Question Best 3080 card

thxdd

Member
Sep 24, 2005
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It depends on what you define as “best”-factory overclock, price/performance ratio, etc.

I found this compilation of data on Reddit to be helpful when I was considering a 3080: 3080 Comparison
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,510
588
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Yes, the TUF cards seem like the best overall, but you may end up just buying whatever you find in stock. You can get a specific model from third party sellers but the markup won't be worth it.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
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I like the TUF also. However, ASUS sucks when it comes to warranty/RMA. They try to find things wrong so they don't have to replace your stuff.

EVGA for me.

It's a mixed bag. I have a 3000 series from each and have followed their forums. While EVGA is known for their customer support, their 3080 cards seem to have a lot of user reported issues and they did some nutty stuff with the power delivery this time around. On the other hand, Asus made a really solid card in the Tuf with low temps and overall good performance. The number of posts about issues doesn't seem to be as wide spread. They seemed to have learned their lessons from the horrible Tuf cards in the past.

The one ace that EVGA does have in their pocket is the Step-up program. If the 3080 Ti launches in the next 90 days, you can basically move up to that model by only paying the difference in full retail price. I was able to use my 2080 Super for 4 full months and got a 3080 FTW3 Ultra for just the cost of shipping. No one else gives you full credit to step up the latest model and to me that's a huge deal.
 
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Meghan54

Lifer
Oct 18, 2009
11,527
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However, ASUS sucks when it comes to warranty/RMA.

I agree most heartily, but also note that Asus's suckass warranty service is most centered upon their graphics cards. I RMA'd an Asus ProArt monitor, which was only a month from going out of warranty, and it was repaired and returned within a week. It worked for another 6 years until it finally gave up the ghost.

Their graphics cards, on the other hand.....I've RMA'd two Asus gpu's over the years. They were the absolute, most horrid experiences I've had with an RMA, bar none. One took three months, the other took almost 5 months to resolve. This included sending the "replacements" that were "repaired" back twice in each case.

Will never buy an Asus graphics card again. Motherboards, monitors, laptops....sure. Just never gpus.
 
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CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
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EVGA does have the best support of all the AIB brands. I got a PNY card and they may have decent support given that they are mostly in the Quadro/professional space, but I have never dealt with them.
 
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Leeea

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2020
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I like the TUF also. However, ASUS sucks when it comes to warranty/RMA. They try to find things wrong so they don't have to replace your stuff.

EVGA for me.

Considering EVGA is the only company that has a nice queue system that greatly mitigates bots, scalpers, etc, odds are that will be the easiest card to buy near MSRP.

Plus buying directly from EVGA is great for warranty purposes.
 

ozzy702

Golden Member
Nov 1, 2011
1,151
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EVGA has the best support. For the 3000 series ASUS probably has the best cards and that goes for 3070 as well. That said, ASUS has a terrible track record for support, and EVGA's cards aren't that much worse. Even MSI is pretty meh this go around with the 3000 series and I typically like their stuff. MSI has been very good with support for me over the years.

I would avoid Gigabyte at all cost, they are garbage, their support is garbage and they really screwed up the 3080/3090 cards this go around.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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ASUS has the best card ATM. But CS is a like shooting dice at a roulette table, and they have been caught a few times even in repair shop damaging the return device to deny RMA (lucky the entire process was documented over at HardForums, where even pictures was taken before card was mailed out.. It took the guy 4 weeks of PR hell to finally get them to honor the RMA, but they still blamed it on someone else for the additional damage done.
This is why i will not do any business with ASUS anymore, ever since i lost my connections there its only gotten worse.

eVGA (USA) has the best RMA experience period. AS long as it looks like you did not drag your video card behind your dog on a leash or use it for something it was not designed for, they have not yet denied a RMA claim for me..
They even allow the replacement of stock heat sinks to after market waterblocks, they just wont honor the warranty if they find your card has corroded because of a leak / water damage.

Gigabyte... LOLZ... no..... just don't...

PNY... again... LOLZ... dont....

MSI... always the more expensive card.... they have really really horrible budget cards, but the higher line, is really nice stuff.
As for RMA, i have not yet had to RMA a MSI, so i can not tell you for sure.
(not because they are reliable, but more because i have no used them enough in builds besides knowing not to buy the budget line.)
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,510
588
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To be fair, the differences between the AIB cards are pretty small. They all have good cooling and you can use a BIOS with higher power limits to OC (which the 3000s gain little from anyway compared to previous cards). I think the cap issues are fixed now, or at least mitigated with the lower boost. The only big differences are in support and RMA if something goes wrong.

There are actually a huge number of AIB models out there, close to 100 of them. I have never heard of half these companies and don't think they are sold in the US.
 

TitusTroy

Senior member
Dec 17, 2005
331
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sorry for the bump but I need some advice...taking stock/availability and price out of the equation which is the best buy between the EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra vs Asus TUF and Strix?....performance is about the same among all 3080 brands so it's all about the cooling and temps...the TUF/Strix cards seem to be around 10 degrees cooler then the EVGA but I also read that coil whine is more of an issue with them

EVGA FTW3 Ultra does seem a bit quieter then the Asus...when talking about EVGA people always talk about the warranty and support but what if you never use those things?...I'm also hearing about issues with the FTW3 as far as the insane amount of power it uses...so taking everything into consideration which is the better buy- Strix, TUF or FTW3 Ultra?...Thanks for the help
 

undertaker101

Banned
Apr 9, 2006
301
195
116
sorry for the bump but I need some advice...taking stock/availability and price out of the equation which is the best buy between the EVGA 3080 FTW3 Ultra vs Asus TUF and Strix?....performance is about the same among all 3080 brands so it's all about the cooling and temps...the TUF/Strix cards seem to be around 10 degrees cooler then the EVGA but I also read that coil whine is more of an issue with them

EVGA FTW3 Ultra does seem a bit quieter then the Asus...when talking about EVGA people always talk about the warranty and support but what if you never use those things?...I'm also hearing about issues with the FTW3 as far as the insane amount of power it uses...so taking everything into consideration which is the better buy- Strix, TUF or FTW3 Ultra?...Thanks for the help
Do you even have a choice? Most don't..