Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2080 is the second most-powerful GPU on the market and the top choice of enthusiasts around the globe. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 serves as the successor to last gen’s GTX 1080 Ti with its excellent 4K performance and enabling of features like real-time ray-tracing in consumer GPUs. It is this ray-tracing “Turing” capability that earned its new moniker: RTX 2080; that’s why there’s no GTX 2080.
While the RTX 2070 and 2060 have released in the months since the 2080’s launch, this GPU still dominates the mind of 4K gamers everywhere at ultra settings. If you want to hop onto the RTX 2080 train, don’t worry: we’re here to help you every step of the way. But if you wish to get the latest Super cards, check out our RTX 2080 Super cards roundup instead.
Below, we’ve provided 6 GeForce RTX 2080s for you to choose from. Some target the RTX 2080’s MSRP closely, while others flaunt an extra budget toward features like RGB and liquid cooling. As long as you have the money to buy in this price range, you’re bound to find an option that’s right for you below.
If you need any help picking, we have a buying guide embedded after our picks and a comment section for you to use below.
best MSRP RTX 2080
Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition
- Boost Clock Speed: 1800 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 266 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
best budget
Gigabyte Windforce RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1710 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 281 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
best cooling
ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: Variable (1800+ MHz expected)
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 203 mm
- Ports: 2 DP, 2 HDMI, 1 USB-C
best performance
EVGA FTW3 RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1860 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 302 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
best overclocking
EVGA FTW3 Hybrid RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1860 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 291 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
best RGB
Gigabyte AORUS RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1845 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 291 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 3 HDMI, 1 USB-C
Table of Contents
1. Nvidia RTX 2080 Founders Edition
The best MSRP GeForce RTX 2080 comes from Nvidia themselves
- Boost Clock Speed: 1800 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 266 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Usually, the cheapest… when available
- Strong cooling and clocks
- Shorter than most other options
- Poor availability
A long time ago, reference designs used to be a fairly bland affair… Nvidia has bucked that trend.
Realizing the power of their brand name, they’ve now started putting out Founders Edition GPUs which boast factory overclocks and superior cooling methods instead of standard reference designs. They also include GeForce branding and tend to be lower-profile than other full-sized GPUs.
This trend continues with the RTX 2080 FE. The FE has all the standard features you should expect from a 2080, in addition to some nice Nvidia flair and collector’s appeal. When available, this card should also be cheaper than most of the other options on this list… when it’s available. That truthfully isn’t very likely, but you’re always welcome to check.
If nothing else, you have this card as a standard against which to compare the other RTX 2080s in this article.
2. Gigabyte Windforce RTX 2080
Gigabyte’s Windforce card is the best budget RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1710 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 281 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Usually one of the cheapest RTX 2080s available
- Strong performance and cooling
- Longer than standard RTX 2080
The Gigabyte Windforce Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 is our top budget RTX 2080, thanks to the fact that it’s, well, almost always the cheapest one available.
A passing glance at the card may give you a hint as to why: there aren’t any real extras here. No flashy RGB lights or intricate designs or heatsinks. What you see is a standard three-fan cooler for a powerful GPU, and that’s what you get. The factory overclock on this card isn’t as high as other RTX 2080s, but this will make a marginal difference, at best, in real-world gaming performance.
If you want the performance of an RTX 2080 but while saving as much money as possible, this is the graphics card for you.
3. ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080
The best cooling RTX 2080 is the ASUS ROG Strix
- Boost Clock Speed: Variable (1800+ MHz expected)
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 203 mm
- Ports: 2 DP, 2 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Excellent cooling
- Surprisingly short length
- Even split of DP and HDMI
- Takes up three slots
The ASUS ROG Strix RTX 2080 is a fairly feature-packed GPU.
First and foremost, you have the 2080 GPU itself. After that, you have the excellent ROG Strix air cooler, built-in RGB lighting like the MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 (didn’t mention in our list because the ASUS won our comparison), and even an extra HDMI port for those who don’t like being forced to use DisplayPort for everything!
ASUS’ ROG Strix line is known as a luxury class of GPU, and for providing the best air cooling you can get out of a GPU setup. This is thanks to their triple-fan cooler and large heatsink design, though this comes at the cost of using a whole extra PCI slot, which is unfortunate if you plan on using other expansion cards with your GPU.
If you want the best cooling you can get out of a GPU without installing a water-cooler, this is the card for you.
In terms of lighting, the Strix differs from our main RGB option in one big way. The RGB lights for this card are relatively low-key, serving as optional accents rather than dominant, central features. If you want gaudier RGB lighting, keep scrolling on down.
4. EVGA FTW3 RTX 2080
The EVGA FTW3 is the best performance RTX 2080
- Boost Clock Speed: 1860 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 302 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Excellent out of the box performance
- Strong cooling
- High price
- Longest length & uses 3 slots
EVGA is one of the few GPU manufacturers who only manufacture for one of the two brands. EVGA has picked Team Green, and is famous for their great Nvidia GPUs and stellar customer service policies. If you’re buying an Nvidia GPU, one of the best choices you can make is to buy it from EVGA.
Cards like this demonstrate exactly why this is the case. You have a pretty serious overclock over other designs, a great onboard cooler, plenty of overclocking headroom… and all your typical EVGA benefits. All of which makes it perhaps the best RTX 2080 card in terms of performance… although those gains are admittedly small.
