2023 was a strange year for the GPU market, with some truly powerful cards but prices to match. NVIDIA is seemingly looking to change things up; they have already done so with the RTX 4070 Super, and now the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Super looks to complete the image by fixing many of the complaints about the past iteration. With a new $999 price point and impressive specifications, this might just be NVIDIA’s comeback card.
I’ll cut to the chase here: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super appears to address the two major concerns with the standard RTX 4080. With an MSRP of $999, it is $200 more affordable than the original, aligning better with expectations for a xx80 class card. NVIDIA has also unlocked additional cores and increased clock speeds, resulting in estimates of the 4080 Super performing approximately 10-15% better. This should make the card more competitive as a high-end gaming GPU, better suiting what consumers want.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super Specs
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super isn’t just a price cut. The company has added some extra under the hood as well, with it built on the AD104 GPU, which features a whopping 10,240 CUDA cores, over 2000 more than the standard RTX 4080. That allows it to deliver up to 54 TFLOPS of shader performance, which is fantastic to see. You also get 80 upgraded 3rd-generation RT cores for ray tracing and 320 4th-generation Tensor cores to handle all the advanced AI wizardry like DLSS 3.
We’re also looking at boosted GPU clocks up to 2,295/2550 Mhz versus 2205/2,510 MHz on the RTX 4080. The 16GB of GDDR6X video memory is clocked at 23Gbps (compared to 22.4 Gbps on the RTX 4080), which provides up to 736GB/s of memory bandwidth. That’s a nice bump over the already speedy GeForce RTX 4080. There’s also a generous 64MB of L2 cache onboard, which helps reduce latency and improve performance in memory-intensive workloads. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER also keeps the same TGP as the standard GeForce RTX 4080 and is rated at 320W with a maximum graphics power draw of 516W possible in certain scenarios.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super Design
Looking at the card, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER looks fantastic compared to the past RTX 4080 Founders Edition. It’s a big triple slot, triple fan card measuring over 12 inches long, so you’ll want to make sure you have room for it in your PC case. The all-black design looks sleek and premium but retains the industrial styling common among high-end GPUs.
Around the back, you get the usual array of display outputs, including 3x DisplayPort and 1x HDMI. Power requirements are steep—you’ll need a 750W power supply minimum—and it needs the new 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector, so you may need an adapter cable, depending on your PSU. If you are finding your system lacking, you can check out our list of the best PSUs for some options that can ensure you can run the RTX 4080 Super without issue.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super Gaming Benchmarks
With all the specs out of the way, we slotted the GPU in our latest Intel test bench to see just how it fared with the competition, as well as the non-super variant of the RTX 4080. As with our RTX 4070 Super review, our test bench consists of the ASUS Maximus Z790 Dark Hero motherboard, the latest Intel i9-14900K CPU cooled with the latest NZXT Kraken Z AIO, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and a Corsair SSD, all packed into the ASUS TUF Gaming GT502 PC case, ensuring there is plenty of room for airflow and enough performance that we won’t hit any bottlenecks that could hold the testing back.
4K Game Benchmarks
| Game | GeForce RTX 4080 Super | GeForce RTX 4080 | Radeon RX 7900 XTX | GeForce RTX 3080 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 136 | 127 | 131 | 87 |
| Metro Exodus Enhanced | 82.51 | 70 | 104 | 45 |
| Metro Exodus Enhanced + DLSS + RT | 122 | 79 | 75 | 50 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 54 | 79.5 | 80.8 | 45 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT | 30.18 | 29.3 | 31.3 | 17 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT + DLSS | 92.91 | 80.2 | 70 | 39 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 114 | 97 | 108 | 72 |
In traditional rasterization workloads without ray tracing or DLSS enabled, the GeForce RTX 4080 Super is roughly 15% faster than the standard 4080 at 4K resolution—a nice bump but not exactly earth-shattering. It all makes sense considering the spec boost seen in the card, but if you are looking just to play 4K games without ray tracing, there are cheaper alternatives on the market. Things really get interesting when more advanced workflows are thrown into the mix.
“With ray tracing and DLSS 3 enabled, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super leaves the last generation king, the RTX 3080, in the dust.”
With ray tracing and DLSS 3 enabled, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super leaves the last generation king, the RTX 3080, in the dust. You’re looking at average performance gains of 25-30% across most AAA titles at 4K maximum settings. For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, with full ray tracing enabled at 4K, the 4080 Super manages 92 FPS on average with DLSS 3, compared to just 61 FPS on the 3080.
1440P Game Benchmarks
| Game | GeForce RTX 4080 Super | GeForce RTX 4080 | Radeon RX 7900 XTX | GeForce RTX 3080 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 212 | 178 | 224 | 164 |
| Metro Exodus Enhanced | 140 | 111 | 102 | 69 |
| Metro Exodus Enhanced + DLSS + RT | 153 | 119 | 76 | 75 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 118.68 | 124 | 128 | 85 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT | 61.38 | 61 | 55 | 65 |
| Cyberpunk 2077 + RT + DLSS | 158.41 | 117.44 | 63 | 122 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 182 | 144 | 170 | 103 |
In our benchmark staple, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, still a solid game to compare GPUs, the 4080 Super achieves a buttery smooth 136 FPS at 4K max settings even before turning on DLSS. Compared to the 118 with DLSS turned on with the GeForce RTX 3080, those are benchmarks worth upgrading for, delivering a solid 14% improvement.
