Palit RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC Review & Benchmarks

NVIDIA’s RTX 4080 SUPER is a graphics card that is tailored towards smooth and seamless gameplay, without having to compromise on visual fidelity. With a number of performance upgrades compared to the original RTX 4080, along with a significant price drop, the RTX 4080 SUPER allows NVIDIA to compete with the value of AMD’s RX 7900 XTX.

As the final card of the RTX 4000 series graphics cards announced at CES 2024 to be released, NVIDIA are hoping that this graphics card can right some of the wrongs that were taken with the launch of the original RTX 4080, with a lot of the focus seemingly put on the pricing.

But does the RTX 4080 SUPER provide the changes needed to compete with its AMD counterparts? And if so, which versions of these cards are worth considering? To find out, we’ll be taking a look at Palit’s RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC edition, evaluating its design and performance along the way.

Suggested Article: Best PC Cases to Buy for the RTX 4080 SUPER

Specifications

On paper, the RTX 4080 SUPER seems to include a number of improvements from its predecessor. In a similar fashion to the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER that launched a week beforehand, this graphics card is set to replace the original RTX 4080, which shows that NVIDIA are confident that the changes made are substantial and beneficial to most gamers.

When compared to the previous RTX 4000 SUPER releases, the main change that stands out on the RTX 4080 SUPER is the pricing. Whilst the RTX 4070 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER stuck to the same pricing as their non-SUPER counterparts, the RTX 4080 SUPER slashes the MSRP down by $200. As a result, this revision is perhaps the best in terms of value.

However, more than just the pricing has been changed on this graphics card, as the RTX 4080 SUPER also boasts improved clock speeds and core counts. All of the RTX 4000 SUPER series cards have received an uplift in CUDA cores, RT cores, and tensor cores, leading to better results when taking advantage of NVIDIA’s DLSS technology.

Looking at Palit’s RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC in particular, this graphics card improves on the performance of the RTX 4080 SUPER even further by enhancing the boost clock speed. As a result, the GamingPro OC can reach a clock speed of up to 2.61GHz, instead of the 2.55GHz on the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition.

However, the compromise required to access the enhanced performance of this variant comes with the size, as this graphics card comes with an additional fan to support the overclocked performance. This leads to the GamingPro OC being 329mm in length, which means gamers will need to pick up a case that can house the RTX 4080 SUPER.

What Are RTX 4000 SUPER GPUs?

Before going into the details of the Palit RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC, you may be wondering what the ‘SUPER’ variants are, or how they are different to the non-SUPER equivalents. Simply put, RTX 4000 SUPER GPUs are mid-generation upgrades on existing RTX 4000 series cards, in an attempt to provide better value for money to gamers looking to build a gaming PC.

At the time of the RTX 4080 SUPER’s launch, the RTX 4070, RTX 4070 Ti, and RTX 4080 are the only graphics cards to receive the ‘SUPER’ treatment, with no news on other cards being set to receive an upgrade. Because of this, the RTX 4000 SUPER series appears to target those looking to build a high-end gaming PC for excellent 1440p and 4K gameplay.

The upgrades included in these cards are predominantly based around NVIDIA’s AI-generation technology, DLSS, as well as small tweaks to clock speeds. The common enhancements between all of the RTX 4000 SUPER variants are increases in CUDA cores, RT cores, and tensor cores, which aims to provide significant improvements to the AI upscaling and Frame Generation.

Despite having upgraded performance, these cards maintain the same pricing as their predecessors, with the RTX 4080 SUPER even offering a price reduction compared to the original RTX 4080. This has been a conscious decision from NVIDIA, as they look compete with the value of AMD’s Radeon 7000 series graphics cards.

Design

As the name of this variant would suggest, Palit’s RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC boasts a look that is bound to appeal to the majority of gamers. With plenty of RGB lighting placed across the black and silver shrouding, the GamingPro OC will look right at home when slotted into a high-end gaming PC.

However, Palit have made a number of alterations to NVIDIA’s reference model to improve the performance and aesthetic of this card. The most notable change is the switch to a triple-fan layout, which helps keep the temperature of this GPU down.

Equipped with three Gale Hunter fans and Y Formula fins, the GamingPro OC puts a heavy emphasis on airflow, allowing this graphics card to remain cool under demanding workloads. Additionally, the GamingPro OC comes with 0-dB tech, which turns off the fans when possible, leading to less noise and increased longevity.

In terms of aesthetics, the previously mentioned RGB lighting can be customised via Palit’s ThunderMaster software. For more customisation, gamers can add their own cooler cover to this graphics card thanks to Palit Maker, which provides gamers with the tools needed to 3D print a custom plate for their Palit GPU.

Overall, the design of Palit’s RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC includes plenty of features that differentiates it from the Founders Edition, leading to a graphics card that is a perfect addition to any premium gaming PC. Unfortunately, these enhancements do come at an additional cost, but the amount of upgrades on offer makes this card worth considering in our eyes.

