50 Games Tested: GeForce RTX 3080 vs. Radeon RX 6800 XT

[phanbuey]

I think testing with Ray Tracing turned off is a big oversight. Most people who buy these cards will be using ray tracing features, otherwise why would you even need to buy a RTX 3080/6800XT for, unless you are in the minority trying to achieve super high FPS? Just buy a cheaper card if you're not using Ray Tracing and save your money towards your next upgrade. TPU benchmarks should be reflective of how people will most likely be using these high end cards and that's with Ray Tracing features turned on and all the graphical settings set to max. These benchmarks aren't reflective of how most high end graphic card owners myself included would use their cards.

I don't run ray tracing -- anyone running 4k 120-144Hz needs at least a 6800 or 3080 to do so. Ray tracing isn't worth the hit in FPS for most people. Virtually anyone running an LG CX (a very popular gaming display) or any of the newer 4k displays is running these cards without RT.

 

[Crackong]

Nice article, good work

 

[Mescalamba]

Thank you very much for that insane effort that was poured into making this happen.

I think overall its very valuable knowing performance of cards over such large sample of games. But not something that should be done every time, I guess.

 

[Crackong]

I think testing with Ray Tracing turned off is a big oversight. Most people who buy these cards will be using ray tracing features, otherwise why would you even need to buy a RTX 3080/6800XT for, unless you are in the minority trying to achieve super high FPS? Just buy a cheaper card if you're not using Ray Tracing and save your money towards your next upgrade. TPU benchmarks should be reflective of how people will most likely be using these high end cards and that's with Ray Tracing features turned on and all the graphical settings set to max. These benchmarks aren't reflective of how most high end graphic card owners myself included would use their cards.

You sound like those guys back in 2010s looking at Crysis with tessellation.

We all know how it turns out.

 

[INFERNUS]

I just bought that new ASUS PG259QN 360hz monitor it's amazing, still 1080p but I do play one eSports game Paladins, of course I play others as well. Running a 5950x/x470/RTX 3070 for me at least I rather have really high fps with settings maxed than higher res and lower fps with some settings not maxed. I will upgrade to a higher res display in the future but for now this monitor is perfect and I appreciate the 1080p benchmarks

 

[R-T-B]

You sound like those guys back in 2010s looking at Crysis with tessellation.

We all know how it turns out.

Tesselation gets used everywhere excessively?

Bad analogy methinks...

 

[swirl09]

Damn, GTA V carried the 3080. Makes me wish the graphs were interactive so that entry could be dropped to see how much it skewed the results.

Yeah, I would like to know the numbers when the particularly spikey ones are removed too.

Regarding the last paragraph: I've seen on YT multiple 6900 XT that indeed hover around 320W, yet 3090 are doing 400-450W constantly. That's ~50% more power for not even 10% performance difference, yet people are not really calling Nvidia out on this. It's only a minor, passing mention, always, for some reason.

Watch better TYers then? Any I watch will mention this point, as they should!

But the numbers you are giving there are a bit off. 400W would be the top figure I would see at 100%PL on a Strix model, so if you are seeing constantly 400-450 they have pushed the PL up (Thats ignoring that 50% onto 320W would be 480W). From what Ive seen, the difference is >20% in favour of the 6900XT. Which is a noteworthy amount, but its some way off 50%!!

 

[olstyle]

Tesselation gets used everywhere excessively?

Yes, that's what's happening. It's used in pretty much every game and is so normal that there is no longer any option to even tune it.
The insane settings some early NV backed titles had are gone, but the technology itself has become a standard tool of any engine.

The only difference with RT is that apart from Minecraft RT we have not seen a title yet where the usage could be called excessive. Even CP2077 is pretty cautious.

So yes, I'd also like to see some RT numbers.

 

[nguyen]

Yes, that's what's happening. It's used in pretty much every game and is so normal that there is no longer any option to even tune it.
The insane settings some early NV backed titles had are gone, but the technology itself has become a standard tool of any engine.

The only difference with RT is that apart from Minecraft RT we have not seen a title yet where the usage could be called excessive. Even CP2077 is pretty cautious.

So yes, I'd also like to see some RT numbers.

yup, RT adds to the overall visual quality much more than High --> Ultra settings.
Especially in single player games like Control, Metro Exodus, WD Legion, CP2077 and the recently released Guardians of the Galaxy, not using RT is just missing out on a lot of the visual candies.

I don't run ray tracing -- anyone running 4k 120-144Hz needs at least a 6800 or 3080 to do so. Ray tracing isn't worth the hit in FPS for most people. Virtually anyone running an LG CX (a very popular gaming display) or any of the newer 4k displays is running these cards without RT.

