Introduction

We have with us for review the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB OC graphics card. In case you missed it, given its rather low-profile launch in January, the RTX 3080 12 GB is a new high-end SKU by NVIDIA designed to fill the gap between the original RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti, so the company could better compete with the Radeon RX 6800 XT, or mainly be in a position to strike the $999 MSRP (Fantasyland pricing). The new 12 GB version of the RTX 3080 also brings with it the low-hash-rate (LHR) mining performance limiter NVIDIA is putting on all new releases to deter miners from snatching up these cards. The RTX 3080 ROG STRIX OC is a premium custom-design offering by ASUS that offers all of the visual bling, overclocking headroom, and other overclocker-relevant goodies you'd expect from spending top dollar.

The GeForce RTX 3080 "Ampere" launched back in 2020 with 10 GB of memory across a 320-bit memory interface even though the GA102 silicon it's based on supports a wider 384-bit interface, which was maxed out with the RTX 3090. The high-end graphics card landscape unexpectedly changed with the AMD Radeon RX 6800 series, and the RX 6900 XT based on the RDNA 2 architecture restored competition to the high-end, causing NVIDIA to launch several SKUs to try and restore its price-performance supremacy, again when looking at MSRP only. During all this, retail scalping and the crypto-currency mining boom have destroyed the MSRP and predictable pricing.



The RTX 3080 12 GB isn't just the usual RTX 3080 with 20% more memory. In order to expand the VRAM size from 10 GB to 12 GB, they had to up the number of memory chips from 10 to 12. The additional memory chips have to be connected to the GPU, which increases the bus width, to 384-bit, and, thus, overall memory bandwidth. NVIDIA has also taken the opportunity to add a little more muscle. The RTX 3080 12 GB is endowed with 8,960 CUDA cores across 70 streaming multiprocessors, whereas the original RTX 3080 has 8,704 across 68. This also marks proportionate increases in Tensor cores (280 vs. 272) and RT cores (70 vs. 68). ROPS has remained constant, at 96. All this, however, comes at a significant increase of the typical-board power, which is now rated at 350 W; the RTX 3080 only consumes 250 W.

The ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB STRIX OC in this review increases the power limit even further, to 390 W. It features a board design that's nearly identical to that of ROG STRIX cards based on the RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090, since they're all based on the GA102 silicon. The company's latest-generation DirectCU III cooling solution capable of taming the RTX 3090 is used here. The VRM setup is carried over, too—an impressive 18+4 phase configuration. The cooler features elaborate RGB LED illumination, and goodies, such as external ARGB headers and 4-pin PWM case-fan headers, let you synchronize your cooling and lighting with the card. It also comes with factory-overclocked speeds of 1860 MHz, compared to 1710 MHz NVIDIA-reference, and a software-enabled OC mode driving it up to 1890 MHz with one click. In this review, we take the card for a spin. Official pricing guidance is not available, but we're currently seeing the card listed for around $1700.