Third RTX 4080 we received, it is a model from MSI, the MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X. As a reminder, we had the opportunity to test the first RTX 4090 Suprim in Liquid X version which proved to be a favorite among the editors. We will see if it is the same for this aircooling version. Don’t forget that we also have the NVIDIA RTX 4080 Founders Edition and the KFA2 RTX 4080 16GB SG 1-Click OC in test today.
One of the things we will also be paying attention to when our tests are over is the price/performance ratio. Many of you think that the performance difference between the RTX 4090 and this RTX 4080 will be very important and therefore the price of this RTX 4080 will be too high. So that’s one of the questions we’ll answer as well.
Thanks to MSIÂ for providing this sample and for its unfailing support. [nextpage title=”MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X: “]
The architecture:
The model we are going to test today, the MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X is a so-called “partner” card. It is a “Suprim X” model. This series, already well known in the MSI catalog, has a slightly revised design for this new generation. It has its own PCB and a cooling system developed by MSI. We are therefore on a completely different model from the NVIDIA RTX 4080 Founders Edition. This MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X should according to our information be available for a price of 1649 euros at launch.
This RTX 4080 has a GPU AD103 with 9728 CUDA cores or 512 cores less than the RTX 3080 Ti. It is equipped with a manufacturing process in 4nm from TSMC and not the 8 nm made by Samsung which allows to lower the TGP to 320 watts.
In terms of memory, there are 16 GB of GDDR6X memory in 256-bit, which translates into a bandwidth of 716.8 GB/s. The speed of this RTX 4080 should be 2 times faster than the RTX 3080 Ti according to NVIDIA while consuming less. On the next page, we will come back in details on the new features brought by this new architecture, including the support of DLSS 3.
The bundle of this Suprim X version:
So what do we find in this imposing box? As usual, MSI has taken particular care of the packaging of its card by offering a cardboard box where our copy of the MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X is hidden but not only!
Upon opening the box, we can see two elements that are added to the graphics card. First of all a mouse pad and a case support to maintain your graphics card when it is placed vertically. The principle of this support is to prevent the card and motherboard from twisting under its weight.
Finally, there is a 16-pin (12+4) to three 8-pin 150w adapters (450w in total). This adapter is necessary for those who do not have a power supply with a 16-pin (12+4) port. Please note that NVIDIA is the only supplier of the adapter and therefore provides it to its partners. We also received the 12+4-pin connector from Corsair as well as the one proposed by be quiet! which feeds directly into the power supply.
Cooling:
The idea of MSI is to offer with this “Suprim X” series the best in all respects. Let’s start with the use of high quality materials such as copper, brushed aluminum and all this while offering a perfect finish. As a reminder, we fell in love with our copy of the MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X during our test. MSI also uses an efficient and silent cooling system with two BIOS: silent and gaming.
In terms of size, the card is impressive with dimensions of 336 x 142 x 78 mm. It’s a big one when you hold it in your hands. No need to confirm that the card will occupy a width of 3.5 slots. If you want to buy it, check that the length is compatible with your case.
The board is equipped with three 95mm fans from the TORX FAN 5.0 series. They are inserted in a brushed aluminum casing cut at a 45° angle instead of the usual round cut. Each fan has 9 blades. The main change is that the fans have three blades connected at the top. This design allows the air to be better directed to the latest generation Tri Frozr 2S cooling system.
The three fans benefit from the Zero Frozr technology which allows them to be left idle when the GPU temperature is below 55°C, thus limiting noise pollution.
Radiator:
The radiator is very imposing and has been completely reworked by MSI. The idea is to reduce noise pollution by guiding the air where it will be most effective in cooling the card. The use of Wave-curved 2.0 fins in the shape of waves, allows the air to circulate in a fluid way, for a quieter cooling.
The radiator is composed of two distinct parts. One part is responsible for dissipating heat from the graphics chip, part of the power stage and bringing cool air to the memory chips. The second part concentrates on the second part of the different phases of the power supply stage while also having recourse to different thermal pads.
Particularity for this Suprim series, the memory modules benefit from a dedicated heat pipe in order to ensure the dissipation of heat, it is a good idea, now remains to be seen if it is really necessary. The heat sink is crossed by seven 6 mm copper heat pipes. The part in contact with the GPU has been machined to ensure the widest possible contact area and to dissipate the heat over the entire length of the heatsink.
