think you get a nicer looking, better made, and more professional looking design with the FE than some of the “gamer” options on the market. With the future of Ray Tracing starting here, as well as the upcoming DLSS features, it’s a good way to future-proof your PC for at least a couple of years.