That’s it, Nvidia has launched its RTX 40 Super series. Recently, I was able to test an RTX 4070 Super Trinity from Zotac, and the least we can say is that the beast did not disappoint me. This time, it’s its big sister, the RTX 40870 Super, a Trinity from Zotac once again, which I was able to have in my hands for some time. Just enough to see what the beast had in its belly. To put things into perspective, the RTX 4080 Super is supposed to replace the original 4080 by offering a relatively similar price and slightly higher performance.
Let things be clear for current owners of a classic RTX 4080, migrating to a Super will be of little interest. There is indeed a gain in power, but it is not incredible and will not justify a change at this price. On the other hand, if you are changing generation or are currently on a 4060 or 4070, and if you have the budget, you have here a real power monster that is afraid of absolutely nothing.
The RTX 4080 Super Trinity Black Edition from Zotac, a beautiful beast
A little over 30 cm long, 11.9 cm wide and 5.8 cm thick, the RTX 4080 Super benefits here from Zotac’s design to become thinner and lighter one iota. It is clearly less massive than the original RTX 4080, but remains a heavyweight in the field, like the 4070 Super. This Trinity Black Edition version opts for a soft look, a plate engraved with the brand logo and has a ventilated space to let the important components breathe.
As with the rest of the recent references, this RTX 4080 Trinity takes advantage of the latest Zotac technologies and therefore an improved cooling system. If the heat distribution is optimized, it is above all the three coolers, ultra quiet by the way, which do the bulk of the work and they do it well. The result is clear, the temperature peaks recorded are average: 37°C at rest and 45-49°C in play. The RTX 4080 Super Trinity does not heat up that much, even if the measurements can certainly vary with the weather.
In terms of connectivity, we’re on the classic side with 3 DisplayPort ports and an HDMI.
A new power monster?
In any case, it is massive and rather attractive with its classic look, slightly curved in the corners and a few LEDs on the side just to impress. But what is it worth once in play? It is still here that we are most looking forward to the great replacement for the classic RTX 4080. This new version is based on the same Ada Lovelace architecture and also opts for 16gb GDDR6X. On paper, the graphics card really wants it. 10,240 CUDA cores, almost 3,000 more than the 4070 Super but “only” 512 more than the base RTX 4080. This Super also relies on 320 4th generation Tensor Cores, and 80 cores dedicated to Ray Tracing. A beautiful beast but which, ultimately, is not much superior to its little sister.
- RTX 4070 Super: 7168 CUDA / 224 Tensor Core / 56 RT Core
- RTX 4080: 9728 CUDA / 304 Tensor Core / 76 RT Core
- RTX 4080 Super: 10240 CUDA / 512 Tensor Core / 80 RT Core
In fact, Nvidia is mainly focusing on AI, which benefits in particular from the famous Tensor Cores. The RTX 4080 Super dedicates 512 units to this technology which allows it to gain speed, but above all to be in perfect symbiosis with the brand’s latest technologies. Nvidia relies almost essentially on its ecosystem and its cards are part of it, they even clearly optimize for the use of all the latest new features (DLSS 3, Path Tracing, etc.) instead of capitalizing mainly on raw power.
Excellent in-game performance, premium
The result at stake is in any case striking. On my test panel made up of nearly ten titles, the RTX 4080 Super did not flinch once. On Cyberpunk 2077, the true cradle of all Nvidia experiments, the 4080 Super works wonders. 4K is his hobby. She is perfectly comfortable with the exercise and will allow you to benefit from Ray Tracing and all the options to the maximum. The game is sublime, clearly. This new card also allows you to activate Path Tracing, the latest revolution in RT. More efficient but clearly more demanding, the PT runs well on the RTX 4080 Super and we will go well above 60 fps by pushing everything to the maximum. We will still notice some slowdowns when things get tough (small drops which will never take us below 60fps however), the card must have a small limit, right?
But here, we are still talking about a premium experience, and there is no need to go that far to enjoy your games in excellent conditions. Most will never go that far anyway, except Alan Wake 2, also exceptional with Path Tracing and the latest Nvidia technologies fully compatible with this new graphics card. Other demanding games, like Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, are also enhanced, without compromising fluidity. We thus managed to exceed 100fps in ultra with Ray Tracing. Same general observation with Forza Horizon 5, Motorsport or even Lords of The Fallen, nothing resists it.
The RTX 4080 Super is certainly an excellent graphics card, there is no need to raise eyebrows, but it still remains quite close to the classic version. It’s not for nothing that Nvidia is looking to replace its entire previous lineup with this one in the future. This isn’t a bad thing in the end, but we were right to expect more for a refresh of the 40 series.
The Zotac signature on the RTX 4080 Super Trinity Black Edition
In any case, we’re not going to quibble either as the performances are so impressive. As a bonus on this version, Zotac unleashes the beast and allows it to surpass itself a bit. In addition to benefiting from an in-house cooling system, the RTX 4080 Super Trinity can go beyond the 2550 MHz boost displayed thanks to the support of the in-house software, Firestorm. Obviously, this is aimed at an informed audience and between you and me, as it stands, the 4080 Super doesn’t even need to go that high.
All this allows it to work a little better than average and thus achieve a little more performance. But even at work, the beast remains ultra quiet. As with the RTX 4070 in the same range, the RTX 4080 Trinity Black Edition is an ultra-quiet power monster. Its consumption also remains average (high all the same), 320W displayed by Zotac on the technical sheet, a bit less in reality but the calculations remain quite broad. However, I advise you to have enough to last with a power supply of at least 800W (minimum) to be good, more depending on the other components of your machine obviously. Finally, note that the card still opts for a 12VHPWR connector, and a 3×8 pin to 12VHPWR cable is also provided in the box.