Nvidia has been absolutely killing it in the graphics card when it comes to the best of the best. The legacy created by the legendary Pascal graphics card 1080Ti has been carried out forward by the 2080Ti and more so by the beast that is the 3090.
GPUs have been getting extremely powerful while at the same time power-hungry as well. This is why some of you out there might be confused about buying an older yet efficient 2080 Ti or the absolute monster that is the 3090, which has bought many PSUs to their knees due to the power it consumes and the heat it produces.
So, for those out there who want a 2080 Ti Vs 3090 comparison to decide which one to buy in 2022, then stay tuned as I go through the pros and cons of both so that you can make an educated decision. So let us get right into it.
Technical Specifications:
| GPU Name | Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti | Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 4352 Units | 10496 Units |
| Base Clock | 1350 MHz | 1395 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1545 MHz | 1695 MHz |
| Video Memory | 11GB GDDR6 | 24GB GDDR6X |
| RT Cores | 68 | 82 |
| Bus Width | 352-bit | 384-bit |
| Architecture | Turing | Ampere |
| Process Size | 12 nm | 8 nm |
| Power Draw | 250W | 350W |
| Recommended PSU | 600W | 750W |
2080 Ti vs 3090: Game Benchmarks (4K Ultra Settings)
As the 2080 Ti and the 3090 are some of the best graphics cards in the world, it is only natural that I put them through their paces in some of the most demanding AAA games available with the settings cranked up to Ultra on 4K. So, here are the benchmarks for the following games.
Testing Setup:
- Motherboard: MSI MAG Z490 TOMAHAWK
- CPU: Intel Core i7-10700K
- CPU Cooler: Corsair iCue H150i RGB PRO
- GPU 1: PNY GeForce RTX 3090 24GB XLR8
- GPU 2: MSI GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Ventus 11GB
- Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 1TB
- PSU: Corsair RM850x White 80PLUS Gold 850W
- RAM: 32GB (2×16) DDR4 3600MHz CL16
#1: Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Today’s first game on my list is the latest from Ubisoft Assassin’s creed franchise, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. At 4K resolution, the 2080 Ti gave us a respectable 55 Frames Per Second with a 1% low of 42 frames.
The game is playable on the 2080 Ti in 4K; however, to boost the fps to over 60, we may need to lower some settings.
Switching to the 3090, we see a 30 percent boost in performance as in 4K with all settings cranked to Ultra; I got 70 frames per second with a 1% low of 54 fps.
I would say that this game is more than playable in 4K with the 3090, and you do not need to tinker with the setting sliders to get the best performance.
#2: Cyberpunk 2077
Moving forward to one of the best games which everyone loves to hate, Cyberpunk 2077. I remember my 1070 struggling to run this game on launch; however, after patch 1.05, the performance improved.
Now, with the 2080 Ti powering my rig, I got a respectable 57 frames per second with a 1% low of 51. This is somewhat respectable at 4K Ultra settings; however, I wouldn’t mind lowering some settings to get over that 60 fps mark.
The 3090, on the other hand, makes running look easy as I got 70 frames per second on average, with 60 frames per second is the 1% low. The 3090 once again crushes another 4K test, and it is safe to say that this is the best 4K card available on the market at the time of writing in 2022.
#3: Watch Dogs Legion
Another Ubisoft Title on which we are going to test these cards today is Watch Dogs: Legion. I did not enjoy this game like its predecessors; however, its demanding nature makes it a good test for my benchmarks.
Using the built-in benchmark tool, the 2080 Ti scored an average of 43 frames per second with a 1% low of 34 frames per second.
In my opinion, this is console-level performance with a lot of eye candy at 4K resolution. It would be best to turn ray tracing off while playing this game, as it would net you more fps.
Moving on to the 3090, we get a respectable 60 frames per second on average, with a 1% low of 47. This gives us almost a 34% edge over the 2080 Ti. This result again compels me to dub it the best ray tracing 4K graphics card available on the market.
#4: Horizon Zero Dawn
Next up, we have Horizon Zero Dawn on the list of benchmarks. The 2080 Ti again gives us the same result in 4K resolution on Ultra with 55 frames per second on average.
The 1% low here is 29 frames per second. This result can be somewhat blamed on the shoddy port job of this game from console to PC, and further optimization might improve the results.
The 3090, once again, manages to amaze me by throwing out 75 frames per second on average, with a 1% low of 56 frames per second. This result is as expected from the best GPU on the market right now.
#5: Red Dead Redemption 2
Rockstar games recent games have been the best-optimized games on the market, making them accessible to most of the hardware available to consumers. Red Dead Redemption is not only one of the best games from the last decade but also highly optimized on PC.
Cranking all sliders to Ultra and in 4K resolution, the 2080 Ti gave me an average of 66 frames per second with a 1% low of 59. You can enjoy this game without turning down any setting sliders on the 2080 Ti.
The 3090, on the other hand, net a 37 percent increase in performance as I get an average of 85 frames per second with a 1% low of 73.
