Review – PNY RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC

Amidst NVIDIA’s packed launch schedule, we are now leisurely exploring the final addition to the RTX 40 SUPER series lineup – the RTX 4080 SUPER. In contrast to its predecessors in the RTX 40 SUPER series, the RTX 4080 SUPER stands out as the only card with a price tag lower than its non-SUPER counterpart. This time around, we’ll be putting the PNY GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16GB VERTO Overclocked Triple Fan DLSS 3 to the test but before that, we will just call it the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC later in the article because of the lengthy product name.

Our testing approach involved pitting the PNY RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC against the Founders Edition for the RTX 4080, RTX 4080 SUPER, and RTX 4090 for performance comparison. So, let’s find out just how much performance leap can we expect this time.

Specifications

Overview

The RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC ships in surprisingly simple packaging, not something you often see for cards in this tier but the protection seems pretty sufficient overall. The content of the box includes a user’s guide, an anti-sag bracket to hold the weight of the card, and the 3 x PCIe 8-pin to 12VHPWR adapter for the card.

Design-wise, the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC is equipped with a huge but minimalistic triple-fan cooler which makes it just as big as the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition. It will take up 3 slots on your PCIe expansion card area, so you’ll have to make sure that your PC case has enough clearance for this. Since it’s part of the VERTO series, there are no traces of RGB lighting on the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC, which makes it a considerable choice for those who prefer to not have any RGB lightings in their system.

As the PCB is technically the same as the reference card, water blocks made for the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition will fit on the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC just fine. So if you’re unable to get the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition in your area/region, the the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC is an alternative you can perhaps consider.

For the RTX 40 series cards, the 12VHPWR header is inevitable by now and you’ll have to live with it. For those who are already using a power supply that has the 12VHPWR cable, you can continue using it, else you will need to use the included adapter to power up the card. The recommended power supply for the RTX 4080 SUPER is at least 750W, which is the same as the RTX 4080.

As for the display output options, you’ll find the usual 3 x DisplayPort and 1 x HDMI.

Test System Setup

As mentioned earlier, we have tested the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC against 3 different Founders Edition cards – the RTX 4080, RTX 4080 SUPER, and RTX 4090 to gauge its performance. In our gaming benchmark assessment, we’ve chosen a variety of AAA titles to be executed at their maximum settings. These tests were conducted under an ambient temperature of 28°C, utilizing the following setup:

Games benchmark – Raster

In terms of raster performance, all the tested cards prove more than capable of 4K gaming, consistently delivering 60fps or higher across the titles assessed. However, we are seeing a similar behavior on the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC as what we have observed on the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition.

At 4K resolution, while the RTX 4080 SUPER generally outperforms the RTX 4080, the observed performance gain is not particularly impressive. Across the tested titles, there’s an approximately 3-5% increase in performance. There are instances where the RTX 4080 SUPER matches or even lags behind the RTX 4080 in terms of performance. That aside, we can see that there are almost no noticeable differences between the RTX 4080 Founders Edition and RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC.

The performance improvement becomes more noticeable when we shift to a 1440p resolution. Nevertheless, there are peculiar behaviors observed in certain titles, such as The Division 2 and Cyberpunk 2077, where the RTX 4080 SUPER exhibits inferior performance compared to the RTX 4080. Since this issue is limited to just two titles, it could be attributed to the beta driver used in this test. It’s worth noting that this behavior might not persist with the official Day-1 driver.

Regarding the 1080p resolution, we’ve gathered the data mainly out of curiosity. However, not all titles can fully leverage the capabilities of the GPU and we can see that even the RTX 4090 will perform worse than the RTX 4080 and RTX 4080 SUPER on various occasions.

Games benchmark – RT

Up next is the ray tracing performance, we’re excluding DLSS 3 to provide a more accurate assessment of the base ray tracing capabilities without the frame generation advantage.

There’s a modest improvement in ray tracing performance I’d say, with the RTX 4080 SUPER outperforming the RTX 4080 in nearly every tested title, showing an average increase of 3-5%. However, Metro Exodus stands out, performing 5% worse than the RTX 4080. Also, we’re seeing almost no differences between the RTX 4080 Founders Edition and RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC.

At 1440p and 1080p resolutions, the RTX 4080 SUPER mirrors the performance of the RTX 4080, but in some cases, falls behind in games such as Far Cry 6, Watch Dogs Legion, Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, and Cyberpunk 2077. The RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC can be seen performing better than the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition but just by a minimal margin of 2%.

Thermals & Power Draw

Turning our attention to power consumption and thermal performance, despite being equipped with a colossal cooler, the peak load temperature of the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC fans appears to be higher than the Founders Edition model by about 5°C. While it generally maintained a subdued noise level throughout the tests, we’re seeing a peak load temperature of 74.5°C on the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC and 69.6°C on the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition.

In practical gaming scenarios, it averages around 270W. During stress tests, particularly in the 3DMark stress test using the Time Spy Extreme preset, the power draw temporarily peaks at 373W, albeit for a brief duration. Both the RTX 4080 Founders Edition and RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC can be seen sharing the same behavior throughout the tests.

Final thoughts

Unlike the RTX 4070 SUPER, the RTX 4080 SUPER isn’t as impressive when it comes to the performance gain over the non-SUPER variant model. The RTX 4080 SUPER is still a decent card, don’t get me wrong here, but it’s not going to be favorable to existing RTX 4080 users. It will make more sense for those who are coming from cards like the RTX 3080 Ti or lower because the performance leap is at least significant even without having to enable DLSS 3.

For the RTX 4080 SUPER VERTO OC, you’re still getting a slightly better performance than the RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition despite the higher load temperature at default. However, the cooler remains quiet throughout the test, almost inaudible even at close range, which might be the reason why we’re seeing a higher load temperature. You can easily adjust the fan speed to improve the cooling performance using the VelocityX software but it depends on how much acoustic performance you’re willing to trade for it.

While I have no qualms about the performance capabilities of the RTX 4080 SUPER, the observed performance improvement over the RTX 4080 doesn’t quite justify the seemingly upgraded GPU specifications. Considering the RTX 4080 SUPER as an enhanced model, the gain is somewhat underwhelming. However, a redeeming factor lies in its lower launch price of $999, compared to the original $1,199, which appears to be a more reasonable cost.

By the way, all Malaysians, do keep an eye out for the yellow “FTS” sticker on the GPU. That signifies authenticity from the distributor and will be expedited for a speedy RMA process if anything goes wrong.

To get your warranty process, contact either of these two Facebook pages:

1. https://www.facebook.com/FTSMY/
2. https://www.facebook.com/PNYMalaysia