The Bottom Line
Introduction
ZOTAC's first card out of the gate powered by NVIDIA's new Ampere GPU architecture is the new GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity, which we're going to dive into today.
116We have here with the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 a triple-slot, triple-fan design -- just like the custom MSI GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO that I reviewed a few days ago. It keeps the GA102 GPU and 10GB of GDDR6X much cooler than NVIDIA's own GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition.
ZOTAC doesn't have the best boost GPU clocks out of the box, but this is the stock Trinity model -- there is the faster RTX 3080 Trinity OC, RTX 3080 AMP Holo and the flagship RTX 3080 AMP Extreme Holo. I'm hoping we can test all 4 of these to compare all of them against each other.
Because, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity on its own doesn't really stand out.
116Here we have ZOTAC's entire range of GeForce RTX 3080 graphics cards -- the RTX 3080 AMP range isn't available just yet and should offer the highest boost GPU clocks.
As for pricing, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity graphics card costs $700 -- the same as NVIDIA's faster GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition. You might lose a few FPS with the ZOTAC RTX 3080 Trinity, but you'll get a quieter operating graphics card. The cooler is pretty impressive, versus the higher temps on the RTX 3080 FE.
Everything You Need to Know About Ampere
116- Ampere GPU architecture: NVIDIA has so much going on under the Ampere GPU hood, with the GA102 GPU packing a huge 28 billion transistors (that's 28,000,000,000) on the Samsung 8nm node. We have a huge 8704 CUDA cores on GA102, over double the 3072 CUDA cores on the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.
- RTX improvements: NVIDIA has effectively doubled everything when it comes to RTX, where it will rips and tears your games and delivers them to your eyeballs faster than ever before with Ampere. If you want to run any RTX-powered games, you'll want a new GeForce RTX 3080.
- GDDR6X memory: The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has 10GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit memory bus, with a huge 760GB/sec of memory bandwidth. You should see the 4K gaming results for the evidence of the Ampere GPU + GDDR6X memory slaying it.
116- PCIe 4.0 connectivity: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards are now PCIe 4.0 compatible, so if you're building a new AMD Ryzen 3000 series system with an X570 motherboard -- you will be ready to rock and roll with PCIe 4.0 connectivity.
- HDMI 2.1: 4K 120Hz + 8K 60Hz = single cable: If you are buying a new TV in the coming months or years, HDMI 2.1 is going to be something you want. It opens up the bandwidth floodgates to 4K 120Hz and 8K 60Hz over the single HDMI 2.1 cable.
- RTX IO: NVIDIA's introduction of RTX IO with Ampere is very similar to the ultra-fast game load times on the next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles. You can read all about RTX IO right here, which is something we'll see build more foundation in 2021 and beyond.
ZOTAC marketing
116ZOTAC has blessed its new GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity with its SPECTRA 2.0 RGB lighting, which can be tweaked through ZOTAC's in-house FireStorm software.
116We have a metal die-cast backplate that not only looks great on its own, but has ARGB LED lighting to help make your system look even better. It's not too over-the-top, but it's just enough for ZOTAC to have a unique backplate on its GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity.
116ZOTAC is using a new IceStorm 2.0 cooler here, which has been built to keep the RTX 3080 Trinity cooler, and run stronger -- although it's the slowest RTX 3080 that I've tested so far. Still, the thermal performance is far better than the RTX 3080 Founders Edition from NVIDIA.
116The fans will stop depending on the load of the card, with easier tests on the GPU seeing the middle fan stop spinning most of the time.
116The card is super protecter inside, with a metal die-cast frontplate and backplate.
116Detailed specs.
Detailed Look
I actually love the retail packaging of ZOTAC's GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity over the RTX 3080 cards that I've reviewed so far. After working 10 years in an IT retailer selling PC hardware, this is the type of card that would definitely draw more eyes to it from a shelf.
You'll also proudly put this up near your PC, if you're a show-your-boxes-off kinda gamer.
116From the front of the card we have that chunky, and impressive triple-fan IceStorm 2 cooler. There's also no insane RGB lighting coming out of the fans or anything.
116The back of the GeForce ZOTAC RTX 3080 Trinity looks great, with the RGB lighting looking quite on point here when the card is installed and powered up in your PC.
116It's chunky, coming in as a triple-slot card.
116Once again from the top, this time with the 'ZOTAC GAMING' branding -- which lights up, and GeForce RTX branding (which doesn't light up).
116You will need dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors, much better than the triple 8-pin PCIe power connectors required for MSI's (faster) GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO.
116We have 3 x DP 1.4 and 1 x HDMI 2.1 for display outputs.
116
116
116Here you can see the Spectra 2 ARGB lighting, which looks great.