The only real downsides of this card are its premium price and long length. It’s actually the longest GPU in this article, which means you may have trouble fitting it inside Micro ATX and Mini ITX builds. Full ATX builds should be just fine, though.
5. EVGA FTW3 Hybrid RTX 2080
The best overclocking RTX 2080 is another from EVGA
- Boost Clock Speed: 1860 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 2-Slot
- Length: 291 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 1 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Superb overclocking headroom thanks to liquid cooling
- Stellar out of box performance
- Highest price
- Long length
“Wait just a second!”, some of you might be saying, “Shouldn’t this be the best cooling card?”.
...Yeah. It technically is. However, most people don’t usually stack air coolers against liquid coolers, and liquid cooling isn’t common in GPU tech. If you’re like most people looking for a GPU, you want the best air cooling setup possible, you don’t want to have a whole extra liquid cooling setup to deal with.
But if you aren’t like most people, you may want to get EVGA’s Hybrid cooling RTX 2080. You get liquid cooling, air cooling, RGB lighting, and, most importantly, superb overclocking headroom. If you want to push your RTX 2080 as far as it can possibly go and don’t want to spend extra on an RTX 2080 Ti, this liquid-cooled 2080 is your best bet at pushing it that far.
However, that does come at a literal cost. After taxes, you’ll be paying over $1,000 for this GPU by itself. You’ll also need to make sure you have it in a chassis where you can mount its liquid cooling radiator, which is a whole other problem on its own.
If you’re willing to deal with these issues-- or you just want bragging rights-- this is the card for you. Otherwise, you may want to consider another card on this list.
6. Gigabyte AORUS RTX 2080
The best RGB RTX 2080 is the Gigabyte AORUS
- Boost Clock Speed: 1845 MHz
- VRAM: 8GB GDDR6
- Width: 3-Slot
- Length: 291 mm
- Ports: 3 DP, 3 HDMI, 1 USB-C
- Strong out of box performance
- Great cooling and RGB lighting
- Second-highest price
- Long length
Don’t worry, RGB friends: we haven’t forgotten about you. If what matters most to you in a PC build is having an excellent RGB lighting setup, congratulations: Gigabyte has you covered.
The Gigabyte AORUS RTX 2080 offers stellar cooling, great clocks, and a fairly extensive RGB lighting setup. Depending on your preferences, you can really make this card look like whatever you want it to. (In our humble opinion, it’s already one of the best-looking GPUs we’ve ever seen… even before the RGB lights.)
The only real downsides of this GPU compared to our other options is its high price and long length. We recommend double-checking measurements to make sure this card can fit in your chassis, especially if you’re working on an ITX/MATX build. If you’re sure it fits and you’re a fan of RGB this may just be the best card for you.
Finding The Best RTX 2080 For You
In this section, we’re going to answer a few common questions and concerns. If there is anything you don’t understand about the RTX 2080 or how to make a selection from the cards listed above, we hope this will help.
If you’re interested in learning a little more about GPUs in general, including CUDA cores, then check out our general GPU guide.
How does the RTX 2080 perform in games?
In games, the RTX 2080 performance is stellar at 4K on high-to-max settings. If you ever need to compromise in 4K, the first thing to turn down would be anti-aliaising (especially since AA is fairly redundant at that resolution). Otherwise, you can trust that you’ll have consistently stellar framerates– even more so if you choose to run at 1800p or 1440p at ultra settings.
If you want a definitive set of benchmarks for the RTX 2080, look no farther than this TechSpot article. You’ll be able to see how this card performs in 30+ modern, popular titles– including your favorites, more than likely.
The RTX 2080 is rivaled only by the RTX 2080 Ti, but it’s nearly twice as expensive. No other GPU can match or exceed the RTX 2080’s gaming performance, so rest assured: you’re in good hands with this GPU.
What is the RTX 2080 MSRP, and how much more should I be spending?
The RTX 2080 MSRP is $699, but many RTX 2080 prices push above $800. Truthfully, you won’t find a lot of RTX 2080s at MSRP anymore: your best bet is the Founders Edition, but even that card never seems to be available nowadays.
If you pay extra for an RTX 2080, you probably aren’t gaining a lot of performance (more on that in a moment). That’s to say, an RTX 2080 comparison would only serve to tell us that all versions of the card have similar performance.
You may be paying extra for improved cooling or extra features like RGB lighting, though– whether or not that’s worth it depends on the kind of consumer you are. Chances are you don’t mind paying for luxuries if you’re buying in this price range, though.
Do factory OCs matter?
Yes and no. Factory OCs can improve your performance, but usually not by significant margins. CPU overclocking tends to get more performance gains than GPU overclocking, but what you get from user-end overclocking is always highly variable.
When it comes to factory overclocks, the best way to look at it is free gains in performance that you don’t have to squeeze out for yourself.
Ultimately, all of these cards are RTX 2080s at heart. Their performance will be near-identical, and even the best overclocks can’t change that by much. Expect 10% performance gains in the absolute best scenarios.
Do Width and Length matter?
Width matters a little bit less, since chances are you have plenty of PCI slots for your GPU to occupy.
Length is the real important one here. We’ve provided length measurements for each of the GPUs included in this article, and we seriously recommend using those alongside your case’s official GPU measurements to make sure your card will fit. Nobody wants to unbox their new GPU, open up their PC, and discover the card doesn’t even fit!