In a recent laptop video card release, NVIDIA released the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop. Based on the Ampere microarchitecture, this new card is capable of higher clock speeds of 1245 to 1710 MHz and features 6144 pipelines. The video card supports up to 16 GB of memory. Its memory bus is 256 bits. During this review, I will go over some of its most important features.
Memory speed goes from 14 Gbps to 16 Gbps
As far as laptop GPUs go, the RTX 3080 Ti has been the most anticipated. With 16GB of GDDR6 memory configured across a 256-bit bus interface, the GPU will push bandwidth to half a terabyte per second – a remarkable leap for the laptop segment. That’s two gigabits faster than the fastest mobile processor available right now.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop
In gaming tests, the RTX 3080 laptop model is a few frames behind the 1440p desktop equivalent but matches AMD’s RX 6800M. In Cyberpunk, the RTX 3080 Ti lags behind the desktop RTX 3080 by more than three-thirds – a significant difference for a laptop GPU.
As far as power usage, the RTX 3080 Mobile will have a TGP of 175W and include NVIDIA’s Dynamic Boost 2.0 tech. Its TGP will increase from 150W to 175W, although some high-end laptops have even more power than that. The RTX 3080 Ti’s maximum TGP is 175W, which isn’t a huge increase compared to the previous RTX model, but it’s not clear whether it’s the real limit.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 mobile GPU is the first to feature the GA103 SKU and a 58-Compute Unit (CUDA) memory. Moreover, it’s the first mobile GPU to use the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti memory. The GPU’s memory speeds will be up to 14 Gbps with Dynamic Boost 2.0.
RTX 3080 is a far better choice for gamers than the RTX 3070. It is also more powerful than its predecessor and boasts nearly 20 percent more CUDA cores. Although it costs more than the 3070, it is worth the extra money. If you’re looking for high-performance graphics, the RTX 3080 is the way to go.
The RTX 3080 is slightly larger than the RTX 3070, measuring around four centimeters longer than the previous model. That means that the new card’s dimensions are much bigger than most graphics cards and may be more difficult to fit into an M-ATX case. Even so, the Founders Edition of the RTX 3080 retains the dual-slot cooler. Compared to the traditional GPU fan-and-gasket combination, the Founders Edition has a unique design.
The performance gain isn’t the full 20%
Although the performance gain is not at least 20 percent, it is certainly noticeable. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 represents the pinnacle of mainstream gaming performance in 2020. It’s comparable in price with AMD’s RDNA2 graphics card but has many of Nvidia’s features, including DLSS, G-Sync, and excellent streaming support. While this isn’t a full 20 percent gain, it’s still impressive and will satisfy most users. The big brother of the RTX 3080, the RTX 3090, is a much more powerful GPU.
Compared to the RTX 3070, the RTX-3080 laptop delivers a slightly higher frame rate than the desktop version. In 1080p, it’s a 15 to 20% improvement, with some games suffering from bottlenecks. However, this gain is not full – it’s only around 20 percent for games with a high GPU requirement, so you can’t expect to see the full 20% boost if you’re playing a very demanding game.
Even with the RTX 3080’s lower VRAM, it should be enough to work with 4K timelines in DaVinci Resolve. With 24GB of VRAM, it should be able to run applications in high resolutions without experiencing “out of GPU memory” errors. If you’re in a rush to buy a new laptop, make sure to shop around for the most powerful one.
While the RTX 3080 laptop GPU offers a healthy specification bump, the difference isn’t enough to justify the price tag. The desktop RTX 3080 has twice the power budget. This is due to the difference in die. In addition, the RTX 3080’s peak power delivery is also more efficient. The performance of the RTX 3080 laptop GPU is not much more than the desktop GPU, so a 20% gain would be more than sufficient for most portable users.
As a comparison of the two laptop GPUs, we found that the 3080 was more impressive when it came to graphics performance. While the 1080 Ti was drool-worthy a few years ago, the 3080 is far superior. While the difference was more than six percent at 1080p, the 3080’s boost is nearly 20 percent at 1440p.
Built on smaller GA104
The RTX 3080 Ti has been confirmed for launch in the MSI GE76 Raider and Alienware x17 R2, but the actual design of the card is still a mystery. According to a teardown of the GPU by YouTuber Geekerwan, the GA103 is smaller than the GA104 and uses a die size of 496 square millimeters, whereas the GA102 has a bigger die size of 628 square millimeters.
While both the RTX 3080 and the RTX 3080Ti are based on the GA104 laptop GPU, the RTX 3070 is the fastest. Its ten SMs enable a programmable ray-tracing (ray-tracing) technology. It also supports a full 256-bit memory bus. Its TDP is 80W to 125W, and the GPU clock is 1290MHz to 1620MHz.
The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti mobile graphics card is expected to be featured in high-end enthusiast laptops and feature insane cooling solutions. NVIDIA is likely to announce it at CES 2022. This new GPU will compete with the RTX 3090 Ti mobile. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is set to launch in 2022 with the AMD Rembrandt APU and Intel Alder Lake-P processors.
The RTX 3080 has a CUDA core count of 1.1 GHz to 1.7 GHz. This is dependent on the power draw limit of the laptop manufacturer. The conventional RTX 3080 has a TDP of up to 150 W, whereas the RTX 3080 Max-Q model uses only 80-90W. The lower power draw means that the GPU is underclocked and performance will suffer.
Supports Resizable BAR
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000-series laptop GPU is capable of delivering up to 40 percent more performance than its predecessor, and this latest upgrade offers a host of benefits. Not only is it compatible with the latest games, but it also comes with support for the latest AMD Zen 3 CPU and Intel Core 10th/11th generation CPU. For more details on the Resizable Bar, head over to the Nvidia Bulletin and check whether or not your motherboard supports it.
The Resizable BAR feature lets your processor access VRAM from the graphics card, and it also supports the latest processors from AMD and Intel. However, to use this feature, your laptop must be compatible with both AMD and GeForce GPUs. However, you can choose a different processor if your laptop has an AMD chip. If you’re going to use an AMD processor, it’s best to stick with an AMD-based graphics card.
Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy these advantages. The Nvidia Control Panel has a simple way to turn on Resizable BAR for your laptop. To enable Resizable BAR, open the motherboard BIOS interface and look for the option labeled “Yes.”
Another key advantage of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 30-80 laptop GPU is that it supports Resizable BAR, which allows the processor to use the entire GPU frame buffer for faster data transfer. With this feature, the CPU can send more assets to the GPU at the same time, making games and other applications faster and more stable.
Final Words
As long as the CPU and motherboard of your laptop support Resizable BAR, you can install this feature on your GeForce RTX 3080 Laptop Graphics Card. You may need to download a new VBIOS update in order to run the GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. To enable Resizable BAR, you must also download the latest Nvidia drivers for your laptop.