First Reviews: GeForce RTX 3080 Ti - Expensive as Hell But With Divine Performance

"Averaged over our 22-game-strong test suite at 4K resolution, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition achieves very impressive numbers. It has a 10% lead over the RTX 3080, which means it beats both the Radeon RX 6800 XT and RX 6900 XT, by 11% and 5%, respectively. Another highlight is that NVIDIA's new card is really close to the RTX 3090; the difference is just 1%, impossible to notice subjectively. This also confirms once again that there is no significant difference between 24 GB and 12 GB VRAM, or the gap would be bigger. Against last generation's RTX 2080 Ti, the performance uplift is 47%. There's no big surprises with raytracing performance; the RTX 3080 Ti is basically 10% faster than RTX 3080 and nearly as fast as RTX 3090," are the conclusions reached by the benchmark author on TechPowerUp.

"The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is second to that [RTX 3090 - ed. note] flagship product, blazingly fast on all fronts, and (based on that USD 1199 MSRP) is the cheaper card to get. The 12GB GD6X memory seems well balanced; we never understood the expensive 24GB on the 3090, to be brutally honest (not that I mind or don't find it awesome). Overall though, this is a small powerhouse. This card can run games at 4K quite easily with raytracing and a DLSS combo; it will serve you well at that resolution. The closest product from the competition would be the Radeon RX 6900 XT. NVIDIA, however, offers faster raytracing performance and offers you the option to put that into 6th gear with DLSS," reads the summary of Guru3D's review.

"Instead of a marginally higher price than the RTX 3080, the MSRP is 70% higher and the RTX 3080 Ti is only about 10–12% faster on average. (...). This card was probably originally slated to be a $999 competitor to the RX 6900 XT, but in the current market, Nvidia has bumped the price to reap some of the profits that the AIBs and suppliers have been enjoying. Since everything we'd like to recommend ends up costing twice as much as it "should," and much of the price gouging doesn't end up going to Nvidia (or AMD), this is what we get. If you thought the RTX 3090 was too expensive when it launched at $1,500, be prepared for slightly lower performance, half the VRAM, and higher street prices on the RTX 3080 Ti. Well, higher than the 3090 launch price, at least, since the RTX 3090 now basically sells at Titan RTX and Titan V levels these days. Fundamentally, there's nothing wrong with the RTX 3080 Ti on paper. Even the price might be tolerable for those with deeper pockets. But unless we see a dramatic increase in supply — or a massive decrease in demand (which might happen, as mining profitability has dropped quite a bit during the past month) — finding one in stock at a reasonable price will be an exercise in frustration," reads the review on Tom's Hatfware.