Need help - I RMA'd my 2080 Ti XC2 Ultra with EVGA and have been given the choice between a 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra, or a 3070 Ti XC3 Ultra. Which one?

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lukeman3000

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Hi guys -

Recently I RMA'd my 2080 Ti XC2 Ultra with EVGA. They apparently didn't have any direct replacements so they've offered me a choice between these two cards. They originally sent the 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra but it was too long for my system. So they said they could do a 3070 Ti, which would fit. Here are spec sheets for the two cards:

2080 FTW3 Ultra
3070 Ti XC3 Ultra

However, I became aware of the fact that these two cards are apparently quite close in terms of real-world gaming performance, and the 3070 Ti is lacking 3 GB of VRAM (with 8 GB total) as compared to the 11 GB of the 2080 Ti.

And from what I understand, the 2080 Ti has excellent overclocking potential - especially perhaps given that we're talking about the FTW3 Ultra variant. So it just got me thinking. I play at 2560x1440 and it seems like I've used more than 8 GB VRAM in the past (like with GTA 4/5 for example). And I know that Halo Infinite uses damn near 8 GB on ultra settings at 2560x1440. So if this is the case, then it would seem that I might have to make a compromise in terms of fidelity in order to accommodate the lower VRAM of the 3070 Ti in certain cases.

A compromise that, on the face of it, seems pretty unnecessary given that the 3070 Ti seems to only get roughly 10 FPS more than the 2080 Ti on average across various game benchmarks I've seen - and that's without any overclocking.

So does my logic track here? To me it would seem that, even without overclocking, the 2080 Ti barely underperforms the 3070 Ti. And due to the lower VRAM, I might not be able to enjoy the higher fidelity textures and such in certain games. Granted, the frame rate would be higher but not by what would seem to be a very significant amount when we're already in the 80-90+ FPS range (that is, I'd rather have 80 FPS and ultra settings than 110 FPS and non-ultra settings).

Then there's the subject of DLSS - I like DLSS. And I've heard that it's better on 3000 series cards (compared to 2000 series). But it already seems pretty damn good on 2000 series and it's not like I would get to use DLSS 3.0 with a 3070 Ti, so I'm not sure if I'm missing out on anything too significant here in light of everything else.

What does the community think about all this? I feel like I'm leaning toward the 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra, overclock or not, but I'm very willing to change my mind if it makes sense. There are just so many variables and I'm not knowledgeable enough to make an informed decision on my own.

Oh btw, how possible/affordable might it be at this point in time to get a water block for that 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra and some kind of 120mm AIO solution? I'm not interested in a full loop (I prefer the lower maintenance of AIO), but I'd be willing to entertain this idea if it meant lower noise level + better overclock. Are there any good options for this? What about overclocking using the default air cooler - would the fan speed be ungodly loud?
 
I would go with the 3070 Ti. It is appreciably faster on today's games and that gap will grow with tomorrow's games due to increased reliance on the RTX hardware.

Something is wrong if you're seeing those games use that much VRAM. GTA V should be under 5GB (6GB at most) and Halo Infinite should be similar. There may be another app running which is using some VRAM, there may be some unused VRAM from a previous app which hasn't been freed up yet but will be once another app requests it, or it may simply be a case of a game simply using everything that's available to it regardless of whether or not that helps performance.

The VRAM "issue" is massively overblown, IMO. 95% of the market is using cards that have 8GB or less, so that's what developers design for. There are plenty of other sources available, but you can see some examples of VRAM usage here:
 
I'd also suggest going with the 3070 ti. Marginally raster performance (5-8%), notably better RT performance (10-15%) than the 2080 ti. As for the VRAM, you're not really going to be playing 4k with either of those cards unless you reduce settings which will obviate the need for >8GB. And at 1440p, 8GB VRAM is fine.
 
3070 Ti hands down.

Beats the 2080 Ti in pretty much everything gaming wise. More cuda cores, faster ram, newer architecture. I don't think you'll notice the dif in ram unless you are doing something specific that uses >8GB, like massive mods?
 
The two games where I felt the 3070 I had wasn’t enough in terms of vram were

Resident Evil 8 with RTX at 1440P
COD V with RTX at 1440P

Didn’t face problems in other games like Cyberpunk etc.

3070 Ti would be my pick as well. If you can get a 3080 out of them that would be grand.
 
KickAssCop said:
The two games where I felt the 3070 I had wasn’t enough in terms of vram were

Resident Evil 8 with RTX at 1440P
COD V with RTX at 1440P

Didn’t face problems in other games like Cyberpunk etc.

3070 Ti would be my pick as well. If you can get a 3080 out of them that would be grand.
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I find it very hard to believe those two games are vram limited at 1440p.
 
