Hello community,
 
After watching comparison videos between the 3080/3090 and seeing there's only a 10-15% FPS performance boost, is it worth getting for a 3080 20gb card?
I assume the fps boost will be <10% after seeing how the 3090 did. I'm gaming in 4k and would like max settings with RTX/DLSS on.
 
Not much specs to read up on but I don't think it will be that much better.
 

xxzenpunkxx
With the way in-stock quantity is going you might not have much of a choice but waiting.

Waiting is not an issue, just if it's worth 20gb. Otherwise, I'm cool with a 10gb, seeign that 24gb was not much of an increase so not sure why a 20gb card would be produced. Maybe it's not as big as 3090?
 

zeph08

xxzenpunkxx
With the way in-stock quantity is going you might not have much of a choice but waiting.

Waiting is not an issue, just if it's worth 20gb. Otherwise, I'm cool with a 10gb, seeign that 24gb was not much of an increase so not sure why a 20gb card would be produced. Maybe it's not as big as 3090?
 

For most people no it will not be worth it.  You can't hit 10gb in games today.  You might be able to in a year or two if you were say, running GTA6 with custom ultra high res textures at 4k.  If you're into stuff like that then sure 20gb might be worth it.
 
If you're at 1440p or not into high texture modding then it's probably not worth the money.
 
Also - if you want an idea of what a "not enough VRAM" penalty looks like, you can compare benchmarks of the 2060 (6gb GDDR5) vs 2060 super (8gb GDDR6).
at 1440p and across most games they are always 12% apart in performance due to the ram speed difference.  At 4k it widens to 23-24% as the 6gb VRAM isn't enough.  So in this example the card is losing 11% performance due to VRAM swapping.  Not as large of a swap penalty as some people are claiming.

ccoyne83
20GB really serves no purpose. If anything it seems the card will only exist because AMD will offer a higher memory amount on their cards. So Nvidia will not let that be done and will suddenly release the 20GB variants.

Yea the marketing and investor interest was another aspect that cross my mind for the 20gb card announcement/leak.
 
Guess 10gb will do. I can always sell and upgrade if need be.
 
 
 
 
 

zeph08
Hello community,
 
After watching comparison videos between the 3080/3090 and seeing there's only a 10-15% FPS performance boost, is it worth getting for a 3080 20gb card?
I assume the fps boost will be <10% after seeing how the 3090 did. I'm gaming in 4k and would like max settings with RTX/DLSS on.
 
Not much specs to read up on but I don't think it will be that much better.
 

I've gamed at 4K since the 980 Ti SLI (6GB). I've done it with a 1080 (8GB), a 1080 Ti/1080 Ti SLI (11GB), a 2080 Super (8GB), and now a 3090 FTW3 Ultra (24GB).
 
I had no issues gaming at 4K with a 2080 Super with only 8GB of VRAM. I've heard of some issues (MSFS 2020 maybe? And Doom Eternal 4K Ultra Nightmare) - but I've never run into an issue with VRAM. Only ever with the GPU not having enough horsepower to render max settings. Digital Foundry said that there was a 20% performance loss with the 2080 8GB with Doom Eternal 4K Ultra Nightmare settings compared to turning textures down to High - I did not get that performance loss.
 
TLDR - 8GB was enough for 4K today for everything that I played, 10GB should be plenty for the next year or two. So if you're waiting on a 20GB card, you're waiting to spend extra money for 0% gain in 99.9% of games (the 0.01% being poorly optimized games or games with non-stock add in texture packs).

arestavo

zeph08
Hello community,
 
After watching comparison videos between the 3080/3090 and seeing there's only a 10-15% FPS performance boost, is it worth getting for a 3080 20gb card?
I assume the fps boost will be <10% after seeing how the 3090 did. I'm gaming in 4k and would like max settings with RTX/DLSS on.
 
Not much specs to read up on but I don't think it will be that much better.
 

I've gamed at 4K since the 980 Ti SLI (6GB). I've done it with a 1080 (8GB), a 1080 Ti/1080 Ti SLI (11GB), a 2080 Super (8GB), and now a 3090 FTW3 Ultra (24GB).
 
I had no issues gaming at 4K with a 2080 Super with only 8GB of VRAM. I've heard of some issues (MSFS 2020 maybe? And Doom Eternal 4K Ultra Nightmare) - but I've never run into an issue with VRAM. Only ever with the GPU not having enough horsepower to render max settings. Digital Foundry said that there was a 20% performance loss with the 2080 8GB with Doom Eternal 4K Ultra Nightmare settings compared to turning textures down to High - I did not get that performance loss.
 
