Nvidia RTX 2080 Super vs RTX 2070 Super

The Nvidia RTX 2080 Super and RTX 2070 Super are both heavyweight graphics cards sporting Nvidia’s Turing architecture.

Thanks to the Nvidia RTX 3080’s (imminent) release, you can expect price-cuts for all GPUs in the GeForce 20 series.

But which high-end super card delivers the best performance, and thus, more bang for your buck? Well, as always, your good friends at PCBuilderz are here to guide you to the right decision. You can also check out our Ryzen 5 5600X GPU Guide for more info.

Nvidia RTX 2070 Super vs RTX 2080 Super

Specs

1080p (Full HD) Gaming Performance

According to Steam, less than 10% of gamers use anything above 1920×1080 as their primary display resolution. As you will see, both cards handle this resolution quite well.

RTX 2070 Super: 2019’s Gears 5 can give you an average of 113 FPS when it’s run on ultra-settings with the RTX 2070 Super. However, this also depends on your other system specs.

This should come as no surprise, considering that Gears 5 is an Nvidia-optimized game. Nevertheless, publications such as Gaming Bolt consider it to have some of the best graphics of 2019 and it’s a good litmus test to determine how the RTX 2070 Super will perform with other games.

RTX 2080 Super: The RTX 2080 Super has a base-clock slightly superior to the RTX 2070 Super’s. Any game that the RTX 2070 can run in Full HD, the RTX 2080 Super can run too. Tested on Gears 5 with ultra-settings, the RTX 2080 Super managed to maintain average frame rates of 125 FPS. In this regard, it proves to be substantially better than the RTX 2070 Super.

1440p (Quad HD) Gaming Performance

Both Cards have no problem bullying the 1080p resolution. Despite not a lot of gamers playing on the 1440p, it is important to test these cards on it. It gives gamers a chance to assess whether they are future proof or not.

In truth, this resolution is what these cards are best suited for.

RTX 2070 Super: Almost unsurprisingly, Nvidia recommends the RTX 2070 Super for playing Red Dead Redemption at 1440p. It gives you a steady 60 FPS on high settings. Of course, Red Dead Redemption is a graphical dynamo whose visuals can only be enhanced by Nvidia’s ray tracing.

With it turned on, the effects are gorgeous. Sunsets in the game appear close to ethereal. Shadows have a real life-like quality to them. We concur and share Nvidia’s opinions on the subject. Gamers should have a chance to experience Red Dead Redemption 2 with at least the RTX 2070 Super running it at 1440p.

RTX 2080 Super: The RTX 2080 Super has 48 ray-trace acceleration cores, whereas the RTX 2070 Super has 40. On paper, the RTX 2080 Super outperforms the RTX 2070 Super. However, in praxis, there initially isn’t much of a difference when running RDR 2 on high settings with the RTX 2080 Super.

What the RTX 2080 Super does that the RTX 2070 Super can hold an average frame rate of 60 FPS when running Red Dead Redemption 2 on ultra-settings. In-game movements are smooth and fluid.

Colors are vibrant and you can almost distinguish all the fibers on your horse’s hide. FOV rendering is also impressive. While the RTX 2080 Super beats the RTX 2070 Super in this regard, it still underperforms against the RTX 2080 Ti.

4K (Ultra HD) Gaming Performance

RTX 2070 Super: Few graphics cards can currently handle 4K smoothly. You will get 60 FPS+ when you play older games such as Battlefield V or the Witcher 3 on high settings. However, we don’t suggest that you activate ray tracing unless you’re comfortable with some screen tearing. If you’re dead set on playing on a 4K monitor with this graphics card, make sure that you run it on medium or high settings (depending on the game).

RTX 2080 Super: An RTX 2080 Super graphics card paired with a 4K monitor with a decent refresh rate sounds like a recipe for a good time. Overclock the card and you will get respectable 4K performances with no sweat. Overall, the RTX 2080 Super is better suited to the 4K resolution than the RTX 2070 Super is.

Price

Nvidia released The GeForce RTX 2070 Super on the 9^th of July and the RTX 2080 Super on the 23^rd. Upon release, they priced the RTX 2080 Super at $699, while the RTX 2070 Super’s initial asking price was $499.

The RTX 2080 Super undoubtedly outpaces the RTX 2070 Super on nearly all fronts, except for the price. However, the performance gap was never worth an additional $200. There are simply better graphics cards than the RTX 2080 Super at its price point.

If I had to choose which graphics card to purchase based on the release day price, I would choose the RTX 2070 Super. Based on dollar-per-performance, it is a more favorable deal.

Conclusion: RTX 2080 Super vs RTX 2070 Super

In this guide, we pitted the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super against the GeForce RTX 2080 Super. Both are high-end cards that can handle games at 1440p (and even at 2160p). At the end of the day, there are still more price effective cards. However, they may not be able to match these cards’ ray tracing abilities.