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ASUS and Noctua first teamed up to create a custom RTX 3070. But now they have released a new card, which we see with this ASUS Noctua RTX 3080 OC review. It aims to improve the most popular graphics card. With the promise of better and quieter cooling, albeit at a much larger size with over four slots. The new card brings the Noctua aesthetic to the graphics card world.
Asus Noctua RTX 3080OC
core clock speed
1440MHz base, 1815MHz boost
Dimensions
310 x 144.8 x 87.5 mm (12.2 x 5.7 x 3.45 in)
packaging and aesthetics
Comes in a beefy box with a handle, it almost feels like a briefcase for your new graphics card. The massive box was built to accommodate the massive size of the Noctua 3080. Its dimensions are 310 x 144.8 x 87.5 mm (12.2 x 5.7 x 3.45 inches), which gives it a whopping 4.3 slots. So it’s no surprise that it takes such a hefty box to carry.
The Noctua version is based on ASUS’ TUF model, but improves on the original design. Featuring an enlarged copper baseplate to cover a larger area. Including the VRAM as well as the chip itself for better overall performance by keeping temperatures under wraps. Along with a larger heatsink for greater heat density. These are then supported by two Noctua NF-A12x25 fans instead of the three standard 92mm fans. The superior fans are optimized for better airflow and better static pressure characteristics. Which gives the card lower GPU and VRAM temperatures while also running quieter than the original TUF. Promises an improvement of 4.5 dB, 3 °C GPU and 14 °C in VRAM over the previous offering.
The construction itself is sturdy and looks surprisingly good. As with such a large heatsink and fans, you would expect a lot of flex and GPU sag. However, ASUS did well to strengthen the card to prevent this from happening. With a well connected structure, it prevents loose areas. With a strong backplate and IO shield, it connects even the furthest points together to create a solid construction. Preventing flexing over time can ruin the graphics card’s aesthetics in the long run.
Noctua is known for its unique beige and brown color choices. Which also brought it to the 3080 what the fans are. However, the design around the fans is a less polarizing, more toned-down color choice. It uses a darker brown and silver to create an owl-like design on the front. The spinning fans are a mesmerizing pair of eyes. Together, this results in a well-designed and well thought-out graphics card.
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specification and price
1440MHz base, 1815MHz boost
310 x 144.8 x 87.5 mm (12.2 x 5.7 x 3.45 in)
Modified TUF cooler with 2x NF-A12x25 120mm fans
2x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
advantages
- Excellent cooling that outperforms other solutions
- great build quality to support its larger size
- Lots of headroom for overclocking
- Quiet and powerful performance
Disadvantages
- Much more expensive than other custom solutions
- Color scheme not to everyone’s taste
- Uses old 10GB model
The Noctua 3080 is based on the 10GB version of the GPU. Which is the older version with 10GB GDDR6X memory. It is clocked at 19 Gbps over a 320-bit memory interface, giving it a bandwidth of 760.3 GB/s. Most card specifications remained the same.
It offers an overclocked engine clock with a boost clock of up to 1815MHz. Which 8704 CUDA cores can potentially run with. It also has a maximum of four displays and five ports. Two of them are HDMI 2.1 and three are DisplayPort 1.4a. It uses only two 8-pin power connectors with a recommended power supply of 850W.
The cooling solution used is based on the ASUS TUF model. This increases the heatsink width to 120.50mm, height to 42.20mm and depth to 94mm. Along with an enlarged copper baseplate that can also accommodate the memory chips for improved thermals. Which is also supported by two NF-A12x25 120mm fans. For optimized airflow through the heatsink to dissipate all heat.
As for pricing, ASUS has announced a retail price of $950. Although much higher than the 3080’s original price of $699. However, the current price of the 3080 is already much higher and not too far off. If you can find it somewhere in stock. If you can only find it on Newegg at a much higher inflated price of $1,349.99.
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perfomance
We compared the use of the ASUS Noctua RTX 3080 with an MSI Gaming X Trio RTX 3080. In doing so, we looked in particular at the core temperatures achieved by the cards, the clock frequency and the fan speeds. We use benchmarks and stress tests to see how well the cards fare under the heaviest loads.
Our test stand consists of:
- Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x
- Cooler: BeQuiet Dark Rock 4
- Memory: Corsair 2 x 8GB 3200MHz Corsair Vengeance (XMP)
- Motherboard: AORUS X570 Pro (scalable bar enabled)
- PSU: AORUS 850 Pro GM
- Case: Cooler Master MF 700
From the results of the two cards, we see the same GPU clock utilization and power consumption. This applies from one minute before a 10-minute Furmark run and one minute after. Although not perfectly aligned, it shows us the relative behavior of the two.
The two cards have the same overclock, so we can see that the frequency between the two stays the same. Running at a steady rate of around 1500MHz during the test and peaking at almost 2000MHz upon completion.
Then we see the fan speeds. On the Noctua, a much more aggressive response jumps to 1369 rpm, while the MSI jumps to around 800-900 rpm and ramps up after that. While the brown fans spin down and average around 1100 rpm. With MSI peaking at 1366 rpm and averaging about the same speed.
We can also see the power consumption of the two cards. Both peaked at 340W, about 20W higher than the 3080’s TDP, and the MSI GPU can pull more power from more power pins it uses.
Lastly we see the temperature of the GPU and we see how well the Noctua fans are working to keep the temperature down. The GPU peaks at 60.1 C, falling below 58 C with the fans on. While the MSI temperature keeps rising even when the fans start spinning. After four minutes, it peaks at 70.7°C and then drops to around 69°C. Whereby the shutdown after stopping takes much longer than the Noctua card.
With the lower speed and larger size, the fans run quietly. Although we don’t have the sound comparison tools to really compare their levels. Neither card was particularly loud. The Noctua option causes less turbulent air, but you can still hear the coil whine.
Either way, it’s capable of keeping the GPU temperature much lower. With better default fan curve, more responsive to workload than MSI card.
Conclusion
Overall, the ASUS Noctua RTX 3080 is a great graphics card. So you get the iconic brown of full size fans. Along with an owl-like design, it’s a unique design with excellent cooling. Able to perform great over the long term and increase performance. It’s a great choice for a card if you like the design and have room to actually build it in. Although it comes at an inflated price, that comes with the premium of the card. So if you have the means, it may be the card for you. And we’ll likely see more of the collaboration as we move forward.