So. Funny thing about our RTX 4080 review: I sort of don’t have time for it. We are amidst the busiest few weeks in PC gaming hardware for at least four years, with major product launches all round (from its rival Radeon RX 7900 XT to Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs) and a neverending stream of other components and peripherals that still need appraising. Also, I get the impression that if I don’t do more Black Friday stuff, senior ReedPop figures will show up at my flat and start taking my fingers with chisels.
Still, there will no doubt be potential graphics card upgrade-makers looking at the RTX 4080 to see if it’s more of a palatable purchase than the RTX 4090. That vanguard of Nvidia’s next-gen Ada Lovelace architecture is by far the most powerful GPU I’ve ever tested, and introduced a very cool new feature in DLSS 3, but with prices starting £1679 / $1599 it’s just not a sensible option. And since I did have an RTX 4080 show up at the last minute – Asus’ customised ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 OC Edition – I can at least provide some quick benchmarks and initial thoughts as to whether it’s a better deal.