Test System Specs
I've got a new upgrade inside of my GPU test bed before my change to a next-gen test bed, where I will be preparing for NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere graphics cards and AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards.
116Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.
Anthony's Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 (buy from Amazon)
- CPU: Intel Core i7-8700K @ 5GHz (buy from Amazon)
- Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H115i PRO (buy from Amazon)
- Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX Predator DDR4-2933 (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 (buy from Amazon)
- SSD: 512GB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 (buy from Amazon)
- Power Supply: InWin 1065W
- Case: InWin X-Frame
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (buy from Amazon)
Additional Images
Benchmarks - Synthetic
3DMark Fire Strike
1163DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.
1163DMark TimeSpy
Heaven - 1080p
Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.
116Benchmarks - 1080p
116
DOOM Eternal is one of the best-looking, but superbly-optimized games of 2020 with the folks at id Software truly putting their all into the id Tech 7 engine for DOOM Eternal. We're using the Vulkan API on DOOM Eternal here.
You can buy DOOM Eternal at Amazon.
116
116Another new entry into our regular graphics card benchmarks is Red Dead Redemption 2, which is powered by the RAGE engine by Rockstar Games. The RAGE engine has been tuned from its normal use in the Grand Theft Auto series. We're also running this on the Vulkan API.
You can buy Red Dead Redemption 2 at Amazon.
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116
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
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116
116Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
116
116
116Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
116
116
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1161080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
I would not recommend buying the GeForce RTX 3080 for 1080p gaming, period. I almost don't even want to discuss performance thoughts at this resolution because you'd be nuts to buy the RTX 3080 for 1920 x 1080.
You will get kick ass performance at 1080p, but you shouldn't be buying this card at 1080p. I'm only doing these benchmarks so you guys have a reference as to how to NOT buy this card for 1080p gaming (there are some cases, maybe high FPS monitors, but that's it).
Benchmarks - 1440p
116DOOM Eternal is one of the best-looking, but superbly-optimized games of 2020 with the folks at id Software truly putting their all into the id Tech 7 engine for DOOM Eternal. We're using the Vulkan API on DOOM Eternal here.
You can buy DOOM Eternal at Amazon.
116 116Another new entry into our regular graphics card benchmarks is Red Dead Redemption 2, which is powered by the RAGE engine by Rockstar Games. The RAGE engine has been tuned from its normal use in the Grand Theft Auto series. We're also running this on the Vulkan API.
You can buy Red Dead Redemption 2 at Amazon.
116 116Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
116 116 116Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
116 116 116Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
116 116Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1161440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts
I'm not recommending any GeForce RTX 3080 to anyone for anything under 1440p gaming, 2560 x 1440 and 3440 x 1440 is about where you want to be when thinking about the RTX 3080.
The ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity comes very close to the RTX 3080 FE, just 2FPS off -- with 218FPS average in DOOM Eternal. This still destroys the RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080 SUPER, and everything else on the chart.
Red Dead Redemption 2 screams along at 100FPS average, demolishing the RTX 2080 SUPER and its 70FPS -- while in the rest of the gaming benchmarks ZOTAC's new GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity offers virtually identical performance to the RTX 3080 FE -- but does it looking slick, and running cool.
Benchmarks - 4K
116DOOM Eternal is one of the best-looking, but superbly-optimized games of 2020 with the folks at id Software truly putting their all into the id Tech 7 engine for DOOM Eternal. We're using the Vulkan API on DOOM Eternal here.
You can buy DOOM Eternal at Amazon.
116 116Another new entry into our regular graphics card benchmarks is Red Dead Redemption 2, which is powered by the RAGE engine by Rockstar Games. The RAGE engine has been tuned from its normal use in the Grand Theft Auto series. We're also running this on the Vulkan API.
You can buy Red Dead Redemption 2 at Amazon.
116 116Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.
116 116 116Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.
116 116 116Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.
116 116Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.
1164K Benchmark Performance Thoughts
This is the reason you're buying the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity graphics card: for ballistic 4K gaming performance. We're looking at a huge 132FPS average at 4K in DOOM Eternal, compared to just 81FPS from the RTX 2080 SUPER.
The card pushes right over 60FPS into 67FPS average in Red Dead Redemption 2, which the RTX 2080 SUPER lags behind big time in with 45FPS average. It doesn't beat NVIDIA's own GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition -- but it comes close.
So close, in-game I don't think you'd tell the difference.
But you will get a much cooler-running GeForce RTX 3080 with the Trinity card from ZOTAC, which offers nearly-as-good performance as the RTX 3080 Founders Edition.
