Axial-tech Fan Design has been tuned up with more fan blades and a reversed rotational direction for the center fan.

In our synthetic tests, the Asus ROG Strix RTX 3080 OC performs well falling in line nicely between the MSI RTX 3090 GXT and a Founder’s Edition RTX 2080 Ti. In Time Spy and Unigine Superpostion, we saw ~20% performance increase from the 2080 Ti to our 3080 while Fire Strike (Extreme) was a bit higher, around 22%. The Port Royal test showed the largest increase approaching 25%. Gaming Benchmarks This is not the only way it differs from the other RTX 3080 cards. It only has two 8-pin power connectors, while the Founders Edition comes with NVIDIA’s new 12-pin standard. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the ‘wavy’ fan design, a continuation of EVGA’s alternate fan design that we also saw in the last generation of cards. The Asus card takes things a step or two further over the FE cards with more robust power delivery and Super Alloy II hardware, a higher power limit, and of course the monster cooling solution tasked to tame over 320W worth of power. The new cooler did a great job at keeping the card cool and being quiet while doing so. The card even has two 4-pin fan headers on the end for additional chassis cooling needs.

Graphics Processor

As always, there are several versions of the card from different AIB partners. We will find out which company has the best RTX 3080 graphics card. Furthermore, the driver problems have also been ironed out to an extent. Right now, getting an RTX 3080 is probably the best gaming choice you can make. Yes, that includes getting a next-gen console. The rear of the ROG Strix graphics card sports two PWM FanConnect headers that provide additional DIY flexibility. Chassis fans can be directly attached to the GPU and tuned with a curve that is based on CPU or GPU temperature, providing extra intake or exhaust for demanding 3D tasks. In addition to under-the-hood design changes, the ROG Strix features a new face with metal accents that mirror the design aesthetic of ROG and ROG Strix motherboards. Mixing surface textures and materials make a statement when vertically mounted and lit by chassis LEDs. For those who prefer a sleeker, more subtle look, the greyscale colorway allows it to seamlessly blend into the build. Our Axial-tech fan design has been optimized for a new, larger heatsink that features more fins and surface area than last gen. The blade count has been increased on all three fans, with 13 on the center fan and 11 on the auxiliary fans. The barrier ring on the side fans has been slimmed down to allow for more lateral intake and to provide better airflow through the cooling array. The center fan’s extra blades and full-height ring provide boosted static pressure to blast air directly onto the GPU heat spreader.

Before we get started, it’s important to point out that NVIDIA’s fan-on-each-side design will be exclusive to its Founders Edition cards. This means the cards you read about today had to use an alternative design. In most cases, this has been the 3-fan design, a tried and tested method for GPU cooling.Primarily due to Zotac’s IceStorm 2.0 chiller, Trinity is among the top performers temperature-wise. There is a single HDMI 2.1 port on this card, with the standard three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Although there are cards that offer two HDMI slots, this is unlikely to be an issue for most gamers. Inside the box, the card sits snug in form-fitting foam with additional protection glued on to the top of the box. The included accessories consist of a driver disk (found below the card) along with two Velcro strips typically used for cable management. Unlike the MSI RTX 3090 GXT, this doesn’t come with a GPU support strut to hold the large 2.9 slot card. To bolster the specialized roles of the center and auxiliary fans, the rotational direction of the center fan has been reversed. This reduces airflow turbulence inside of the cooling array for another boost to the card’s overall thermal performance. The sum of the ROG Strix’s cooling innovations results in lower fan speeds and raises the performance threshold for achieving a sub-55 degree GPU temp, at which point the fans can shut off completely. Builders seeking quiet performance will be pleased.

The well-known NVIDIA partner EVGA comes through with another unique variant of NVIDIA’s flagship card: the EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 ULTRA.

Graphics Features

Generation Tensor Cores: Get up to 2X the throughput with structural sparsity and advanced AI algorithms such as DLSS. Now with support for up to 8K resolution, these cores deliver a massive boost in game performance and all-new AI capabilities. Even so, Trinity is very similar to the Founders Edition, both in terms of price and power requirement.

Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central) You should buy this if ... The EVGA FTW3 Ultra RTX 3080 graphics card is one of the best choices out there if you’re not looking to splash the cash for the RTX 3090.

The fan noise and heating department did show improvements, but that was about all. However, if you have proper case ventilation, you shouldn’t be too concerned about this. Our Thoughts Remember when we said that Trinity is similar to the Founders Edition? That’s true, for the most part, but where it counts the most, in performance, Trinity outperforms NVIDIA’s card, if only by a slight margin. Of course, it’s still a notch below some of the more expensive RTX 3080 cards, but it’s still a good card.