The brushed aluminum backplate has a double role, stiffening the PCB and preventing it from twisting under the weight of the card but also playing a role of heatsink through the thermal pads.
A little too much backlighting?
Well, it’s true, I’m not the biggest fan of backlighting. You can define three zones. The first is on the front panel with two small inserts around the fans. The second is on the top edge where the Suprim inscription will light up as well as several transparent bars.
Finally, on the back of the card, the MSI logo also benefits from its backlight. Don’t forget that each zone can be controlled and modified via the MSI software. You can check out the pictures on page 5.
The connectors :
To power the card, we find the new 16-pin mini-connectors. As we mentioned above, NVIDIA provides in its bundle an adapter to connect three 8-pin connectors.
The card has three DisplayPort 1.4 video outputs and an HDMI 2.1 port. [nextpage title=”Specifications and PCB:”]
The technical specifications:
In terms of frequency, the base frequency is announced at 2205 MHz while the Boost is at 2625 MHz. The 16 GB of G-DDR6X memory run at 1400 MHz (716.8 GB/s) on a 256 bit bus. Our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X benefits from a good factory overclocking, since the reference card, the RTX 4080 Founders Edition has a Boost frequency of 2505 MHz.
We went through GPU-Z to check that the information read is correct. The GPU frequency is 2205 MHz, and the Boost frequency is 2625 MHz. Don’t forget that the latter will be higher during benchmarks depending on the quality of your chip and determined by GPU Boost 4.0. The memory has a frequency of 1400 MHz. We can also notice that the power limit can be increased by 25% to reach 400 watts. I’m looking forward to testing the overclocking on this model.
Let’s unpack the PCB:
For obvious reasons of time, three copies of the RTX 4080 to test, we did not undertake the disassembly of this MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X in order to reveal you the PCB. This will be done in the coming days to update this article. [nextpage title=”New technological innovations: “] When you say new generation, you automatically say many technological innovations and this RTX 4080, like its big sister the RTX 4090, are no exception to the rule. We’ll try to list the most important ones in this more theoretical page.
New Ada Lovelace architecture:
On September 21st at 5pm, NVIDIA unveiled a part of its future range of graphics cards built around the “ADA Lovelace”. Technically, this chip is out of the ordinary with its 76 billion transistors, its N4 engraving by TSMC, its Shader Execution Reordering, its 90 TFLOPS, its 200 RT TFLOPS, its 1400 Tensor TFLOPS and a maximum of 18432 CUDA Cores in a single GPU. This is quite impressive compared to the previous generation Ampere.
The chip is organized into 12 Graphics Processing Clusters (GPC) each containing 72 Texture Processing Clusters (TPC) with 144 Streaming Multiprocessors (SM). The Streaming Multiprocessors benefit from a new technology called Shader Execution Reordering (SER) which allows to multiply by two the Ray Tracing operations. We can also notice that the chip of the RTX 4090 is amputated allowing perhaps to see a future RTX 4090 Ti land.
These new RTX also land with 4th generation Tensor Cores, which will be very useful for DLSS and DLSS 3 AI as well as 3rd generation RT Cores which will allow to double the performance of Ray Tracing. In addition to the evolution of generation, their number also increases compared to the previous generation depending on the model.
By the way, here is a comparison table to judge the differences between these cards.
DLSS 3 is here and already operational:
One of the announcements of NVIDIA during its conference is the arrival of DLSS 3. Be careful though, this one is only compatible with the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080. Owners of a previous generation card will be happy with the DLSS 2 that NVIDIA will continue to develop in the coming months.
As a reminder, until now, the principle of DLSS (Deep learning super sampling) was to allow a gain in terms of FPS by replacing the antialiasing TAA. The idea is to calculate the rendering in a lower definition than that chosen in the parameters and then to replay it in the definition said using an AI applied via the Tensor Core while maintaining an image quality as perfect as possible.
Today, with the arrival of DLSS 3, things are changing even if the fundamental principle of increasing the number of FPS is still the main reason. The novelty comes from the fact that DLSS 3 allows you to add whole intermediate images and no longer pixels. This increases the number of frames per second and consequently the fluidity. To achieve this, DLSS3 uses an optical flow gas pedal integrated into the new RTX 4000 architecture. This is why previous generations that do not have this will not be able to benefit from DLSS 3. We will have to be careful during our tests and compare what is comparable because yes, of course DLSS 3 will be more powerful but it is difficult to judge it on the Ampere generation which does not support it.