The performance delta does vary a bit depending on the specific game and workload, but in the most cutting-edge AAA games that really push the limits of graphics, the NVIDIA GeForce 4080 Super consistently delivers 20-30%+ faster frame rates compared to the last-generation gaming champion, the RTX 3080.
This holds true going into 1440P and 1080P, all showing significant improvements in all games we tested, with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla showing major improvements across the board, delivering 182 FPS compared to the 144 seen on the standard RTX 4080. Shadow of the Tomb Raider without DLSS saw a major jump, going from 178 FPS to 212 FPS with the Super variant of the card, a solid 17% increase even before we throw DLSS into the picture.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super DLSS 3 Performance
A major reason for the NVIDIA GeForce 4080 Super’s strong performance in modern games is that it unlocks the full potential of NVIDIA’s new DLSS 3 technology. DLSS 3 uses advanced AI rendering techniques along with NVIDIA Reflex to boost frame rates by up to 4X over traditional rendering. It can literally allow games to run at double or even quadruple the frame rate.
“A major reason for the NVIDIA GeForce 4080 Super’s strong performance in modern games is that it unlocks the full potential of NVIDIA’s new DLSS 3 technology.”
However, DLSS 3 requires the beefy 4th Gen Tensor Cores only found on the new RTX 40 series GPUs. And even then, you need sufficient CUDA cores and processing power to really take full advantage of what DLSS 3 enables. This is where the 4080 Super pulls ahead of the RTX 3080. Its upgraded specs, including over 2000 additional CUDA cores, give DLSS 3 more horsepower to work with. And the results speak for themselves in the benchmarks.
GeForce RTX 4080 Super For Content Creation
Jumping over to creative professionals and content creators, the 4080 Super also provides nice performance gains over the standard GeForce RTX 4080 in applications like Blender, Maya, After Effects, Davinchi Resolve and more. This means users can take full advantage of what the NVIDIA 4080 Super offers in much more than just gaming and can push the software they use for streaming, video creation, audio and 3D creation to get the most out of their PC.
You can leverage the extra horsepower to work with more complex 3D assets and scenes or apply more intensive effects and colour grading in video editing apps. However, the 16GB VRAM the GeForce RTX 4080 Super offers may still be a limitation for professionals working with the very highest resolution 8K content. It will also mean that more advanced AI workflows simply will not work out of the box with the card. Many need 24GB of RAM to function properly, with many advanced features in Stable Diffusion and many larger LLM prompt-to-text models struggling without the VRAM to power through tasks.
For creators who want to push their GPU as far as it can go, NVIDIA offers specialized Studio Drivers optimized specifically for stability and performance in creative software. Or you can use the standard Game Ready drivers if gaming is also important. This flexibility is great to see, allowing users to choose the driver set that best fits their needs. The difference is noticeable, and if you are looking to focus on the creative side of things and not so much gaming, they are a good offering that, while not as bleeding edge, gives the features to get projects done without the issue of crashing or general stability issues.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super also enables high-efficiency AV1 encoding, which is practically essential for today’s creators. You can capture higher fidelity 8K60 video at lower file sizes for easier editing and faster uploads after rendering.
In our tests, the average time to render a frame in AV1 was 1.4 ms compared to 2.4 ms in H.264, demonstrating the efficiency of the GeForce RTX 4080 Super in content creation. For content creators holding onto the 30-series, AV1 is a big reason to make the leap. Even in the lower-end cards, the increase in speed and efficiency makes it an amazing tool in your arsenal moving forward and something that can give you a leg up, especially in streaming, making this a solid upgrade for both gamers and content creators looking for a boost in performance.
“The RTX 4080 Super clearly delivers excellent performance; there is no question that NVIDIA has created an absolute beast of a GPU here.”
Even encoding will see an improvement when touching on content creation. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super features dual NVENC encoders, which greatly improve performance for video encoding tasks like streaming, recording gameplay, and exporting edited videos. With the dual dedicated encoding chips, the 4080 Super can handle multiple high-bitrate streams simultaneously with minimal performance impact on gaming or content creation workloads. This enables high-quality, high-resolution capturing up to 8K60 with support for advanced codecs like AV1. This is something that users of DaVinci Resolve will love, with it taking advantage of these enhancements in the latest version.
The RTX 4080 Super clearly delivers excellent performance; there is no question that NVIDIA has created an absolute beast of a GPU here. But it is only worth the investment if you are coming from the previous generation of GPU. The standard GeForce RTX 4080 already delivers incredible 4K gaming performance with all the bells and whistles enabled. And it remains a productivity powerhouse for creative workflows. Investing in a GPU that only gives minor improvements over the standard GeForce RTX 4080 is a hard pill to swallow for most.
Should you upgrade?
That all being said, if you skipped over the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 because it was overpriced or underpowered, then the GeForce RTX 4080 Super fixes both issues. The $999 price tag is much more reasonable, and you get noticeable performance gains over the stock 4080 thanks to more cores and higher clocks.
I would go so far as to say the 4080 Super is a better value proposition than the straight 4080 was at $1,200 MSRP. And it gets you *most* of the way to RTX 4090 levels of performance for $600 less. So, if you’re thinking about upgrading your GPU this year, it’s certainly worth considering.
Hats off to NVIDIA for revisiting the GeForce RTX 4080 and giving us the upgraded Super variant that delivers in all the ways we could have hoped. It shows they are listening to feedback from reviewers and consumers and delivering a product that corrects any issues we had with the past offering. The GeForce RTX 4080 Super isn’t perfect, but it just might be NVIDIA’s comeback kid for 2024 and is a fantastic investment, especially if you are coming from the 30–series and are in need of an upgrade.
