Looking to buy an RTX 30-series GPU now could be a painful and expensive affair right now due to availability, but if you ask me, is it worth it to get one? Then I would say definitely, as there’s a huge performance gain from last-gen, but thanks to NVIDIA and Zotac, I got one to review an RTX 3080 and share what I felt about this premium gaming GPU.
By the looks of the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo GPU, you will definitely feel it’s a premium gaming GPU at the cost of a hefty ₹95,000, but it’s definitely worth it if you find one. First of all, let’s have a quick look at the specs and feature of the GPU:
Specifications
| GPU | GeForce RTX 3080 |
| CUDA CORES | 8704 |
| MEMORY | 10GB GDDR6X |
| MEMORY INTERFACE | 320-bit |
| MEMORY CLOCK | 19 Gbps |
| ENGINE CLOCK | Boost: 1770 MHz |
| PCI EXPRESS | 4.0 16x |
| DISPLAY OUTPUT | 1) 3 x DisplayPort 1.4a (up to 7680×4320@60Hz)2) HDMI 2.1* (up to 7680×4320@60Hz)3) *Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable is required to support 8K/60FPS or 4K/120FPS |
| HDCP SUPPORT | 2.3 |
| MULTI DISPLAY CAPABILITY | Quad Display |
| RECOMMENDED POWER SUPPLY | 750W |
| POWER CONSUMPTION | 340W |
| POWER INPUT | 2 x 8-pin |
| DIRECT X | 12 Ultimate |
| OPEN GL | 4.6 |
| COOLING | IceStorm 2.0 |
| SLOT SIZE | 2.5 slot |
| SLI | Not Supported |
| SUPPORTED OS | Windows 10 64-bit (build 2004 or later) |
| CARD LENGTH | 317.8mm x 120.7mm x 58mm |
| ACCESSORIES | 2 x Dual 6-pin to 8-pin cable , Manual |
Features
- 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores
- 3rd Gen Tensor Cores
- HoloBlack Design
- SPECTRA 2.0 RGB Lighting
- IceStorm 2.0 Advanced Cooling
- Active Fan Control with FREEZE Fan Stop
- Metal Frontplate and RGB LED Backplate
- FireStorm Utility
- VR Ready
In the box
2 x Dual 6-pin to 8-pin cable, 1 x ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo GPU
Design & Look
The ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo is a massive GPU with three fans so mind you, you need to have a big case to fit in this beast. It is a heavy GPU and draws a lot of power from the dual 8pin connection, but a 750W PSU can keep the beast satisfied.
With the boatload of RGB lighting effects, the GPU is a gamer’s dream, it looks beautiful and you can further customize the lighting effects with Zotac’s FireStorm Utility software. The RGB strip and logo along the GPU side look fantastic with various color effects, shielded in glossy plastic it looks on the premium side.
Test Config Specifications:
- Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 UD
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
- RAM: 16GB 3200MHz
- SSD: 240GB WD Sn550, 480GB Crucial SATA SSD
- Power Supply: Cooler Master 750W
- GPU: ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo
- CPU Cooler: Deepcool Gammaxx GTE V2
- Cabinet: MSI Mag Forge 100R
Productivity
There’s no doubt this beast gaming GPU will also perform well in productivity tests. Thanks to its strong raw graphical performance combined with the fastest 10GB GDDR6X memory, you can get strong performance in productivity Blender, Adobe Premier, and other rendering applications.
NVIDIA’s codecs help to boost the AI performance in almost all kinds of professional tasks that require GPU horsepower. NVIDIA’s GPU encoder, NVENC helps to give pro-level quality and performance in your favorite streaming apps as well. Also, NVIDIA’s Studio Drivers give exclusive benefits to creators, learn more about all advantages here.
Testing in few benchmark applications like PCMark 10 gives results I’ve never seen before with overall scores of 7581 points and high scores across all types of tests.