Even if the main function is to increase the number of FPS, NVIDIA also reminds the importance of latency. We had already dealt with this subject by talking about Reflex. To summarize simply, the principle is to reduce the latency in games as much as possible, that is to say the time that elapses between the moment you click on the button of your mouse and its manifestation on the screen. In order to be able to perform all the readings, a compatible mouse will be necessary.
The latest advances from NVIDIA could turn the world of e-sports upside down, as we could see 1440p 27″ displays replacing the current 1080p 25″ displays. Finally, NVIDIA has already announced over 35 games that are compatible and ready to use DLSS 3. We will of course add games that support DLSS 3 to our tests. Of course DLSS 3 games are backwards compatible with DLSS 2 technology.
AV1 hardware compression:
NVIDIA now integrates its 8th generation NVENC encoder with AV1 which is 40% more efficient than H.264. The arrival of AV1 will be very useful especially for streaming. [nextpage title=”The test configuration: “] As we said in the introduction, we are (again) busy updating all our graphics using the latest drivers from NVIDIA, AMD and of course Intel. We also took the opportunity to slightly modify our test configuration. So here we go again for a new series of tests and therefore of graphics on this slightly modified configuration:
- Motherboard: ROG Maximus Z690 APEX
- Processor: Intel Alder Lake i9-12900K
- Memory : 32 GB Corsair Vengeance 5600 CL38 DDR5
- Graphics Card: MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X, KFA2 RTX 4080 SG, NVIDIA RTX 4080 FE, MSI RTX 4080 Surpim X, KFA2 RTX 4080, MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X, NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti FE, KFA2 RTX 3090 HOF (BIOS 1000w), KFA2 RTX 3090 Ti HOF, Asus RX 6800 XT LC, MSI RX 6900 XT Gaming Z, and Powercolor RX 6950 XT LC
- Cooling system: ROG Ryujin II 360
- SSD : Western Digital Black SN750 2 TB + EKWB radiator
- Power supply : Corsair AX1600i + 12VHPWR 600W adapter
- Operating system : Windows 11 64 bits
For this test, we used a high-end configuration using an i9-12900K processor and DDR5. The use of a 144 Hz 4K display is also a prerequisite. For our tests we use a copy of the ROG PG27UQ.
The drivers used are NVIDIA 517.48 and AMD 22.9.2. For the RTX 4080, we used the presses drivers in version 526.72.
Our test protocol:
All cards are tested at stock frequencies and without any optimization. For the various benchmarks, whether synthetic or gaming, we will opt for 1080p, 1440p and 2160p resolutions depending on the card’s performance. Here, with this ultra high-end model, we will only use 2160p definition.
As you can see, we have switched to Windows 11 and we have activated in the BIOS the “ReSize BAR” visible in GPU-Z. Now that you know everything about our test configuration, it’s time to start! [nextpage title=”Synthetic benchmarks: “] Our first series of tests will be dedicated to synthetic benchmarks. These are often used for overclocking competitions but are also very interesting to compare different GPUs. So we will focus on the 3DMark benchmarks. We will test the following benchmarks:
- Fire Strike (1080p)
- Fire Strike Ultra (2160p)
- Time Spy (1440p)
- Time Spy Extreme (2160p)
- 3DMark Speed Way
- DirectX Raytracing
- Intel XeSS
- Mesh Shader
3DMark Fire Strike and Fire Strike Ultra :
Let’s start with 3DMark Fire Strike, which is one of the most used benchmarks today. It consists of two graphics tests, a CPU test and a fourth test that combines GPU and CPU. Don’t forget to deactivate the demo which doesn’t bring anything in the final score and prolongs the benchmark duration (unnecessarily). The version used for these tests is of course the latest one.
The first benchmark that we carry out with this MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X and the least we can say is that it starts rather well! The score obtained is 48864 points allowing it to pass in front of the RX 6950 XT, the best card in this benchmark after the RTX 4090. As you will notice later, the balance of the graphics is maintained thanks to the fact that the benchmark is done in 1080p.
The same is true under Fire Strike Ultra as our copy of the RTX 4080 takes second place. We notice that the gap with the RTX 4090 is still very important since it is 7954 points.
