Overclocked ASUS RTX 2070 SUPER vs. RTX 2080 Performance

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Conclusion

After reviewing the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING video card we were left with an interesting question.  That video card overclocked the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER GPU on it so high that we wondered how close in performance it actually was now to the GeForce RTX 2080.  

Therefore, in today’s review, we took a GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition and compared it with the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING at default and overclocked clock speeds.  The results were eye-opening, and with them, we can make some definitive buying suggestions.

Performance

Remember, the GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition runs at a higher boost clock than a standard GeForce RTX 2080.  This closer emulates what add-in-board partner factory overclocked RTX 2080’s will perform.  This is a faster clocked RTX 2080. 

In all of our testing today one of two things happened when comparing the GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition with the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING at its default factory speeds.  Remember also, the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING has a high factory overclock since this is the O8G version, the highest-end SKU ASUS has with this GPU.

First, there were some games where the GeForce RTX 2080 FE was faster than the ASUS ROG STRIX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING at default.  However, there were also other games that were right on par with ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING performance.  This means that when it comes down to it the GeForce RTX 2080 FE and ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING provides a very similar gameplay experience as a baseline.

When we overclocked the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING is where the real fun began.  At 2.1GHz GPU and 15.9GHz memory the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING outperformed the GeForce RTX 2080 FE from 3-6% consistently in every game.  It did outperform the RTX 2080 FE, absolutely confirmed! 

In terms of real-world gaming, it isn’t a lot, and mostly can be considered as providing the same gameplay experience.  But technically, it was very consistent.

Our Thoughts

Both the GeForce RTX 2080 and GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER are based on the same Turing GPU, TU104.  The GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER is simply cut-down on CUDA Cores, ROPs, RT Cores and Tensor Cores.  Both GPUs also have the same memory subsystem with the same bandwidth.  This review has revealed that if you bring the GPU frequency up high enough on the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER you can make up for those differences and match or exceed the performance of the GeForce RTX 2080. 

This also works out for Ray Tracing performance.  Even though the GeForce RTX 2080 has more RT Cores and Tensor Cores, simply by raising the GPU frequency high enough will exceed the Ray Tracing performance of the GeForce RTX 2080.

All of this said we do have to acknowledge that overclocking the GeForce RTX 2080 to its maximum overclock will make that different back up and exceed an overclocked RTX 2070 SUPER.  An overclocked RTX 2070 SUPER won’t be able to beat the performance of an overclocked GeForce RTX 2080.  You’d have to overclock the RTX 2070 SUPER to an insane clock speed that probably isn’t possible.  Ultimately, the GeForce RTX 2080 will have the advantage, if you overclock it.  But if you don’t, it is amazing how close an overclocked RTX 2070 SUPER is to a GeForce RTX 2080 Founders Edition.

Just a reminder, we are not bringing the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER into this, that video card is naturally more expensive, and not going to compete with the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER even overclocked. 

Final Points

With the performance we experienced out of an overclocked ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING (RTX 2070 SUPER GPU) we determine that it is a huge value compared to the GeForce RTX 2080.  Though the ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 2070 SUPER O8G GAMING costs a premium of $589, even at that price it is a lot less money than a retail custom GeForce RTX 2080 video card right now.

Even sorted by the lowest price, you can see that custom retail GeForce RTX 2080 video cards start above $600, in the $630 to $650 range and upwards for a real fast one. These prices are way above GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER pricing.  The MSRP on GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER FE is $499, and custom cards like the ASUS one are priced higher, but the ASUS O8G model is one of the most expensive.  There are less expensive ASUS models like these.

The point is, you can purchase a factory overclocked custom retail GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER video card for a lot less than a GeForce RTX 2080.  Overclock it, and you’ll have near to matching GeForce RTX 2080 gameplay performance, for less money.  This really puts a huge value toward GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER retail custom factory overclocked video cards.  We can’t wait to review more of these, because it seems NVIDIA has given us something practically as good in gameplay performance to a GeForce RTX 2080 for less money.    

Discussion

Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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