RTX 2080 in 2025??

[lettuce]

So my brother's GPU (1070) is acting up so needs a new GPU. Budget is tight (approx £150) so will need to be a 2nd card. Does the 2080 cards still cut it at 1080p gaming in 2025?. He's currently on a kick playing Hell Divers 2 and Ark Raiders.

Or is there something better to look at in this 2nd price range??

 

[kola]

probably get a 3070 for £150 2nd hand

 

[lettuce]

Yeah looking at prices, there doesn't seem to be much difference between a 20 series and a 30 series cards.....odd.

 

[lettuce]

Is there a large performance difference between say a 2080 or a 3070?

 

[Gray2233]

Is there a large performance difference between say a 2080 or a 3070?

There's a pretty healthy jump:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition Review - Disruptive Price-Performance

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 is faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, for $500. The new FE cooler is greatly improved, runs very quietly, and even has fan stop. In our RTX 3070 Founders Edition review, we'll also take a look at RTX performance, energy efficiency, frametimes, and overclocking.

www.techpowerup.com

The AMD 6800 should also be considered if one can be found for a similar price, about on par performance wise but you get more VRAM with the 6800.

 

[Armageus]

Is there a large performance difference between say a 2080 or a 3070?

*** GPU Hierarchy ***

NVIDIAAMDINTELTier - Suggested Resolution/FPS RTX 5090 Tier A - "Elite Tier" RTX 4090 RTX 5080 Tier B RTX 4080 Super RTX 4080 RTX 5070TiRX 7900XTX RX 9070XT Tier C RTX 4070Ti Super RTX 3090Ti RTX 5070 RTX 4070TiRX 7900XT RX 9070 Tier D - 4K 60fps / 1440P 144fps RTX 3090 RTX 4070...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Might be helpful to gauge how they stack up, and versus newer cards.

If the budget wasn't so strict, then I'd suggest an Intel Arc B580 would likely be a good shout

 

[lettuce]

*** GPU Hierarchy ***

NVIDIAAMDINTELTier - Suggested Resolution/FPS RTX 5090 Tier A - "Elite Tier" RTX 4090 RTX 5080 Tier B RTX 4080 Super RTX 4080 RTX 5070TiRX 7900XTX RX 9070XT Tier C RTX 4070Ti Super RTX 3090Ti RTX 5070 RTX 4070TiRX 7900XT RX 9070 Tier D - 4K 60fps / 1440P 144fps RTX 3090 RTX 4070...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

Might be helpful to gauge how they stack up, and versus newer cards.

If the budget wasn't so strict, then I'd suggest an Intel Arc B580 would likely be a good shout

What is the driver support like for the Intel cards now a days?. I remember it being an issue in the past

 

[lettuce]

There's a pretty healthy jump:

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Founders Edition Review - Disruptive Price-Performance

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 is faster than the RTX 2080 Ti, for $500. The new FE cooler is greatly improved, runs very quietly, and even has fan stop. In our RTX 3070 Founders Edition review, we'll also take a look at RTX performance, energy efficiency, frametimes, and overclocking.

www.techpowerup.com

The AMD 6800 should also be considered if one can be found for a similar price, about on par performance wise but you get more VRAM with the 6800.

I'll have a look at these. I was a bit concerned about the older RTX cards only having like 8GB but I guess for 1080p gaming that's still ok?

 

[Gray2233]

I'll have a look at these. I was a bit concerned about the older RTX cards only having like 8GB but I guess for 1080p gaming that's still ok?

As long as he's happy turning settings down here and there I can't see it being a huge problem, but it does depend on the games.

Personally, if a 6800 and 3070 were the same price I'd feel more comfortable getting the 6800. AMD has less driver overhead too, so if he's on an older CPU it might be an added benefit and eke more performance out.

Either way, he'll enjoy a big upgrade over what he currently has, so I'd not get too caught up.

Regarding Intel, their drivers have come a long way, just make sure whatever PC he has supports REBAR as performance can be very iffy without it.

 

[lettuce]

As long as he's happy turning settings down here and there I can't see it being a huge problem, but it does depend on the games.

Personally, if a 6800 and 3070 were the same price I'd feel more comfortable getting the 6800. AMD has less driver overhead too, so if he's on an older CPU it might be an added benefit and eke more performance out.

Either way, he'll enjoy a big upgrade over what he currently has, so I'd not get too caught up.

Regarding Intel, their drivers have come a long way, just make sure whatever PC he has supports REBAR as performance can be very iffy without it.

He has a Ryzen 5 3600, so pretty old now.

Interesting point on the driver over head, never thought of that. Do AMD cards still use more power and run hotter than Nvidia cards?

What on earth is REBAR??, I'm completely out the loop

 

[dave28]

I would not bother with a 20 series now. The 3070`s are the cards to get now used and 8GB is better than you might think.

 

[Gray2233]

He has a Ryzen 5 3600, so pretty old now.

Interesting point on the driver over head, never thought of that. Do AMD cards still use more power and run hotter than Nvidia cards?

What on earth is REBAR??, I'm completely out the loop

There's not much between the 3070 and 6800, at 1080p around a 10w difference on average:

AMD Radeon RX 6800 Review

The Radeon RX 6800 is the world's most power-efficient graphics card, better than anything NVIDIA Ampere has to offer. The smaller brother to the RX 6800 XT comes with a smaller heatsink, at more affordable pricing, but retains the lavish 16 GB VRAM memory buffer.

www.techpowerup.com

ReBAR = ReSizeable Bar, it basically allows the CPU to better make use of your graphics cards memory. On some GPU's it doesn't make much of a difference, but with Intel it can be pretty huge.

If he's on a 3600 he should have Rebar support, it might require him to update his motherboard BIOS, you'd need to check on the specific motherboard he has.

 

[lettuce]

Hmm RX 6800 cards seem to be quite a bit more expensive than 3070 cards sadly