GTX2080ti -- Is it worth paying the premium ?.

I play DCS exclusively VR with a Valve Index and reluctantly (given their cost) considering purchasing a GTX2080ti.

Looking at what's available is it really worth paying the premium between for example these two cards ?.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-gaming-x-trio-11264mb-gddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-34e-ms.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-ventus-gp-11264mb-gddr6-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-34u-ms.html

I'm thinking that maybe I should buy the cheaper of the two, because relatively speaking it will probably offer better value for money.

Which are the better brands of cards ?.

Thanks.

There are a few things you should know about the current GPU dies.

All dies are different, not 2 of them are equal, they are all UNIQUE. The reason for this are the amount of functional Cuda Cores and other parts of the die. Some have only enough working cores to make a lower end GPU, some are top end yield and qualify for Titan cards, most are somewhere between...and all of those are different where in the die those cores are located.

That makes them behave differently under load and they all heat up differently with their hotspots.

Knowing this "unique" nature of the beast explains why some clock slightly higher than others despite they are found on the same make&model of any vendor.

The difference of the 2 cards you show in your links is a mix of the above coupled with 2 different cooling solutions. 1 has three fans, the other only has 2 fans. Likely the one with three fans has better cooling and allows for higher sustained clocks.

Once you watercool those GPUs you will see that they differ only as much 25-50MHz, I doubt there is a 100MHz differential if those dies are cooled with high end water blocks, to show you the other end of the scale.

If it worth it ? I dunno. If you have money to burn, get the highest clocked one with the best cooling, if you cant afford that, a "lower" end 2080ti is still a full featured 2080ti, it will just likely not be able to run the same high clocks as the better cooled card.

Maybe, those GOUs have also been binned by the card maker and the lower end cards have lesser quality dies in terms of hotspots in the die where as the more expensive cards may have the best GPUs they could bin. Again, with top tier cooling both will likely clock even higher and wont differ much at all.

Most after market water blocked cooled cards are from FE editions that usually clock way lower than say a Asus or MSI top end card for 300€ more. That is true too.

Imho, all those cards are way way overprized. I for my part will never again pay a Grand for a Nvidia card. Did that once and not anymore. It is not worth it imho.

* That info about the dies is from a Nvidia Tech guy in an interview available on YT. Sadly I dont have the link at hand

Thanks for your informative reply BitMaster, gives me an insight in to how the manufacturers categorize their GPU's during/after the manufacturing process.

It would be interesting to know the performance difference between the above two cards, i've no idea but I'm guessing that the difference would only be 2 or 3 FPS between them.

At the moment to get consistent 40FPS (80Hz mode) with my Index i'm having to turn MSAA (x2) off and I'm hoping that a 2080ti would provide the necessary grunt in order that I can turn it back on again.

However I agree with you at £1000+ their somewhat overpriced, that's a lot of money to pay in order to turn MSAA back on !!.... I guess that I am now just trying to justify the expense of a 2080ti to myself..... Even the cheaper one :).

...

 

However I agree with you at £1000+ their somewhat overpriced, that's a lot of money to pay in order to turn MSAA back on !!.... I guess that I am now just trying to justify the expense of a 2080ti to myself..... Even the cheaper one :).

You can sell the 1080ti to recoup a little. ;)

...

Imho, all those cards are way way overprized. I for my part will never again pay a Grand for a Nvidia card. Did that once and not anymore. It is not worth it imho. ...

Available alternatives for 4k or vr?

Thanks for your informative reply BitMaster, gives me an insight in to how the manufacturers categorize their GPU's during/after the manufacturing process.

Same process happens with CPU's.

....Imho, all those cards are way way overprized. I for my part will never again pay a Grand for a Nvidia card.....

amen brother. The same struggle I have as well. It's like Nvidia believes they sh** gold... (Yep I know, market demands drive the price...)

Available alternatives for 4k or vr?

Wait for AMD to release their top tier card.

If you look at the 5700/5700XT you can already see where the journey will go.

For 420€ I can get a card that is on par with a 2080 and in some titles even beats a 2080ti. For fourhundredandtwenty Euros :music_whistling:

Wait for AMD to release their top tier card. If you look at the 5700/5700XT you can already see where the journey will go.

I stated "available" - forgot to add: now. :music_whistling:

For 420€ I can get a card that is on par with a 2080 and in some titles even beats a 2080ti. For fourhundredandtwenty Euros :music_whistling:

Who cares about other games than DCS? :D

If you can reliably sell your used stuff, it makes upgrades a lot easier. That being said, I'd just wait until next summer. I'm happy enjoying the Reverb with a 2080 Ti but the grass is always greener. Next summer, you'll have the choice of a new Ampere card from Nvidia, a used 2080 Ti, or whatever AMD can put out by then.

If you can get a good deal this build season and then sell it later it makes it more worth it. I just looked at EVGA's website, prices haven't really come down at all from a year ago, if anything they are +$50-$100 from a year ago. And availability is still kind of spotty. When I bought mine, the EVGA store wasn't charging sales tax. At least in my state, I think they legally have to now.

