NVIDIA announced the brand new Turing architecture GPU not long ago and enthusiasts have been going crazy asking for more details since then. Today, we’re finally able to show you a little bit more about the new RTX series of graphic cards as we have the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G with us already. We finally get a chance to try real-time ray-tracing right here in Tech Critter’s lab!

Thanks to Gigabyte for the sending us the brand new GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G this early!

The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G will be arriving to the market soon with factory overclocked speeds. We’ll update the specs list below when we officially have the permission to do so.

Specifications

Unboxing

The brand new Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G comes in a rather familiar box which we’ve seen before a few years back. Now it makes a return and only with the Gigabyte branding.

At the corner of the packaging we can see a summary of some feature highlights that the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G bears.

At the back of the box we can see some feature highlights – most notably is the triple fan setup with one the middle fan rotating in opposing direction. Gigabyte’s explanation for this is to minimize turbulence and unify the wind direction between the fans and for more coverage. Makes sense – and we’ll have to test that out too.

The “one-click super overclocking” feature is also highlighted here, and it is here that we know the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G is compatible with Gigabyte’s AORUS engine. Of course, there’s RGB for the “GIGABYTE” logo at the side of the GPU shroud as well.

Opening up the box and digging everything out, we find the warranty information. Under AORUS Care, you can register your product warranty online and extend to 4 years warranty for free. Then, there’s also a quick guide and a driver CD alongside with the graphics card itself.

The Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G

Taking a look at the card itself, it is reminiscent of what Gigabyte used to have with the Gaming G1 series of graphic cards. Though, instead of having the black and orange color scheme from before, the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G has a black and grey color scheme instead. It’s more subtle in terms of aesthetics and blends in easier with other components.

Even the fan design is similar, though Gigabyte has inverted the center fan’s rotation direction. Gigabyte claims that this change will result in better thermal performance.

We also see a special fan blade design here as well. This is actually similar to what Gigabyte has during the G1 Gaming graphic cards last time.

The side of the shroud now has a “GIGABYTE” logo that lights up in RGB and the “GEFORCE RTX” wording is embossed into the plastic of the shroud.

While on the side of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G, we can also see that the RTX 2080 card requires a 6+8 PCIe power connectors.

At the back of the card, we have a black metal backplate with the Gigabyte logo printed in white. Here, the branding is minimal and I do like Gigabyte’s approach.

In terms of I/O, the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G has a total of 3x DisplayPort 1.4 ports, single HDMI 2.0b port, and another USB-C that supports VirtualLink for VR.

For those who are planning to SLI the new generation of Turing-based cards, then you should take note of the NVIDIA NVLINK connector. Believe or not, the NVLINK is already used on Quadro series of cards.

What’s Next?

With a new generation of graphics card with powered by NVIDIA’s new Turing architecture that has real-time ray-tracing, we’re expecting games to look more realistic than ever. However, we’re also curious about how much raw performance that the RTX 2080 gained when compared to the GTX 1080.

Editor’s Update

As there’s still no way for us to try out the actual performance of the card with RTX enabled games, here’s our first impression of the raw performance in direct comparison with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 – just so you can have a quick look on the performance gain: https://www.tech-critter.com/gigabyte-rtx-2080-gaming-oc-review/

Stay tuned to Tech Critter as we’ll be publishing the full review of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 GAMING OC 8G as soon as the NDA is lifted! Keep in touch through our Facebook Page as well!