 |  |
|---|---|
| Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| BUY NOW | BUY NOW |
| PROS | PROS |
| Keeps pace with Nvidia RTX 2080. Useful extra VRAM. Runs cooler than Nvidia RTX. | Impressively improved gaming frame rates. The second most performant GPU in the world. Super simple overclocking. |
| CONS | CONS |
| Troubling DirectX 12 performance. No Crossfire support. Power hungry. | Nvidia’s most expensive xx80 card yet. Dips under 60 fps with some 4K games. More power demanding. |
SPECIFICATIONS
| OVERVIEW | Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| Card Status | Released | Released |
| Manufacturer | AMD | NVIDIA |
| Release Date | 7th February, 2019 | 20th September, 2018 |
| Launch Price | $699 USD | $699 USD |
| Board Model | AMD D360 | NVIDIA PG180 |
| GPU | Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| GPU Model | 7nm Vega 20 | 12nm TU104-400/A |
| Cores : TMUs : ROPs | 3840 : 240 : 64 | 2944 : 184 : 64 |
| MEMORY | Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| Memory Size | 16384 MB HBM2 | 8192 MB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus Width | 4096-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 1024 GB/s | 448 GB/s |
| PHYSICAL | Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| Interface | PCI-Express 4.0 x16 | PCI-Express 3.0 x16 |
| Thermal Design Power | 295 W | 215 W |
| CLOCKS | Radeon VII | RTX 2080 |
| Base Clock | 1450 MHz | 1515 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1750 MHz | 1710 MHz |
| Memory Clock (Effective) | 1000 (2000) MHz | 1750 (14000) MHz |
| Computing Power (FP32) | 11,136 GFLOPS | 8,920 GFLOPS |
PERFORMANCE
GRAPHICS CARD USED:
- MSI Ventus RTX 2080
- Reference Radeon VII Card
SYSTEM SPECS:
The system that I’m testing with has an Intel i7-8700K CPU in an MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard running at stock speeds, along with 16GB of memory running at DDR4-3200 in dual channel.
I have not compared games at 1080p because both the graphics card were giving solid 60FPS at 1440p, so I have tested games at 1440p and 4K resolution.
LET’S GET INTO RESULTS.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey was tested in campaign mode. In this test it’s a win for the RTX 2080, which was scoring around 10% higher average FPS over the Radeon VII at 1440p and 6% faster at 4K.
Assassin’s Creed Origins
It’s a different story in Assassin’s Creed Origins, this time also RTX 2080 was coming out ahead of the Radeon VII. In terms of average frame rate, the 2080 was 26% faster at 1440p, and 14% ahead at 4K.
Battlefield V
Battlefield V was tested using the games built in benchmark tool. The RTX 2080 was in front again in this title at 1440p and there was no difference in 4K.
Far Cry 5
Far Cry 5 was tested in campaign mode.. At 1440p the 2080 was near the average FPS from the Radeon VII.. At 4K there was no difference in FPS.
Fortnite
Fortnite was tested with the games benchmark tool. At 1440p the 2080 was just 4 frames ahead then 18 frames ahead at 4K.
Forza Horizon 4
Forza Horizon 4 was tested with all graphical settings at ultra. At 1440p the RTX 2080 was hitting 8% higher average FPS. At 4K, 2080 was now 5% ahead of the Radeon VII.
Hitman 2
Hitman 2 was tested with the game’s benchmark tool, and this was another title that favoured the RTX 2080. At 1440p there was no difference in frame rates, 8% boost at 4K.
Hitman 2016
Hitman 2016 was tested using the replay feature, with the exact same replay file used for all testing. This was tie between both GPUs. RTX 2080 was 0.7% ahead of the Radeon VII in average FPS, increasing to an 5% lead when we step up the resolution to 4K.
PUBG
PUBG was also tested using the replay feature, with the same replay file again. In this title the Radeon VII had the edge, coming out 2% faster than the RTX 2080 at 1440p, increasing slightly to a 7.5% higher average FPS at 4K.
Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade was tested using the built in benchmark. The Radeon VII was back in the lead for this test, though not by too much at 1440p, however average frame rate was 10% ahead. At 4K the lead of the Radeon VII rises up to a 21% higher average FPS.
CONCLUSION
They’re both around $700 USD, however my specific MSI Ventus 2080 does have an overclock out of the box, so it costs 10% more for the exact model that I tested with, which sounds reasonable given on average I was getting about 10% higher average frame rate with it compared to the Radeon VII card.
Based on the performance difference there is of course no reason to upgrade from one to the other, unless perhaps you really need the extra memory from the Radeon 7.
If you’re looking to buy today though which should you get? Honestly based on these results I’d be leaning towards the 2080, even without my slightly overclocked out of the box card I’ve only seen small performance differences with graphics overclocks, I believe in most cases the 2080 would still be in front for a similar price.