2080 Ti Vs 3090: Power And Cooling
The 2080 Ti is a power-hungry card that would also produce a lot of heat. The reference design is shipped with two sufficient fans; however, you would see high temperatures, so it would be better to go for the three fan cards from board partners like MSI or ASUS.
With a TDP of 250 Watts, the 2080 Ti needs two 8-pin connectors to be powered. Nvidia suggests a 600 watts PSU to run this card which should be more than enough depending on your other components.
On the other hand, the 3090, on the other hand, is a beast in itself when it comes to power consumption. I have never tested such a power-hungry card before with a TDP of 350 watts using one 12-pin connector with a suggested PSU of 750 watts.
I feel sorry for those who will be using SLI for this monster, as not even a 1000 watts PSU will be able to power two of these running simultaneously.
The 3090 is notorious for heating rooms, so the reference one fan design is something that I do not prefer. So getting a three-fan board partner design would be my advice to you.
2080 Ti Vs 3090; Pricing And Availability
Thank God almighty for the availability nowadays, as only a few months ago, people were ready to trade in their left thumb to get a graphics card. The 2080 Ti has an MSRP of $999, which was a dream of many to pay for only a few months to pay for this card.
However, things have calmed down a bit, and nowadays, you can get this card well below MSRP from $650 to $800, which I think is an excellent price to pay for this card.
The 3090 has an MSRP of $1500, a very competitive price for such a beast of a graphics card. However, scouring through the 2nd hand market, you can get one for around $1200. The availability of this card has also gotten better with time.
2080 Ti Vs 3090: Ray Tracing And DLSS
I am now moving toward the features these cards are marketed upon, namely ray tracing and DLSS. The 3090 crushed it with Raytracing and DLSS On.
We get 83 FPS in Battlefield V, 112 FPS in metro exodus, 99 FPS in COD Warzone, and 131 FPS in Wolfenstein YoungBlood. I can safely say that this card is the best ray tracing card apart from the 3090 Ti or 4000 series in the market right now.
The 2080 Ti, on the other hand, does lag behind, yet it still did not disappoint in any way. Battlefield V gave me 31 frames per second, 45 fps in Metro Exodus, 44 fps in Warzone, and 89 fps in Wolfenstein Youngblood.
Some people would call this console-level performance; however, I beg to differ, as no console can play these games with these frame rates on 4K with all settings cranked up to Ultra, which in my opinion, is a win for the 2080 Ti.
2080 Ti vs 3090: Video Output And Ports
Now let us move on to the Video Output ports available on both cards. This is to know how many monitors you can run simultaneously using these cards.
The 2080 Ti has a solitary HDMI 2.0 port along with 3 DisplayPort 1.4a and a USB Type-C port. This makes it so that you can run five monitors at the same time running this graphics card.
The 3090, on the other hand, does not have a USB-type C port. You get one HDMI 2.1 port and 3 DisplayPort 1.4a, so you can run four monitors using the 3090.
The 2080 Ti has a slight edge here, but this is irrelevant if I look at my use case as I connect at most three monitors, all run using DisplayPort 1.4a.
2080 Ti Vs 3090: Frame Rate Count
In this section, I will share the results of some synthetic benchmarks run on the 2080 Ti and the 3090. First off is the 2080 Ti, where we got 82 fps on 3dmark 11 with a score of 34175, Firestrike averaged around 169 fps with a score of 28742, and Time Spy averaged around 60 fps netting us a score of 15823.
The 3090, on the other hand, clearly wins the synthetic benchmark wars as in 3Dmarks, the average fps was 112 with a score of 44257, Firestrike gave us 200 fps with a score of 40823, and Timespy was running at an average of 80fps with a score of 18910.
The synthetic benchmark scores gave an edge to the 3090, which was evident from the get-go; however, these benchmarks only give you an idea of how a GPU will perform, and you should always gauge them using real-world performance tests like gaming which I have done so in the beginning sections of this article.
Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 2080 Ti: Which Should You Buy?
The 2080 Ti and the 3090 are some of the best graphics cards produced by Nvidia. If you own a 2080 Ti and do not game at 4K, then you should hold on upgrading to the 3090, as you are going to suffer from diminishing returns if you do so. However, for the 4K gamers out there, it is a worthwhile upgrade.
The 3090 is an absolute beast; however, the power it consumes compared to the 2080 Ti does not make it worthwhile unless it is crucial. So if you own a 2080 Ti, hold on to upgrading it.
Instead, upgrade to the next generation of Nvidia cards, as those will be much more efficient and give you more power.
However, if you are confused about which one to buy between the two, I think you should get the 3090 if you can afford it and the power bill that comes right after it. The 2080 Ti is still not a bad buy if you game at 1080p or even 1440p.
Related readings:
- 3050 Ti vs 1660 Ti GPUs
- 3050 Ti vs 3060: (Laptop GPUs Compared)
- 6700 XT vs 3060 Ti (In-Depth Comparison)
- 3090 Ti vs 2080 Ti (With In-Game Benchmarks)
- RTX 2070 Super vs RX 6700 XT GPUs In 2023