I had both and still have the 3070 and for sure the 3070 is better than the 2080ti. Go for the 3070 absolutely I would not hesitate.
 
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jobert said:
The plain 3070? In the RTX 4080 review which obviously covers the latest games shows the 3070 and 2080 ti getting the exact same overall performance at 1440p and even the 3070 ti is just a measly 5% faster. https://tpucdn.com/review/nvidia-ge...ion/images/relative-performance_2560-1440.png
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See, this is precisely as it seems to me.

The 3070 Ti seems to be marginally better than the 2080 Ti. Like barely at all. And the 2080 Ti has 3 GB more VRAM.

Even if we took overclocking out of the equation (which the 2080 Ti FTW 3 is known for having a high potential for), it would seem like a relatively simple decision to go with the card that has 3 GB more VRAM when the performance increase is a mere handful of FPS more across a variety of titles even with RTX enabled.

People have mentioned how the 3070 Ti has "newer RTX cores" and "newer architecture" but what does it matter if the 3070 Ti was literally born of alien technology if that fact isn't reflected in performance benchmarks? You can watch any given 2080 Ti vs 3070 Ti gameplay benchmark video on youtube and you will see that the 3070 Ti outperforms the 2080 Ti by like 5-10 FPS at most, sometimes less.

So other than gaming benchmarks (and the resultant average FPS), is there some other metric by which "RTX performance", or performance in general, is measured? Some other aspect of gameplay that is benefited by the newer architecture of the 3070 Ti that doesn't reflect in slight average FPS increase over the 2080 Ti? Do games have microstuttering when RTX is enabled on the 2080 Ti, but no microstuttering on the 3070 Ti? I haven't seen anything like that from anyone, anecdotal or otherwise -- I'm just racking my brain trying to think of a possible explanation as to why the overwhelming majority seems to be in support of the 3070 Ti over the 2080 Ti in light of the marginal performance difference between the two (before overclocking).

And it's true that I'm somewhat discounting other points that have been raised, such as the fact that the 3070 Ti will receive driver updates for a longer period of time and so on and so forth. Historically speaking, that hasn't seemed to have been of any great relevance. I mean hell, my brother is still rocking his 1080 Ti and it's doing great for him. So I'm not too terribly concerned about the simple passage of time between two cards that are what, like a year apart?

Am I just out of my mind here lol? I've posted this same thread over on both reddit and overclock.net and almost literally everyone, except for maybe less than five people, have voted for the 3070 Ti over the 2080 Ti. And I place value upon the majority opinion, but it's difficult for me to ignore what seem to be the facts otherwise - that the 3070 Ti is only marginally better and at the cost of 3 GB of VRAM.


legcramp said:
Push them for 3080 Ti, you NEED that extra vram.
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Assuming you're not joking (I can't tell lol), I'm conflicted here because my 2080 Ti was a few months outside of warranty when they agreed to help me. I made a post on reddit asking if anyone ever had a positive experience with EVGA outside their warranty and simultaneously began the RMA process on their website because I figured it couldn't hurt to try. They responded saying that they saw my reddit post and that they'd like to "replace my card", and I was ecstatic.

I originally had a 2080 Ti XC2 Ultra and they sent me a 2080 Ti FTW3 Ultra as a replacement. This is a slight upgrade, which is nice, except for the fact that it's also too long for my system (lol). I reached back out and told them I didn't want to "look a gift horse in the mouth", but wanted to know if perhaps there were any other options that wouldn't require a somewhat substantial modification to my system.

They responded saying that they could do a 3070 Ti, instead, which I knew would fit. I was pretty psyched to be getting even more of an apparent upgrade from my 2080 Ti (outside of warranty no less). That is, until I became aware of the fact that the 3070 Ti has 3 GB less VRAM than the 2080 Ti and almost (seemingly) equivalent performance.

Now bear in mind I'm acutely aware of the fact that EVGA is doing this for me outside of my warranty as a bit of an exception to the rule and I have always approached them with that in mind as it relates to the tone I've taken with them in communications. In my opinion, I've only ever been respectful in everything that I've expressed, and generally speaking I'm very grateful for their willingness to help me. That said, I didn't see any harm in asking a question about the VRAM so I reached back out and simply brought attention to that discrepancy, saying that it didn't "feel quite right" (to be getting a card with 3 GB less VRAM as a replacement).

The guy who's been communicating with me on this could've said many different things in response to my question. Like, for example, "Luke, we're sorry but unfortunately that is the best we can do right now. We understand if this feels like some kind of a downgrade from your 2080 Ti but it's the only option available to us." or perhaps something of that sort. Instead, he kind of launched into this diatribe about how EVGA only bases replacements on performance (and not VRAM), and then he used my previous words against me by saying that I was, in fact, "looking a gift horse in the mouth".