I have LG CX myself but I don't care about 120FPS, in most single player games I just cap the FPS at 60 or 80 to enjoy the smoother frametimes.
Only in online shooter games like PUBG or Warzone, I play with uncapped framerates.

 

[Lionheart]

I think you're wasting time doing multiple resolutions. Just stick to 1440p and call it a day.

No, reading your comment was a waste of time.

 

[Drtprt]

6800xt - Pixel Rate 288.0 GPixel/s Texture Rate 648.0 GTexel/s
3080 - Pixel Rate 164.2 GPixel/s Texture Rate 465.1 GTexel/s
3080 vs 6800xt - Pixel Rate +75% GPixel/s Texture Rate +39%
I don’t understand why the 3080 does not outperform the 6800xt with such a difference.

 

[wolf]

I have LG CX myself but I don't care about 120FPS, in most single player games I just cap the FPS at 60 or 80 to enjoy the smoother frametimes.
Only in online shooter games like PUBG or Warzone, I play with uncapped framerates.

And when I've had the pleasure of being plugged into my mates CX 65, I've been able to throw RT games at it with quite high FPS too, depending on the title and settings. DOOM Eternal is easily enough to framecap @ 120 fps, Metro EE can be played at 70-120fps, Control about the same etc. Yes, with the use of DLSS, but when the output image is outright preferable, and performance boosts are amazing, I don't see why I shouldn't just for the sake of argument. But hey, each to their own. Native or bust is a strange thing to hang your hat on, but of course each and every game, relevant settings, monitor etc wrapped into a total equation is different for everyone. Personally, I'm not too hung up on nitpicking and criticizing the 'how' the magic pixels make it to the screen, I will just judge the output.

 

[Readlight]

Show total energy used in that process.

 

[spnidel]

the 6800 xt is a fantastic card - can be easily undervolted to use up to 50 watts less, while running at higher clocks, I've personally undervolted mine down to 1.063v, while upping the core clock to 2500mhz, and memory to 2100mhz - approx 10% faster with much lower max power usage
sweet sweet card, it's capable of everything I've ever wanted

 

[Dragokar]

Thanks for the article.

 

[pantherx12]

Thanks for putting in the time, that is a lot of work.

Handy information as well.

 

[BSim500]

I think you're wasting time doing multiple resolutions. Just stick to 1440p and call it a day.

Disagree. 80% of the market are using 1080p or less, others use Ultrawide (in between the resolutions) or 4k. The more data points present, the easier it is for people to figure out how much they'll benefit from both a GPU and monitor upgrade (or what GPU to buy if they were to upgrade their monitor too).

Some games on the list are not high quality

That's entirely relative. To me half the modern AAA releases are "not high quality" for reasons other than graphics...

 

[aktpu]

Nice comprehensive article, thanks for this

 

[Akkedie]

Great work W1zzard! Thanks a lot for including Greedfall & The Surge 2, I love those games and went 6800 instead of 3070 precisely because 8 GB is not enough in the former and the extra raster power is great in the latter.

 

[Bjørgersson]

Thank you so much for your work!

 

[lowrider_05]

Really good Article. Here in Germany, the price difference between a 3080/6800 XT and a 6900 XT are less than 100€ so i would have tested an 6900 XT against the 3080 but i don´t know how the pricing around the world is at the moment.

 

[arni-gx]

well, nvidia rtx 3080 10gb still has lead some performance, more than radeon rx 6800 xt 16gb, on all resolution of pc gaming..... but, sadly........... that VRAM 10gb it will disadvantage for most new pc games with resolution 4K....... so, radeon rx with 16gb VRAM will be get more gain with most new pc games with resolution 4K......

but, what about nvidia rtx 3080 10gb with resolution 3K or 5K on pc games with all LCD ultra wide screen 34 inch or 49 inch ???

 

[_ALB_R3D X]

Super kudos for the article and for the effort.
Please include Warzone in the game list which a very popular game nowadays.

 

[sk8er]

Massive thanks!!! Some RT update, please?

 

[CounterZeus]

I think testing with Ray Tracing turned off is a big oversight. Most people who buy these cards will be using ray tracing features, otherwise why would you even need to buy a RTX 3080/6800XT for, unless you are in the minority trying to achieve super high FPS? Just buy a cheaper card if you're not using Ray Tracing and save your money towards your next upgrade. TPU benchmarks should be reflective of how people will most likely be using these high end cards and that's with Ray Tracing features turned on and all the graphical settings set to max. These benchmarks aren't reflective of how most high end graphic card owners myself included would use their cards.

I'm using a 6900XT and don't play with RT enabled, nor need I super high fps (100Hz monitor ultrawide or 60/120Hz 4K TV). It literally came down to what was available at a decent price (MSRP). Same for my direct peers (we all bought directly from AMD).