3DMark Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme:
The second test is 3DMark Time Spy. Although this one is done in 1440p, it has the particularity of using DirectX 12. It consists of two graphical tests and a CPU test. As for Fire Strike, don’t forget to disable the demo. These two first benchmarks are proposed by UL Benchmark.
The performance obtained in Time Spy is often representative of what we will have in games. And here, two cards stand out from the competition. Just look at the shape of the graph to see the different levels. If this is confirmed in games, we may have excellent performance for the RTX 4080.
Under 3DMark Time Spy Extreme, we obtained an excellent score, exceeding 13K! Here again, we notice a significant gap with the third place occupied by our RTX 3090 Ti.
3DMark Speed Way
The latest benchmark proposed by Ulbenchmark and it’s nice to be able to say that we’re going to have a go at this Speed Way. It uses DirectX 12 and is by default in a 1440p definition. We have not modified anything and we use the original benchmark.
Here again, our RTX 4080 takes second place with a score of 7238 points leaving the RTX 3090 Ti at 1259 points.
3DMark DirectX Raytracing :
UL Benchmarks has added a new test to its series of benchmarks to measure Ray Tracing performance. The idea will be to use the 3DMark DirectX Raytracing test to compare the performance of Ray Tracing hardware dedicated to AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards but now also to Intel!
The 3DMark DirectX Raytracing test is designed to make Ray Tracing the limiting factor. Instead of relying on traditional rendering, the entire scene is traced and drawn in one pass. The test result will depend entirely on the performance of the Ray Tracing. It will be easy to measure and compare the performance of the different cards between them.
This benchmark has always been dominated by NVIDIA cards and our sample is no exception to the rule as we get a score of 86.5 FPS. It is the addition of the CUDA cores and the increase in frequency that has a huge impact on the performance gain.
3DMark Intel XeSS
UL Benchmarks in collaboration with Intel will add this new benchmark to the 3DMark suite. We had early access to this new test for our testing. This Intel XeSS test is designed to evaluate and compare the performance and image quality of XeSS (Xe Super Sampling). There are four XeSS modes to choose from: Ultra Quality, Quality, Balanced and Performance. The 3DMark inspection tool helps you compare image quality with a side-by-side view of XeSS rendering and native resolution rendering. You need a graphics card that supports Intel XeSS to run this test.
So we’ll have two scores, a FPS number with XeSS disabled and then on the right with XeSS enabled. The mode chosen is “Ultra Quality” which is actually the default mode for the benchmark.
In this new benchmark, all graphics cards without exception take advantage of XeSS but it is Intel that has the best gain. ARC models see a gain of 50% while NVIDIA and AMD models see a gain of more or less 30-35%.
3DMark Mesh Shader:
Here is the new test we added to the synthetic benchmarks: Mesh Shader. We added it because it is managed by the RDNA 2 architecture of AMD and therefore our RX 6000. It allows us to analyze the performance level of GPUs concerning this feature. As a reminder, it allows to exploit more complex calculations at the geometry level, in a more flexible way, for each meshlet . The displayed result is the one with the Mesh Shaders active.
Well, as we conclude this first series of synthetic tests, we are pleasantly surprised by the performance. Sometimes far from the RTX 4090 in some benchmarks, our RTX 4080 is always in second place and with important gaps against the third in some benchmarks, especially the Time Spy series. [nextpage title=”2160p gaming performance: “] We decided to select six games because they seem to be representative enough. We have opted for DirectX12 and Vulkan with the following games:
- The Division 2 (DirectX 12)
- Borderlands 3 (DirectX 12)
- Red Dead Redemption II (Vulkan)
- Far Cry 6 (DirectX 12)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DirectX 12)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DirectX12)
We have chosen to use the benchmarks integrated in these different games. Why did we do this? Simply to allow you to compare your results with ours if you also have a copy of one of these games. It’s a thought that seemed relevant to us and that will allow you to compare your results with ours.
As we mentioned on page 4 of this article, we have activated the Resizable Bar in the BIOS, which is now supported by all (recent) GPUs. Finally, we have opted only for 2160p definition and selected the cards that are able to compete at this level. Unfortunately, we don’t have any RTX 3080’s available at the moment to add performance to our graphics.
We also decided to harden the graphics quality of some games since the next generations should be more powerful, both from NVIDIA and from the next AMD graphics cards.