I didn't respond to this email as I couldn't really find the words to, and a day or two later he sent another reply stating that they were going to go ahead and send the 3070 Ti and that I could benchmark the two cards and pick the one I wanted to keep. And as if to add insult to injury (lol), when the 3070 Ti showed up it had a bent heat sink fan (it was shipped in a plastic clamshell that was inside a thin box, both of which were inside the shipping box, and while the plastic clamshell was kind of cracked in one area there wasn't any apparent damage to the most external layer of the package so I think there was probably no way this could've happened during shipping).

And so that's where I'm at right now, not exactly sure how to proceed. Of course, as I said before, I'm aware of the fact that I was outside warranty and that they don't owe me anything at all. But, they said they wanted to replace my card and I guess fuck me for asking a couple questions about the nature of that replacement? And is it so unreasonable to assume that they might not give me a card with 3 GB less VRAM despite the fact that their own policies and procedures might alleviate them of that responsibility when fulfilling RMA requests? I mean, shit; this wasn't a normal RMA request to begin with seeing as how I was a few months past my warranty. I even offered to pay the difference between the 3070 Ti and a 3080 Ti but they said such a thing couldn't be done.

So now I've got a 2080 Ti FTW 3 and a 3070 Ti XC3 with a bent heat sink fin lmao, and I have to decide which one I want. If I did end up choosing the 3070 Ti I would hope they'd be willing to send me another one but who knows at this point. I will likely reach back out sometime soon to inform them of the damage (I discovered it over the weekend shortly after I had received it from them) and we'll see where the conversation goes from there. I would say, though, that just because they might be doing me a favor doesn't mean that I deserve to be treated the way that this guy has treated me. This is of course highly subjective and I'm always open to the possibility that my feelings might not be well justified, but after some days in reflection on this I feel more or less the same about it. I feel like the dude kind of lashed out at me for asking a simple question about the fact that the card they're giving me as a replacement (which is actually compatible with my system in terms of length) has 3 GB less VRAM.

One more thing that came to my attention throughout this whole process is the fact that there was apparently some kind of issue with the 2080 Ti when it first came out. I'm not sure if this was memory-related (Micron?) or something else, but it seems like it was substantial enough for Nvidia to delist it from their store for some period of time (according to an article I read). I wonder if this might've influenced EVGA's decision to assist me (being outside my warranty). I have no idea if this could be the case or not, but if so, it would make their actions seem perhaps a bit less altruistic to me, lol. But this is just speculation; I'm not drawing any conclusions here.
 
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The VRAM difference is irrelevant for gaming workloads for modern games because of DLSS (and because higher VRAM requirements of RT would be offset by DLSS in any workload that’s appropriate for either card).

The only real advantage is really older games with ultra high texture pack mods where it might make a slight difference. The 3070 Ti should have a higher resale value as well, so if you only cared about VRAM and not RT then you could always go for a 16GB AMD card instead.
 
pippenainteasy said:
The VRAM difference is irrelevant for gaming workloads for modern games because of DLSS (and because higher VRAM requirements of RT would be offset by DLSS in any workload that’s appropriate for either card).

The only real advantage is really older games with ultra high texture pack mods where it might make a slight difference. The 3070 Ti should have a higher resale value as well, so if you only cared about VRAM and not RT then you could always go for a 16GB AMD card instead.
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It is pretty silly to make a sweeping claim that the vram difference is irrelevant because of DLSS. Even 1.5 to 2 years ago I ran into a couple of games where my 3070 ran out of vram on the settings I was running just fine on my 2080 ti. You can work around it in the few games where it is an issue by lowering texture res a notch or two but if given the choice I would get a card with more vram.
 
Iukeman3000 said:
Assuming you're not joking (I can't tell lol), I'm conflicted here because my 2080 Ti was a few months outside of warranty when they agreed to help me. I made a post on reddit asking if anyone ever had a positive experience with EVGA outside their warranty and simultaneously began the RMA process on their website because I figured it couldn't hurt to try. They responded saying that they saw my reddit post and that they'd like to "replace my card", and I was ecstatic.
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I was only half joking but if it was me I would demand the same vram BUT in your case you're out of warranty I would've just taken the first card they sent you out of goodwill and just call it a day because they could've just said go away like many other companies would've done.

EVGA's GPU department is going to disappear soon if you haven't heard, I'd understand if the rep was a little agitated but he still replaced your card, they have the best customer service and I am sad to see them go.
 
legcramp said:
I was only half joking but if it was me I would demand the same vram BUT in your case you're out of warranty I would've just taken the first card they sent you out of goodwill and just call it a day because they could've just said go away like many other companies would've done.

