[Hardware] NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Can Hit Overclocks Beyond 20 Gbps On Its GDDR6X Memory, Power Limits & First Overclocking Results Detailed

[Hossam Taibi]

The first NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card's overclocking results have been posted. The tests and performance results come from Videocardz who show how well the GDDR6X memory featured on the RTX 3080 performs when overclocked along with info on the power limits set for the custom and Founders Edition boards.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics Card Can Hit GDDR6X Memory Speeds Beyond 20 Gbps When Overclocked, Power Limits, and First Overclocking Results Detailed

The results are based on the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition and a few custom models. As per the source, NVIDIA and its AIBs will definitely be releasing custom models on 17th September but it looks like the stock Founders Edition cards will offer slightly better-overclocking potential than the first wave of custom models.

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NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 overclocking with MSI's Afterburner 4.6.3 Beta. (Image Credits: Videocardz)

The first wave of GeForce RTX 3080 custom cards will include several high-end designs but to get a full taste of the 30 series lineup in terms of overclocking potential, we will have to wait a bit more before the higher-end models hit the market. These will include the likes of the KINGPIN from EVGA, Lightning from MSI, ROG STRIX / Poseidon from ASUS, AMP! Extreme (Trinity) from ZOTAC, AORUS Extreme from Gigabyte, KUDAN from Colorful and other designs from each respective AIB partner. These cards will not only offer the best cooling and heatsink designs but also come with monstrous and over-powered PCBs which will allow for higher power limits for extra overclocking potential.

With that said, we also have to take a look at what most users will be getting out of their cards whether they be in reference flavors or Founders Edition flavors. The reference board seems to feature a maximum power limit of 350W while the Founders Edition board will feature a 370W power limit. There are also reference cards with a maximum power limit of 320W. The higher the power limit, the better the final clock speeds the card would result in but at the cost of higher power draw.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Overclocking Performance Results (Image Credits: Videocardz😞

The GeForce RTX 3080 that was tested had a power limit of 320W which was lower than the Founders Edition and a higher TDP custom variant. The memory was pushed to 20.7 Gbps over the standard 19 Gbps pin speeds which is an 850 MHz overclock while the GPU was overclocked by 70 MHz. Since this test was done purely to show how well the memory overclocks, the GPU wasn't pushed much. The final clocks for the card were 1510 MHz base, 1780 MHz boost, and 1294 MHz memory frequencies. Within several 3DMark tests, the GPU reported gains of 2-3% with the memory overclock which isn't a big deal but does show that the memory can be pushed this far on the RTX 3080 graphics cards.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Overclock Stability Test (Left: Stock / Right: Overclocked). (Image Credits: Videocardz)

What are interesting are the power and thermal figures. At both stock and overclocked speeds, the GPU temperature didn't exceed 70C. At stock, the core clocks averaged at around stabilized at 1860 MHz while at overclocked specs, the clocks stabilized at 1935 MHz. The overall RTX 3080 board power draw in both scenarios averaged around 317W with a few spikes. The total GPU chip power was around 175W while the memory power draw was around 76W when overclocked.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GPU-z (Left: Stock / Right: Overclocked). (Image Credits: Videocardz)

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Graphics Card Specifications

The RTX 3080 features some insane specifications such as 68 SM units which results in a total of 8704 CUDA cores. In addition to the CUDA cores, the card also comes packed with next-gen RT (Ray-Tracing) cores, Tensor cores, and brand new SM or streaming multi-processor units. Other specifications include 272 TMUs, 272 Tensor Cores, 96 ROPs, and 68 RT cores. The card has a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz with a TDP of 320W.

In terms of memory, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 comes packed with 10 GB of memory and that too the next-generation GDDR6X design. With Micron's latest and greatest graphics memory dies, the RTX 3080 can deliver GDDR6X memory speeds of 19.0 Gbps. That along with a bus interface of 320-bit will deliver a cumulative bandwidth of 760 Gbps.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series 'Ampere' Graphics Card Specifications:

Graphics Card Name	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
GPU Name	Ampere GA104-200	Ampere GA104-300	Ampere GA102-200	Ampere GA102-300
Process Node	Samsung 8nm	Samsung 8nm	Samsung 8nm	Samsung 8nm
Die Size	395.2mm2	395.2mm2	628.4mm2	628.4mm2
Transistors	17.4 Billion	17.4 Billion	28 Billion	28 Billion
CUDA Cores	4864	5888	8704	10496
TMUs / ROPs	TBA	TBA	272 / 96	TBA
Tensor / RT Cores	152 / 38	184 / 46	272 / 68	328 / 82
Base Clock	TBA	1500 MHz	1440 MHz	1400 MHz
Boost Clock	TBA	1730 MHz	1710 MHz	1700 MHz
FP32 Compute	TBA	20 TFLOPs	30 TFLOPs	36 TFLOPs
RT TFLOPs	TBA	40 TFLOPs	58 TFLOPs	69 TFLOPs
Tensor-TOPs	TBA	163 TOPs	238 TOPs	285 TOPs
Memory Capacity	8 GB GDDR6	8/16 GB GDDR6	10/20 GB GDDR6X	24 GB GDDR6X
Memory Bus	256-bit	256-bit	320-bit	384-bit
Memory Speed	14 Gbps	14 Gbps	19 Gbps	19.5 Gbps
Bandwidth	448 Gbps	448 Gbps	760 Gbps	936 Gbps
TDP	180W?	220W	320W	350W
Price (MSRP / FE)	$399 US?	$499 US	$699 US	$1499 US
Launch (Availability)	October 2020	15th October	17th September	24th September

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Graphics Cards Price & Availability

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 will be launching to consumers on the 17th of September, 2020. The reference Founders Edition variant will cost $699 US. The NVIDIA RTX 3080 will feature a price of $699 (MSRP) however custom models will vary depending on their design and the extra horse-power that they have to offer. For users who are waiting for performance reviews, the NDA for that will lift on the 16th of September for the RTX 3080.

There aren't any detailed performance numbers that NVIDIA is sharing right now but from what has been showcased, the GeForce RTX 3070 is faster than an RTX 2080 Ti, the RTX 3080 is a good bit ahead of the RTX 2080 Ti and the RTX 3090 is about as much as 50% faster than the RTX 2080 Ti which is very impressive for the full lineup stack. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 itself is claimed to be twice as fast as the RTX 2080 and is considerably faster than the RTX 2080 Ti making it a perfect 60 FPS 4K gaming graphics card for its price.