The Division 2:
The Division 2 will be tested under DirectX 12. As for the graphics settings, they will be set to “ultra” mode with vertical synchronization disabled.
As a reminder, when we started our gaming tests, NVIDIA took the RTX 3080 Ti as a point of comparison and not the RTX 3080 that unfortunately we have not yet been able to recover. The second place is obtained here very easily with an average of 115 FPS, which represents a gain of 38.5% compared to the RTX 3080 Ti of the previous generation. It should be noted that the RTX 3080 Ti was for us, before the arrival of the RTX 4000, the reference card in 2160p since it offered a very interesting price/performance ratio.
Borderlands 3:
For the second game, we switch to Borderlands 3. The graphic options are set to “Brutal“. It is important to know that Borderlands 3 is quite greedy and that this choice of parameters has a strong impact on the FPS. It is a game that is often praised in the announcements of new graphics cards and precisely in this Brutal mode. 
The performance of Borderlands 3 is still very high with an average of 90.2 FPS. It’s hard to even break down the charts because the dominance is so overwhelming. There is still a 30% gain over the RTX 3080 Ti.
Red Dead Redemption 2:
The third and not least important game is Red Dead Redemption II on PC. The advantage of this opus is to offer the possibility to test the integrated benchmark under Vulkan. We opt for the graphics options in “ultra“.
Third game and not the least, RDR2 offers the possibility to test the integrated benchmark under Vulkan. We will see if our RTX 4080 is as comfortable and well it is still the case with an average of 93.5 FPS.
Far Cry 6:
The latest game we are adding to this section is Far Cry 6, since it supports DXR as well as the SFR offered by AMD. We will also find it on the next page. For our benchmarks, we opted for ” ultra ” graphics quality.
Even though our articles on this game showed an advantage for the RX 6000 cards, the NVIDIA RTX 4080 Founders Edition easily passes the 100 FPS mark with an average of 109 FPS.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Last but not least, Watch Dogs Legion which will also be used for our tests with Ray Tracing and DLSS. For our benchmarks, we opted for an “ultra” graphic quality. 
In the Watch Dogs Legion benchmark, the RTX 4080 widens the gap, this time achieving a 36.5% improvement over the RTX 3080 Ti.
Cyberpunk 2077:
This is a game we’ve been wanting to add for a while, and now it’s done, as it now has a built-in benchmark. We will also use this game for our tests with Ray Tracing. For our benchmarks, we have opted for an ” ultra ” graphic quality.
New and last benchmark of this panel of games. This is the one that shows the strongest performance with our graphics cards since few cards pass the 60 FPS mark. As you can imagine, our RTX 4080 has no difficulty in reaching 66.4 FPS.
Average Game:
For the average games, the NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti is the reference card in 2160p. The other cards get a score either higher or lower depending on their performance against this model.
Against the RTX 3080 Ti, the contract is perfectly fulfilled with a clear increase in performance. The gap is smaller against the RTX 3090 Ti but far from non-existent. As we said, it will be interesting to see and compare this performance against the price of the RTX 4080. After a quick search, we find the first RTX 3080 Ti displayed at around 1100 euros new and the RTX 3090 Ti at 1329 euros in Founders Edition. The price of the MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X will be 1649 euros. [nextpage title=”Ray tracing and DLSS/FSR performances:”] Let’s now take a look at the five games we have selected that support Ray Tracing and DLSS as well as for some the FSR from AMD as well as the new XeSS technology from Intel that is supported by Shadow Tomb Raider and Hitman 3. As we have already reminded you, if the DLSS remains the property of NVIDIA, the FSR and the XeSS can be used with all cards from AMD, Intel and even NVIDIA.
The five DirectX 12 games that we will test with Ray Tracing and DLSS, FSR or XeSS are :
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DLSS)
- Watch Dogs: Legion (DLSS)
- Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition (DLSS)
- Far Cry 6 (DLSS – FSR)
- Cyberpunk 2077 (DLSS – FSR)
- Hitman 3 (DLSS – XeSS)
No change for this new series of games since we stay in the 2160p definition. Depending on the card, we will use DLSS for NVIDIA and either FSR or XeSS for AMD models. If FSR is not available in a game, then we will use XeSS on our AMD card.