TLDR - 8GB was enough for 4K today for everything that I played, 10GB should be plenty for the next year or two. So if you're waiting on a 20GB card, you're waiting to spend extra money for 0% gain in 99.9% of games (the 0.01% being poorly optimized games or games with non-stock add in texture packs).

Pretty much what I concluded after further reading. I've been on 4k for a couple of years on a 1080ti. I have a 2080ti ftw3 ultra I got on the cheap while I wait for a 3080 ftw3. I thought having more vram meant I could run 4k max settings with RTX/DLSS at 60+fps but after reading/watching benchmark reviews and comparisons, seems like a 3090 still struggles to reach 60 fps at these settings.
 

GNielson

mrjeffos

zeph08

xxzenpunkxx
With the way in-stock quantity is going you might not have much of a choice but waiting.

Waiting is not an issue, just if it's worth 20gb. Otherwise, I'm cool with a 10gb, seeign that 24gb was not much of an increase so not sure why a 20gb card would be produced. Maybe it's not as big as 3090?
 

For most people no it will not be worth it.  You can't hit 10gb in games today.  You might be able to in a year or two if you were say, running GTA6 with custom ultra high res textures at 4k.  If you're into stuff like that then sure 20gb might be worth it.
 
If you're at 1440p or not into high texture modding then it's probably not worth the money.
 

Well Not exactly. I have a 1440p monitor, and I hit a bit over 10gb just running Horizon Zero Dawn, so buying a new card with only 10gb worries me a bit, but I suspect 10gb will be fine. I wish the 3080's had 12gb though. I'm sure 20gb is way more than I'd ever need for the next few years of gaming.

Yea i would have preferred 12gb. 10 seems like it won't cut it.
 

Spyle
Seems HL:Alyx is using tons of VRAM on high SS levels on the Index.  https://imgur.com/ukurLx8 

Allocated or in use? There's a world of difference - and the exact reason why I never had issues with VRAM gaming at 4K with an 8GB 2080 Super.

 

zeroseoul
Well, that depends. Do you actually have a need for the increased VRAM?
 
Most gamers won't really need the added VRAM, its going to be the workstation group that will really shine from having the extra VRAM to be honest.

This where my knowledge falls short, probably like many others: how do I know how much VRAM i really need, especially for 4k gaming. I figure the more VRAM, the better performance for gaming?

I'm going with the 10GB 3080 FTW3, and while I do play at 4k, I'm hoping that 10GB will be enough. If not, and I get up crashing due to running out of Vram or something, hopefully I can step up to a 20GB version, or just turn down texture quality from ultra to high or something worst case.

zeph08
Hello community,
 
After watching comparison videos between the 3080/3090 and seeing there's only a 10-15% FPS performance boost, is it worth getting for a 3080 20gb card?
I assume the fps boost will be <10% after seeing how the 3090 did. I'm gaming in 4k and would like max settings with RTX/DLSS on.
 
Not much specs to read up on but I don't think it will be that much better.
 

We're all going to be waiting for a while, I don't have the patience to sit and click for hours in the hopes to get a card, I'll wait until they are readily available!

GNielson
 
Well Not exactly. I have a 1440p monitor, and I hit a bit over 10gb just running Horizon Zero Dawn, so buying a new card with only 10gb worries me a bit, but I suspect 10gb will be fine. I wish the 3080's had 12gb though. I'm sure 20gb is way more than I'd ever need for the next few years of gaming.

It may allocate that much, but it's not using it.  The 8gb 2080 scores 3-4% higher than an 11gb 1080ti consistently across most benchmarks at 1440p.  Horizon Zero dawn is the same (3% lead for the 8gb card over the 11gb card).

If Horizon Zero Dawn were hitting more than 8gb actual VRAM use I would expect the 2080 to have a performance penalty and lose to the 1080ti, but in every benchmark I've seen that's not the case.  
 

amd098
i would say wait if you dont need it asap honestly. with the shortages, no one is getting a card quickly it seems

I'm in no rush. I'm enrolled in the step-up program. I'm aware this will take months so I want the right card ordered. 3080 ftw3 ultra is what I'm going for. The price range is good and hopefully run cyberpunk at max settings with RTX/DLSS on at 4k.