The RTX 3000 series launch has happened, and one particular claim has sent waves through the PC community. That claim is that the RTX 3070, due to launch at just $499, will beat the RTX 2080Ti. The used market has taken note, and here in the UK RTX 2080Ti prices have dropped like a stone. The once-premium GPU, costing four figures new, now commands under £600.
Is this an overcorrection, or not going far enough? Well, Nvidia have certainly claimed the RTX 3070 will be faster than the RTX 2080Ti. What’s not clear, however, is how universal this is. The RTX 2080Ti still has more memory bandwidth on paper, though the RTX 3070 has more CUDA cores at a higher clock. What’s more, prices for the RTX 3070 are still below what a used 2080Ti fetches. Nvidia are listing their RTX 3070 Founders Edition for £470, and Overclockers UK have a slew of third-party cards listed with prices ranging from £449 to £500. If the RTX 3070 really is faster, even at these prices a used RTX 2080Ti could be too expensive!
There is one major reason to prefer the RTX 2080Ti, and a possible reason people are buying at these prices as well as selling. The RTX 2080Ti supports NVLink, allowing two cards to work together in SLI. On paper, a pair of 2080Tis together could potentially beat even the RTX 3090. This gives some both current and prospective owners a reason to buy the dip.
Others buying up these cheap used cards may have an eye towards memory capacity, or just be skeptical. First-party claims about performance should always be taken with a pinch of salt, and at these prices an RTX 2080Ti seems like a sure bet.
One way or another, the RTX 2080Ti is still an extremely fast gaming GPU. The high resolution, ultra settings and high frame rates haven’t gone away just because there are new cards out.