So even though our MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X is intended for DLSS 3 which we will discuss on the next page, we also wanted to measure the gain of this RTX 4090 in DLSS 2 against the previous generation.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider:
First one we add to this comparison that supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game (medium – high – ultra) and the four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance). For our benchmarks, we opted for ” ultra ” graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS.
With Ray Tracing activated in ultra, an average of 89 FPS is already achieved. With DLSS, our average is 175 FPS, so there is no difficulty to enjoy 2160p with Ray Tracing activated. A small remark, Shadow Of The Tomb Raider has been implemented with XeSS, which allows AMD cards to benefit from this technology.
Watch Dogs Legion:
Second game, Watch Dogs Legion supports Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0. It is one of the most demanding games of the moment. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game (medium – high – ultra) and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance). For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” ultra ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS.
The Ray Tracing in Watch Dogs Legion makes all the cards suffer and our sample does not do acceptance with an average of 46 FPS. The activation of DLSS 2 performance will boost the FPS to an average of 99 frames per second.
Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition:
Third game that supports DLSS 2.0. We have dedicated an article to it. Three levels of Ray Tracing are offered in the game and four levels of DLSS (performance – quality – balanced – ultra performance). For our benchmarks, we opted for ultra graphics quality, ” high ” Ray Tracing and DLSS in ” performance ” mode.
We continue with the greedy games and even if our RTX 4080 gets closer to 60 FPS, it is not totally the case yet. The DLSS allows here a gain of almost 93.4%.
Far Cry 6:
The latest game we add to this section since it supports DXR as well as SFR proposed by AMD. For our benchmarks, we opted for Ultra graphics quality, we enabled both DRX options as well as FSR in ” performance ” mode.
In Far Cry 6, FSR is the only choice available to boost FPS after enabling Ray Tracing. All our cards can benefit from it, regardless of the manufacturer. The FSR is to the advantage of AMD cards, which manage to outperform our RTX 4000 for the first time when it is activated.
Cyberpunk 2077:
A new game that we have added and that proposes in its parameters the activation of DLSS but also FSR. For our benchmarks, we have chosen a “high” graphic quality, an ” ultra” Ray Tracing and a ” balanced ” DLSS/FSR.
This is the most demanding game where our cards have a hard time keeping up. Here, an average of 31.3 FPS is obtained. The DLSS 2 in performance mode allows a considerable gain with an average of 84 FPS. We will see later in the article that it is still possible to achieve a greater gain with DLSS 3.
Hitman 3:
The last game has also been added since it is now compatible with DLSS, FSR and XeSS technology. Depending on the model of the tested card, we opt for one of these three technologies. For our benchmarks, we opted for “high” graphics quality, ” enabled ” Ray Tracing and ” performance ” DLSS/Xess.
We find an already usual situation with a second place in this last game. The DLSS once again brings a significant gain.
So Ray Tracing with the RTX 4080:
In our six games tested, our RTX 4080 managed to exceed 60 FPS with Ray Tracing enabled and without needing DLSS. For the other three, DLSS brings its FPS gain ensuring fluidity within the game in 2160p.
With Ray Tracing enabled, our RTX 4080 performs 39.2% better than the RTX 3080 Ti and 20.6% better than the RTX 3090 Ti, which is far from trivial. [nextpage title=”The RTX 4090 and DLSS 3:”] We will add a new section that will concern the DLSS 3 since our sample, the MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X is compatible. Unfortunately, our comparison is currently limited to two cards with the MSI RTX 4090 Surpim Liquid X and our sample.
We will first test the 3DMark DLSS Feature Test beta which supports DLSS 3. Next, we’ll judge what it looks like in the games Cyperpunk 2077 and A plague Tale: Requiem. In order to make sure the FPS count is correct, we installed the latest press version of NVIDIA FrameView 1.4, which allows us to check what the benchmark says and what FrameView says. In particular, we knew that the benchmark version with Cyberpunk 2077 ‘s DLSS 3 is not correct. This should be correct soon after a fix is put in place.
3DMark DLSS Feature Test:
We did not keep this benchmark since it only concerns DLSS compatible cards and was therefore not useful for our comparative tests. Here, we have retested it since it officially supports DLSS 3 since the end of the NDA on the RTX 4090. So we’re going to run a 2160p benchmark with DLSS disabled first, then with DLSS 2 performance and finally with DLSS 3 performance.