EVGA's GPU department is going to disappear soon if you haven't heard, I'd understand if the rep was a little agitated but he still replaced your card, they have the best customer service and I am sad to see them go.
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Yeah I mean, don’t get me wrong - Like I said I’m completely aware of the fact that I was outside my warranty when this process was initiated. I’m simply saying that I don’t think I deserved the terseness that this guy responded to me with for simply asking two questions about 1. The length of the GPU (the first of which was not compatible with my system and 2. 3 GB less VRAM. That’s all I’m saying.

I still feel that I’m in a really strange position as it relates to the question of the 2080 Ti vs the 3070 Ti, because as I said nearly everyone that’s responded is in favor of the 3070 Ti. But, the performance differential just doesn’t seem great enough to me in order to justify 3 GB less VRAM (which may in fact be needed for high resolution textures / ultra settings, even at 1440p, in certain games) . Although even that isn’t clear to me as I’ve seen conflicting data on whether or not games actually would potentially use more than 8 GB VRAM in certain cases at 1440p.

I feel like I’m leaning toward the 2080 Ti FTW3. I bought a Noctua CPU air cooler which I can install and free up the space necessary to accommodate that GPU. But I’m still not 100% decided so if anyone has any other thoughts on my last couple comments I’d love to read them. Thanks to everyone thus far for the input.
 
wareyore said:
Sounds like you are set on the 2080ti. Enjoy your card.
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Thank you! But just to be clear I’m not set on it lol; I’m still kind of agonizing over this decision. I feel like there’s still a lot of conflicting data points and the choice still feels kind of arbitrary, but I seem to be leaning toward the 2080 Ti due to the higher VRAM and nearly equivalent performance, unless someone can tell me why the 3070 Ti might improve my gaming experience beyond however that might be reflected in the average FPS of gaming benchmarks..

The graph that jobert linked to seems pretty damn straightforward to me. I’m not understanding the benefit of “newer RTX cores” or newer architecture in general if that isn’t reflected in benchmarks as a more substantial differential between the 3070 Ti and the 2080 Ti. And I’m not saying that isn’t necessarily the case - I just have yet to understand what that might be, if anything.
 
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lukeman3000 said:
Thank you! But just to be clear I’m not set on it lol; I’m still kind of agonizing over this decision
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You are not set on it because idealy you want a 3080ti. Me personally if performance was more or less equal I would go for the more recent card, if the Vram was a huge problem Nvidia would have made the card with more Vram to begin with.

The main question is if you realy need the amount of Vram or do you just want it to have it juuuust in case but actually never intend to use it. You can max out every cards Vram if you realy wanted to. Worst case check which one you can resell for the most and buy whatever suits you fancy.
 
Having already RMAed one 2080ti and not having a warranty to fall back on...
Personally, there's no way I'd take a chance on another much older card vs a newer (likely new card). It's an easy choice in my eyes.
The memory question is being blown out of proportion imo. Two or three games might actually use more than 8gb, IF they have more than 8 available. They will still run fine with 8 from everything I've experienced, seen and read.
 
3GB extra VRAM doesn't magically make your 2080 Ti faster, but I get what you are saying, I would not be a fan of regressing in total VRAM either.

That said, given the choice, personally I'd also prefer the newer card with newer features and slightly faster performance. Unless you are actually going to go through the trouble of properly shunt modding your 2080 Ti and really unlocking the full OC potential on it, then not sure there is much to get hung up on in the OC department as the 3070 Ti should OC as well. Both will hit power limits, though I imagine the 2080 Ti might have more potential with a shunt mod.

Personally I'd take the 3070 Ti unless you care about benching, modding, etc. then the 2080 Ti might be fun. Maybe you can talk them into a 10GB 3080 or 12GB 3080 or 3080 Ti, but I think that might be pushing it given how you said they sounded terse and those are definitely a tier above performance wise.

All to say, I agree that people overblow how much VRAM you need. Last time I actually legitimately had VRAM issues was in 2012 running Skyrim with texture mods on a 2GB GTX 670. Slowed to a slideshow. Haven't heard anyone complaining about VRAM saying they got slideshow performance.
 
lukeman3000 said:
....So now I've got a 2080 Ti FTW 3 and a 3070 Ti XC3 with a bent heat sink fin lmao, and I have to decide which one I want...
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Can you show us a picture of the bent fin? Is it something easily fixable?

I think either card would be a good choice. The 3xxx might have higher resale value.
 
GoodBoy said:
Can you show us a picture of the bent fin? Is it something easily fixable?

I think either card would be a good choice. The 3xxx might have higher resale value.
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Yeah, there should be a pic linked in the long comment above where I talk about it (it’s hyperlinked to Imgur). But for convenience, here it is again : )
 
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