The scores that we got in Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme benchmarks are way beyond expectations:
Coming to the Fire Strike tests, there’s no exception as the RTX 3080 paired with a Ryzen 7 5800X just sets new records:
Testing the ray tracing performance in the Port Royal test sets standards that I have never experienced previously, telling you how powerful it is:
In Geekbench 5 also the RTX 3080 scored an incredible OpenCL score of 191612 points:
In V-RAY benchmark the combo has scored some good numbers, thanks to the powerful RTX 3080 GPU:
This graphics card with all its horsepower and NVIDIA software & AI advantages enjoys being one of the best consumer GPU from NVIDIA. It can easily be used for productivity and professional work that requires heavy graphics.
Gaming
As expected from a premium gaming GPU, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo is the ultimate beast, delivering you the best results in any game you throw at. It’s a perfect GPU if you plan to game at 4K at the highest settings possible and till now this was only a myth.
2020 has blessed us with stronger GPUs that have made 4K gaming more affordable and the RTX 3080 is insane! With 8704 CUDA cores and the new 2nd Gen Ray Tracing cores makes games look damn beautiful without worrying about VRAM since it features the fastest 10GB GDDR6X memory.
Here are the gaming benchmarks of the RTX 3080 paired with a new Ryzen 7 5800X:
As you see, we have tested many games of different genres in different settings possible to give you a broader perspective. The GPU nails down in eSports and triple-A games till last year, and there are only a few games that can really push the GPU hard.
I am impressed to see the RTX 3080 give me good results in 4K Ultra settings, and I love the game at 4K even if that costs a lot of frame rates. But as you see in almost all games, the RTX 3080 gives you 60 FPS at 4K Ultra settings except in a few like Control, Watch Dogs Legion, Assassins Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, and the new Cyberpunk 2077.
However, NVIDIA GPUs have their own advantage in terms of ray tracing and DLSS, which we have covered separately because NVIDIA only provides these standout features as of now.
Ray Tracing & DLSS
The first-gen RTX cards didn’t deliver as much horsepower needed for RTX ON gaming but this time, with much more matured 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores, there’s a huge improvement while gaming and using ray tracing.
Also, the DLSS 2.0 gives a major boost while gaming, boosting frame rates for free only if you use an NVIDIA GPU. In the few games shown below, you can fully take advantage of DLSS and ray tracing to make games look even more beautiful:
The advantage with NVIDIA GPUs right now is DLSS, and if it’s an RTX GPU, then definitely ray tracing. These new RTX 30-series handle ray tracing very well in most games (a lot better than last-gen), and when used with DLSS 2.0, the gaming experience becomes richer.
In eSports titles like Fortnite, frame rates do matter so you decrease the quality to make the game smoother but it affects the graphic quality of the game. However, with DLSS 2.0 even Fortnite at 1440p medium settings looks great without sacrificing on the game’s frame rates.
Whereas if its a heavy game like Cyberpunk 2077, which supports ray tracing, to get good frame rates without sacrifing on the enticing beauty of the game is tough. However, DLSS 2.0 does a great job in giving you crisp details even at 4K medium settings whereas makes RTX Ultra at 4K possible with 40 frame rates.
These features, along with tons of gaming features like NVIDIA Broadcast, NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA ANSEL, and others. The GPU supports up to three DisplayPort 1.4a connections and HDMI 2.1 ports for a maximum resolution of 8K across four displays.
Thermals
In this segment, Zotac has always designed great custom GPUs and this goes no exception as the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo GPU stays very cool even at high loads, and never did I face any throttling issues, thanks to Zotac’s Icestorm 2.0 cooling system.
With prolonged tests and gaming benchmarks for almost 8 hours, I never saw the GPU crossing 74 degrees with utmost loads. So, this makes the custom GPU one of the coolest ones out there and justifies its high price. The design and thermals can also help buyers overclock the GPU to get extra out of it.
Verdict
Overall, the new RTX 3080 is a great flagship GPU for gamers out there who want extreme performance at the highest settings possible with the added NVIDIA benefits. While this custom ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo GPU is a piece of art that not only looks good but also performs great.
Also, as more games get added to the ray-tracing list, NVIDIA will improve its tech over time. So, if you plan to buy a new RTX 3080, you should definitely look at this GPU, which retails around ₹95,000 and even gives you 5 years of warranty.
Buy from here: https://amzn.to/3qQTFYn