Our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X gets a score of 39.4 FPS without DLSS, then 104.3 FPS (+162%) with DLSS 2 enabled. DLSS 3 still allows a 321% gain over DLSS 2, so we can judge the gain brought by DLSS 3.
Cyberpunk 2077 :
Let’s start with the game Cyberpunk 2077. Here are the captures of the settings we used during our tests. As far as Ray Tracing is concerned, it is in Ultra mode and then we enabled the options for DLSS which is set to Performance mode.
Here is a capture taken during the integrated benchmark. As you can see, there is an error on the part of the benchmark. We have of course, during all our gaming tests left FrameView open to make sure that what is displayed by the game corresponds to Frameview.
So how about in the game Cyberpunk 2077? 
With Ray Tracing Ultra enabled, our average FPS is 31.3 FPS. As soon as we activate DLSS 2 in performance mode, we reach 84 FPS (+171%). Finally, with the new version of DLSS 3 and still in performance mode, it is an average of 115 FPS (+261%) that is reached!
A Plague Tale: Requiem
The second game that we have installed and that also supports DLSS 3, is the next A Plague Tale: Requiem. We also opted for the settings to use Ray Tracing and DLSS 3.
This one is perfectly active in this new game. We are preparing a file on the DLSS 3 in order to compare the screenshots with the DLSS 2 by using the NVIDIA ICAT software. This is a software that we haven’t used before, so we need some time to get used to it. You should also know that we will add Bright Memory: Infinite as a game! [nextpage title=”Temperature, consumption and nuisance: “]
Temperature :
In order to measure the temperatures, we opted for the Superposition stress test in Extreme mode. We opted for three 5 minutes runs with 10 minutes interval between each test. We took advantage of this benchmark to measure the power consumption of the graphics card for the table above.
In order to know the temperature in Idle, after having finished the three loops of the stress test, we let the card rest for 20 minutes before reading the temperature. It should be taken into account that most of the cards have the “0 dBa” technology and therefore, the fans turn off below a certain temperature, often between 50 and 55°C. This means that it takes longer to dissipate the heat after a period of stress testing or gaming. A card without this technology will be noisier than others at rest. Small reminder: our temperature readings are taken in Open-Air. In a closed case, the cards will necessarily be hotter.
As we expected, the temperatures are excellent thanks to the impressive cooling system. This cooling should allow us to take full advantage of the overclocking potential but also to reduce noise pollution considerably. The fans of our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X remain idle when temperatures are cool.
Power consumption (full configuration) :
We use a wattmeter by reading the power consumption on the output of our power supply. Our modular power supply is a CORSAIR AX1600i. The result we propose is the average of the total consumption of our configuration. Only the graphics card changes between each reading. It is therefore easy to calculate the difference between each graphics card.
We were pleasantly surprised by the overall power consumption of our configuration equipped with our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X, since the average power consumption of our PC reached 402 watts. Please note that the benchmark used only solicits the GPU. For a gaming use, the global consumption of our configuration will be more important but that with all our graphic cards.
This result is an excellent surprise and is related to the new fineness of the engraving. Our RTX 4080 does better than the RTX 3080 Ti FE. As soon as we get our hands on the PCAT tool or the new version of the ElmorLabs PMD Power Measurement Device supporting 12+4 pins, we will update this graph by isolating only the graphics card. [nextpage title=”Overclocking:”]
Overclocking via MSI Afterburner :
Direction the latest version of the MSI Afterburner software, version 4.6.4 Beta 3. This is the overclocking software designed by MSI but will be compatible with other GPU brands. The software is really well designed but you will have to go through the advanced mode in order to have access to all the settings possibilities.
To test our overclocking, we are going to focus first on the Time Spy benchmark. Let’s go! We choose a maximum fan speed, we set the power limit to the maximum, i.e. 110% and we’re off! At first, we only push the GPU frequency in 50 MHz steps until the benchmark is not running anymore. Once we have a stable GPU frequency, we move on to increasing the memory frequency. By default, at stock frequencies , our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X gets an overall score of 26824 points and 28680 points for the GPU score. The boost frequency reaches a maximum of 2820 MHz with the GPU temperature rising to 58.1 °C.
In the end, I was able to push the Boost frequency to 3105 MHz and the memory to 1500 MHz. This allows me to obtain excellent scores and thus to gain more points. The limit is around 3105 MHz, if the card hits higher, the benchmark crashes.