Performance

Whilst the look and design features of a graphics card are important, the performance is truly what matters. A GPU that underperforms will have a significant impact on the overall performance of your PC when tackling the latest titles, so it’s crucial to pick up a model that offers great value for money.

To see how the RTX 4080 SUPER stacks up to the competition, we put this GPU into a range of gaming benchmarks. Our in-house GPU tester, Harry Coleman, used the RTX 4080 SUPER in our dedicated benchmarking rig, and booted up the latest and greatest titles. You can find our testing results below, along with data we collected for similar offerings from both AMD and NVIDIA.

COD Warzone

Settings: 1440p, Upscaling/Sharpening FSR 2.1/DLSS Quality (80 Sharpness), Texture Resolution High, Texture Filter Anisotropic High, Level of Detail High

In a competitive shooter such as Call of Duty Warzone, the RTX 4080 SUPER provides solid performance at 1440p high settings. With 188FPS on average, this graphics card will be able to make the most of a variety of 1440p gaming monitors. Whilst the RTX 4080 SUPER eclipses the framerates offered by the original RTX 4080, it fails to match the 195FPS available on the RX 7900 XTX.

Cyberpunk 2077

Settings: 1440p, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS/FSR: On/Off, Ray Tracing: On/Off, Textures: High

When it comes to narrative-based title Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 4080 SUPER provides similar results compared to the rest of the market when DLSS is toggled on/off. This graphics card comfortably surpasses the likes of the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, RTX 4080, and RX 7900 XT in both settings, making it one of the best-performing GPUs in this futuristic RPG.

That being said, Cyberpunk 2077 is a title that is optimised for NVIDIA’s graphics cards, leaving all of AMD’s offerings to fall behind their Team Green counterparts. This is why its somewhat surprising to see the RX 7900 XTX provide the same results as the RTX 4080 SUPER when DLSS and FSR is disabled.

F1 2022

Settings: 1440p, Ray Tracing Quality Medium, Lighting Quality Ultra High, Post Process High, Shadows Ultra High, Weather Effects Ultra High, Ambient Occlusion HBAO+, Asynchronous Compute On, Texture Streaming Ultra High, Anisotropic Filtering 8x, DLSS: Enabled

The trend continues in F1 2022, as the RTX 4080 SUPER is able to provide excellent performance at 1440p settings, the 299FPS average is a slight boost compared to the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER. But once again, the RX 7900 XTX has a significant advantage over the RTX 4080 SUPER, which reached an average of 322FPS on average.

Starfield

Settings: 1440p, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS/FSR OFF

Starfield continues the pattern we’ve experienced in the previous titles, as the 110FPS on the RTX 4080 SUPER is slightly above the original RTX 4080 and RX 7900 XT, but significantly lower than the RX 7900 XTX. It is worth noting that AMD have an exclusive partnership with Starfield, which could lead to better optimisation for their graphics cards in this title.

Alan Wake 2

Settings: 1440p, Post-Processing High, Texture Resolution High, Texture Filtering High, Volumetric Lighting High, Global Illumination Quality High, Shadow Detail High, Terrain Quality High, Ray-Tracing: Disabled, DLSS: On/Off, Frame Generation: On/Off

For Alan Wake 2, we focussed on how the RTX 4080 SUPER compares to the other graphics cards that received a SUPER variant, along with their original designs. Our results indicate that the RTX 4080 SUPER comes out on top within this selection, but only by a fine margin.

With DLSS off, the RTX 4080 SUPER reached an average of 96FPS, which is equal to the original RTX 4080. But with DLSS enabled, the RTX 4080 SUPER managed to scrape the top-spot by a single frame in this graphically demanding title.

Cost Per Frame

To gain a better understanding of the value proposition that the RTX 4080 SUPER brings to the table, we took our benchmarking results in a handful of titles and calculated the cost per frame for each graphics card. This provides an overview of which graphics cards are the best value for money offerings within the current market.

The results are display indicated in US Dollars (USD), as it aligns with the given MSRP for each graphics card, which means these results may vary from the results within your region.

Apex Legends

In Apex Legends, the RTX 4080 SUPER is significantly better value than the original RTX 4080, dropping the cost per frame down by almost 1 USD. This puts the RTX 4080 SUPER much closer to the rest of the market. However, the RTX 4080 SUPER still fails to reach the cost per frame valuation found on other SUPER variants, as well as AMD’s offerings.

Hogwarts Legacy

The improvements to cost per frame were even better on Hogwarts Legacy, as the RTX 4080 SUPER managed to provide a significantly lower cost per frame than the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080, beating the original RTX 4080 by almost 2 USD. However, AMD’s graphics cards still have the advantage here, as all the GPUs we tested sits below 7 USD.

Conclusion