Conclusion
Today we reviewed the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition 12GB video card. The ASUS TUF line is a tough line indeed, it has a sleek industrial style grey/gunmetal look, which is very appealing. The video card is based on the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU with 12GB of GDDR6X VRAM, a custom PCB, and cooler and a factory overclock of 1755MHz. In our testing, this video card performed very well, overclocked well, and provided great competition for 4K gaming.
Performance
Starting with 4K performance in F1 2022, the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC provided a playable experience at over 115FPS. Overclocking it improved performance to match the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Enabling DLSS also improved performance and brought that up to 150FPS. In Dying Light 2, a demanding game, the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was able to provide a playable experience at 57FPS and beat the Radeon RX 6900 XT by 11%. We could also enable DLSS in this game and that brought the performance to near 90FPS at 4K.
In Forza Horizon 5 the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC allowed the game to be playable at 4K with the highest settings at above 70FPS. Overclocking it helped performance, but overall the Radeon RX 6900 XT was faster by 8%. In Far Cry 6, we could play the game at 4K with the highest settings and HD Textures, and both cards performed about the same. We could enable FSR and bring performance to above 100FPS.
In Cyberpunk 2077 this game was so demanding that at 4K we had to bring the image quality down to the “High” setting. The ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was nearly playable and was 6% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. What really made the difference was enabling DLSS, which brought it up to 70FPS. In Watch Dogs Legion we could play at 4K with the highest settings and were over 60FPS. DLSS helped improve that further to the 80s.
When it came to Ray Tracing, the ASUS RTX 3080 Ti OC was faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT, but a lot. In F1 2022 we could play the game at 1440p with Ray Tracing and still achieve 80FPS in the game with the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC video card. This was 31% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT. With DLSS this performance rose to the 120s. Even though the Radeon RX 6900 XT achieved 122FPS with FSR, DLSS looked superior in image quality at 1440p.
In Dying Light 2 with Ray Tracing the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was 61% faster than the Radeon RX 6900 XT and allowed a playable experience. DLSS also further helped performance bringing it up into the 80s of FPS. Far Cry 6 was the only game where the Radeon RX 6900 XT about matched performance, and at 4K to boot. The ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was playable at 71FPS, and with FSR into the 90s.
Cyberpunk 2077 was so demanding again, that even at 1440p and “Medium” Ray Tracing the game was still not playable without DLSS. With DLSS the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was playable above 60FPS. Finally, in Watch Dogs Legion the ASUS TUF RTX 3080 Ti OC was playable at 1440p with “Ultra” Ray Tracing, and DLSS helped bring that up to 85FPS.
Overclocking
Overclocking the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition video card was easy with ASUS GPU Tweak III. It supports a Power Target increase of 7% on this video card, giving us some headroom. Thanks to the good cooling on this video card, you can achieve a high overclock with minimal noise. We managed to overclock the video card from around 1845MHz-1860MHz while gaming at default to around 1905MHz-1935MHz while gaming overclocked, which is a decent bump. This resulted in about a 4-6% performance advantage, and to our findings a minimal power increase as well.
What is more, this video card did a phenomenal job at keeping it cool with and without the overclock. The fans did not have to spin fast, and it was quiet. Even when we ratcheted up the fans to 100%, they were surprisingly quiet. This has one of the quietest fans at 100% we have ever heard.
Final Points
The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti OC Edition is a solid video card, we are quite impressed by the quiet noise level, default temperatures, and performance. The fans are quite interesting, they are very quiet, and even when ramped up retain their quiet nature. In addition, the cooling for this video card is more than adequate and keeps the GPU and Hot Spot temperature way down. For the record, the memory temperature was at 80c, which is also a very good temperature. This video card does a great job at keeping all its parts well cooled and does it with minimal noise.
This video card also has a decent factory overclock and has enthusiast overclocking potential and headroom. It is not held back in any way. This may not be the ROG STRIX variety, but the TUF version is very tough. We love the industrial look to it, and simple “get it done” attitude of the video card. This video card will allow any gamer to enjoy a 4K gaming experience, and Ray Tracing as well. If you are looking to save a little dough, the TUF series is something to keep your eye on.