Of course, now that you have the maximum frequencies, you will have to test with the fans in AUTO and why not, redo a new ventilation curve in order to hold these new frequencies or close frequencies. Now, the overclocking performance will depend on your card. [nextpage title=”The last word:”]
NVIDIA’s smackdown continues?
With the RTX 4090, NVIDIA has slapped the competition and even its previous generation in terms of raw performance. So, what about this RTX 4080 and especially, what is the performance/price ratio worth compared to the RTX 4090?
Let’s start with the performance, which is where we expected it to be. Compared to the RTX 3080 Ti, the gains are well over 30% and they are more than 16% compared to the top of the range of the previous generation, the RTX 3090 Ti. At this level, we have no remarks to make, knowing moreover that the card is compatible with DLSS 3. As we have seen, DLSS 3 brings a real gain compared to version 2. Now let’s be honest, this is still a card that is intended for 2160p. If you play in lower resolutions, other models will be more interesting.
To understand the pricing strategy, let’s first go back to the price announced by NVIDIA for its Founders Edition and go further than just saying: “But what is NVIDIA doing, it’s shameful and way too expensive! So, indeed the prices of computer components are soaring and not only those of graphics cards. This is unfortunately a generalization since the covid crisis, which is a good thing in this case. To come back to the RTX 4080 Founders Edition, its price is displayed on the NVIDIA website at $1199 or 1469 euros. According to our gaming tests, it is 27% less powerful than the RTX 4090. If we apply a rule of three to the price of the RTX 4090 FE which is 1959 euros, we arrive at 1 430 euros, which is not far from the official price.
To get another view, we looked for the price for an RTX 3090 Ti Founders Edition which is still listed at 1329 euros at LDLC. Again, with the performance gap, the price of the RTX 4080 is perfectly justified. So, be careful, we did not say that these prices were convenient for us but we compare them to the current ones of other models. Indeed, we are fully aware that setting up a configuration has become unaffordable.
And this MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X:
So, what about our MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X. Regarding the price, MSI announces a price of 1649 euros, a difference of 180 euros compared to the Founders Edition. Even if this price can be justified by the use of high-end components for this series, the price of our sample is less competitive. You should know that MSI also offers its Gaming X Trio version at 1559 euros. No doubt that the price of the design of this RTX 4080 Suprim X costs MSI and that this cost must be reflected in the final price. For years we have always had different prices for different series and for all brands. We can wonder if the future of some series is not simply threatened by the Founders Edition models.
On the design side, nothing to complain about on this model. MSI remains faithful to what it usually offers on this superb “Suprim X” series: a superb design, a perfectly cooled card that is totally silent. We are on the best of MSI. Finally, and to conclude, we will insist on one more point. Ask yourself, depending on the rest of your configuration, if you will be able to take full advantage of the potential of an RTX 4080? Personally, a recent Intel or AMD CPU as well as DDR5 seems more and more mandatory to us as well as a 4K display for this new generation. The idea is to keep a balance between the components. Don’t forget that many models of the RTX 3000 are still available for sale and that there might be some good deals during Black Friday. Feel free to ask questions and share your thoughts on our Discord.
We liked:
- A card to take full advantage of 2160p
- Performance is way up compared to the RTX 3080 Ti
- The most powerful RTX 4080 of the three tested
- A very good factory overclocking but also a very good overclocking potential
- The GDDR6X memory is still very docile when overclocking
- Excellent cooling system combined with low noise levels
- The very reliable noise pollution
- Power consumption has improved significantly!
- The quality of the card’s design
- The presence of two BIOS
We would have liked :
- A much lower price when you know that the Founders Edition RTX 3080 was available at its launch at $699 (759 euros)
- A less bodybuilt version
In terms of performance, this MSI RTX 4080 Suprim X fulfills its objectives perfectly, ensures the transition with the previous generation and deserves a gold award. Our sample, which we would have liked to see with smaller proportions, proved to be quiet and able to keep the graphics chip and the power supply stages cool. Unfortunately, the price of this RTX 4080 is in the end the most expensive of the three tested cards but with the best basic overclocking, two BIOS and a perfectly balanced card. In the end, it’s your wallet that will decide whether or not you’ll go for this RTX 4080 Suprim X.
Thanks to MSI France for making this sample available.