It's a good time for CPU's and RAM.

I wish I had some more definitive benchmarks to show you. I guess it depends how much some settings and graphics perks are to you. But I would lean toward probably not worth it. There is always something new and shiny right around the corner.

According to the diagnostic tool that comes with WMR/Reverb I'm mostly CPU limited with the higher shadow and textures that I like in VR.

You can sell the 1080ti to recoup a little. ;)

.... and I have a Rift S to add to that, so the "upgrade" cost is maybe justifiable..... I've nearly convinced myself :) !!.

I guess a 2080 Super would be a much better value option given that the 2080Ti costs like 50% more, but doesn't give you more than 20% extra performance IIRC (at stock clocks at least).

But, since you already own a 1080Ti, I'd advise waiting for the next gen card which should be out in the first half of the 2020.

I play DCS exclusively VR with a Valve Index and reluctantly (given their cost) considering purchasing a GTX2080ti.

***

Thanks.

Don't bother. DCS World doesn't use RTX, which is the expensive part.

You already own a GTX 1080 Ti--an excellent choice for DCS. Buy another identical one, and use them in SLI. You'll have much better performance for the amount of cash you parted with.

2080 Ti is only around 20% faster than the 1080 Ti for non-raytraced graphics--not worth the huge bump in price.

AD

Buy another identical one, and use them in SLI. You'll have much better performance for the amount of cash you parted with.

No, DCS VR doesn't work so you do not get a performance boost when pairing two cards together.

Nor does DCS support SLI .

Thanks again for your suggestions guys, two days a go I was seriously contemplating buying one of the two cards that I linked in my first post.

Having thought about it I'm probably just going to hold off for now and be be patient, i'll wait and see what AMD or Nvidia have to offer next year.

The Index is performing well enough with MSAA turned off, the shimmering is irritating at times but just going to have to live with it for now.

Isn't Intel supposed to be releasing a graphics card next year?

This generation cards are a bad deal in general. No wonder NVIDIA sales were weaker this year. It's now known that NVIDIA will introduce new architecture 7nm (currently 14) in H1 2020, and judging by what AMD will be releasing NVIDIA better have kickass cards with sane prices by then or they will be in deep trouble.

Thanks again for your suggestions guys, two days a go I was seriously contemplating buying one of the two cards that I linked in my first post.

 

Having thought about it I'm probably just going to hold off for now and be be patient, i'll wait and see what AMD or Nvidia have to offer next year.

 

The Index is performing well enough with MSAA turned off, the shimmering is irritating at times but just going to have to live with it for now.

A wise decision:thumbup:

This generation cards are a bad deal in general. No wonder NVIDIA sales were weaker this year.

Yeah, 2080Ti release price (still holding) was almost twice the release price of 1080Ti. It's a pretty cheeky boost in price, especially given the relatively minor non-RTX performance boost over the 1080Ti and the complete lack of RTX supported games.

I have new model RTX 2060 Super FE (which roughly equivalent) to RTX 2070, but not 2070 Super.

I play at single screen 2560X1440 @144Hz.

I don't use anti-aliasing but do use anisotropic 8X filter.

Unigine Benchmark qualifies my 2060 Super for VR. With sustained FPS higher then 144. But when I compare by benchmark of 15135, to online posted scores . It is only maybe slightly 50-60% of I9-9900X with OC 2080Ti all overclocked and liquid cooled. That guy's benchmark is 28335. Crazy fast.How would that translate into FPS in DCS, I do not know.

My FPS is 90 - 198, with 120-130 being average. This with reference FE 2060 Super.

It was bought for $400.

RTX 2080 Ti is gonna run you about $1200-$1400 depending on OC, extra fans. Cost is 3X 2060 Super. But I do not expect 3X FPS rate to increase. So I think that 2080Ti is a splurge.

Ti is a big card. Some are 2 slot, others are 3. It requires efficient 800 or 850 PS.

If you can swing it, go ahead. You'll be the envy of gamers until next gen from Nvidia.

However IMHO, 2070 or 2070 Super maybe a high-end sweetspot. Both stay in tripple digits , as far as pricing.

very interesting read ! I bought a 1080Ti knowing I was going to use the evga upgrade

option, but they would ONLY sell Me a 2282 RTX 2080Ti Black edition.

I never play on steam, so I have 2 questions, What will a third sensor with a rift CV1 do

for Me in DCS ???

When will they update DCS to Direct X 12 ?

5 year old 4 gig 680 SLI cards have 8 gigs of video ram in dx12.

For DCS 2 sensors are all you need. YOu dont even have to go through the setup, at least I skipped that on the last installs I did. Get in the cockpit, hit the recenter button and fly.

If you want to play other games that need you to stand up and move around it might be useful but me and the kids never felt a 3rd sensor was needed.

Nor does DCS support SLI .

DCS can use SLI unless you're using Virtual Reality. SLI only works on normal screen as of now.

DCS can use SLI unless you're using Virtual Reality. SLI only works on normal screen as of now.

Citation ? To my knowledge ED has always replied in the negative to questions regarding SLI ability .