Upgrading a 5 year-old rig - 1080Ti vs. Standard RTX 2080

[fullcoupe]

Hi guys,

 

After around 5 1/2 years, I'm planning on retiring my current rig. I used to have an upgrade cycle every 2-3 years, but that was back when this stuff was a lot cheaper. :lol:

 

Currently I'm on an i7-4790k with 2 GTX 680s. I use a single 30" display (resolution 2560x1600) but am thinking of going to a 4k display in the near future.

 

I used to play a lot of the latest games, but now I primarily just fly in DCS. The rest of the computer's use is photo/video editing, which I'm not concerned about as my current setup handles that just fine.

 

I've got most of the components figured out and budgeted, I'm really just stuck on the GC at this point.

 

My question: Considering the 1080Ti in its remaining availability is going for anywhere from $600-800 depending on luck - is it more worthwhile to seek the 1080Ti or would it be wiser to go with the newer GPU (2080 non-Ti) with 8GB for roughly the same price? I know either one will be a huge improvement, but I really don't know how much DCS leans on the graphics memory, nor how much DCS would take advantage of the new GPU. :dunno:

 

Thoughts?

[cordite]

1080Ti with the additional memory. Who knows when DCS will take advantage of ray tracing, but 2nd or even 3rd gen RT cards will probably be out by then.

[hansangb]

1080Ti with the additional memory. Who knows when DCS will take advantage of ray tracing, but 2nd or even 3rd gen RT cards will probably be out by then.

 

 

 

 

it's not just about that. When it comes to 4K, 2080Ti shines over 1080Ti. So given that the OP wants to move to 4K, 2080Ti makes more sense.

 

 

Also, I understand Vulkan is in the works that will lessen the dependence on graphics prowess. But it's not like its going to ship next month. So my vote would be 2080Ti.

[Pappen]

Since he specifically ask between 1080ti and 2080 I would agree with the 1080ti...

[fullcoupe]

it's not just about that. When it comes to 4K, 2080Ti shines over 1080Ti. So given that the OP wants to move to 4K, 2080Ti makes more sense.

 

 

Also, I understand Vulkan is in the works that will lessen the dependence on graphics prowess. But it's not like its going to ship next month. So my vote would be 2080Ti.

 

I would love to go that route but unfortunately the 2080Ti is too much of a leap in price. $600+ is already too much, even though it seems to be the new norm.

 

Doing further research, the benchmarks between the 1080Ti and the 2080 (non-Ti) seem pretty marginal - but the bottom line is that there are still improvements even at 4k.

 

May be answering my own post here, but I'm leaning towards the 2080 considering the prices of the remaining 1080Tis are on the rise. Why not have a newer GPU with faster/more efficient memory, rather than one that is nearly 2 years old?

[hansangb]

Can't argue with that logic.

[Zoomer]

I would love to go that route but unfortunately the 2080Ti is too much of a leap in price. $600+ is already too much, even though it seems to be the new norm.

 

Doing further research, the benchmarks between the 1080Ti and the 2080 (non-Ti) seem pretty marginal - but the bottom line is that there are still improvements even at 4k.

 

May be answering my own post here, but I'm leaning towards the 2080 considering the prices of the remaining 1080Tis are on the rise. Why not have a newer GPU with faster/more efficient memory, rather than one that is nearly 2 years old?

 

I was in the same position as you with the 1080ti or rtx 2080. I went with the 2080 due to the 1080ti being the same price give or take, or even more expensive here in Europe. Plus the option of future proofing re DLSS for VR (hopefully). Ray tracing while interesting is not a big factor as I`m mostly a sim VR gamer. But if you can get a new 1080ti for a good deal cheaper, than it makes it a more viable option against the 2080. Mind you the 2080 seems to have a good lead on the 1080ti in newer games.

Edited October 12, 2018 by Zoomer

[dugite57]

I too have a 5yo pc and faced the GC issue. Mines a 4770k de-lidded and stable on all 4 cores at 4.5ghz. Had a 780Ti running my dell U2713H @ 2560x1440. Recent improvements saw a second 1T SSD for games leaving the original 256 ssd for o/s only. DCS ran much better, much less pausing etc as a result.

 

Wanting to continue my process of milking more life out of this pc I decided that I'd go for a video card upgrade. My plan is to only buy stuff that'll go into the next PC, if and when I feel the need.

 

So, after much deliberation, and not being keen on second hand, I went the new 2080FE over the 1080Ti. The new costs here in Australia are similar at $1200au, give of take.

 

If the old 1080ti was $800au new it would have been a different story. So for similar reasons I went the 2080FE. Could see no benefit in non FE cards which in general are higher priced here.

 

Card's perform similarly but the 2080 seems to have an edge in most stuff @1440p, it's also got the new tech for what it's worth (I'm not counting on it being 1st gen and crippled).

 

Anyway I'm blown away by the results, as I should be coming from a 3 gig 780ti;

 

My little Nevada frame rate test, take off in Heuy and head north over race track then turn south along freeway and fly down the main street of Las Vegas revealed;

 

780ti avg 64fps, but got down to about 26 in among the hi rise's. The 2080FE avg 97fps but the big surprise was it never dipped below 90FPS (subjective, based on my glances at counter).

 

The other big surprise is suddenly, without changing any game settings, it all looks clearer. I can now see the Ball when doing my Kamikaze CV landing attempts. More importantly, I can now see other aircraft from further away.

 

It's chalk and cheese. I was going to get a 3440*1440 monitor, still may, but there's less urgency. What I was putting down to as being a monitor issue, turned out to be solved by new GC. I also fired up ARM3 with similar results. Even desktop seems clearer!!!

 

Oh, the card is actually shorter, cooler and quieter than my old gigabyte windforce 780ti.

 

So, I'm very happy with my 2080FE. Shame the $au was @us $0.70 compared to 2011 when it was over a dollar. But I won $1200 in footy tipping so I'm less peed off with the silly pricing. I'd have loved a 2080Ti, but could not bring myself to spend the extra $600au, for something that probably be chocked by my older system anyway....

 

I could wait for pricing to settle, but I wanted a card upgrade for past 2 years and so took the plunge and am very pleased with the results...

[Zoomer]

I was in the same position as you with the 1080ti or rtx 2080. I went with the 2080 due to the 1080ti being the same price give or take, or even more expensive here in Europe. Plus the option of future proofing re DLSS for VR (hopefully). Ray tracing while interesting is not a big factor as I`m mostly a sim VR gamer. But if you can get a new 1080ti for a good deal cheaper, than it makes it a more viable option against the 2080. Mind you the 2080 seems to have a good lead on the 1080ti in newer games.

 

To update my previous thoughts.

 

On getting my 2080 I have been doing some overclocking ending up with 2025-2050mhz on the core and a massive 1225mhz OC on the memoery >8200mhz memory, which I think a just a crazy OC. On VRMark Blue Room, my 2080 scored 3906. Where in recent benchmarks in the media the 1080ti and Titan Xp are putting out 3025 and 3257 respectively, with the 2080ti at 4586. Looks like the 2080 beats the 1080ti and Titan Xp hands down in the VR results.

 

https://hothardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-performance-and-overclocking?page=4

 

On those numbers the 2080 was the better buy before even thinking of future proofing.

Edited October 12, 2018 by Zoomer

[Pilotasso]

the 2080 has only 8GB VRAM. DCS can use 10 Gig on just 1440p already. you need at least one 11GB card so thats a Ti card.