Benchmarks - RTX + DLSS
I've now got an entire section dedicated to ray tracing and DLSS benchmarks, where I'll slowly benchmark more and more titles and add them into future reviews. First up, we have 4A Games' Metro Exodus which is a constant pressure on our GPUs.
Metro Exodus
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116
116- Metro Exodus RT + DLSS performance: With RT enabled @ 4K we're seeing 34FPS out of the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity -- turning DLSS on (and keeping RT on) and we see performance right up to 51FPS -- totally stomping on the 36FPS of the RTX 2080 SUPER.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
116
116
116- Shadow of the Tomb Raider RT + DLSS performance: You would be silly to not enable DLSS in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (or any game that has it, really). We're looking at a huge 95FPS average with both RT and DLSS enabled on the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity.
Overclocking
ZOTAC has virtually zero wiggle room for overclocking the GA102 GPU, at least on my sample of the GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity. I think I have really lost out on the silicon lottery here.
116After an hour in heavy GPU load situations, the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity would hit a ceiling of around 1870MHz or so -- with my sample sitting comfortably at 1830-1840MHz. This is 150MHz+ under the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition and MSI RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO.
The performance hit is around 1-3% on average, sometimes a little more depending on the game, resolution, and detail level. This isn't bad at all, but don't go buying this card thinking it's an overclocking monster. I want to see how the "Trinity OC" model of ZOTAC's new GeForce RTX 3080 range goes, I've asked them (as I was writing this review) and will provide an update (and review) when this happens.
116Stock settings.
Overclocked Benchmarks
Once I had pushed that large 1000MHz overclock on the GDDR6X and the small 25MHz bump on the GPU (as well as the fans at 100%) I ran some benchmarks again to see what type of improvement we'll see.
116
1163DMark overclock: The 1000MHz boost to the GDDR6X is doing the heavy lifting here, as a simple 25MHz bump on GPU clocks won't do this type of performance uplift. Not bad, but not great as it still loses to the RTX 3080 FE.
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116Metro Exodus overclock: Now we're seeing some improvements, with the overclock applied to our ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity we're seeing on-par performance to the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition. Not only that, but it's running 20C+ cooler.
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116Shadow of War overclock: The same goes for Shadow of War, where the overclocking pulls the performance up to -- or just 1FPS shy of the RTX 3080 FE.
Power Consumption & Temps
116ZOTAC's GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity inside of my Intel Core i7-8700K test bed consumes a total of 420W, 10W less than the GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition. When overclocked, the power consumption jumps by 20W up to 440W total.
116ZOTAC isn't lying when they talk up their thermal system, which keeps their GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity pretty chilly under load at 72C -- with the fans at 100% the card coasts right down to just 55C.
What's Hot, What's Not
What's Hot
116IceStorm 2.0 cooling: ZOTAC has a damn fine custom cooler on its GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity graphics card, where we're looking at 72C under load with stock fan settings (79C on the RTX 3080 FE) and just 55C with the fans at 100%. You can find a nice fan curve and sit in between that balance of power and silence.
Custom design style: This is something that comes down to you, on whether you like the design. I prefer the look of the RTX 3080 Founders Edition, but I love the back plate on ZOTAC's custom GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity.
116Super quiet: You won't hear this when it's on, which is a huge deal -- the RTX 3080 FE makes noise when it gets hot. But ZOTAC's custom RTX 3080 Trinity is super quiet in comparison, you just won't hear it when you're gaming away.
4K gaming performance: It has that GeForce RTX 3080 raw performance at 1440p and 4K, where you are guaranteed 60FPS in virtually all games, some of them with ray tracing too. You have nearly, but not the same performance as the RTX 3080 FE.
GDDR6X memory overclock: Pushing another 1000MHz through the 10GB of GDDR6X helps with a few more FPS in games thanks to the overclock. The VRAM can handle it, so you might as well push it -- but leaving it at stock and you're still going to have a rockin' fast card.
What's Not
116RTX 3080 Founders Edition is faster:
Not the OC model:
Final Thoughts
ZOTAC has a formidable custom GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity grraphics card, that will keep you happy with its huge 1440p and even better 4K gaming performance.
116It won't beat the Founders Edition out of the box, and with its very, very small overclock you will get pretty close to the RTX 3080 FE performance. But, the ZOTAC custom GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity runs 8C cooler at stock settings (72C versus 79C) and has a triple-fan setup that won't blow hot air up into your CPU (like the RTX 3080 FE does, if you didn't want that).
The RGB lighting that ZOTAC has used on the RTX 3080 Trinity isn't too over-the-top, while it is a very tiny card in its height -- when compared to the much taller MSI RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO. ZOTAC has wrapped up the Ampere GA102 and 10GB of GDDR6X into a nice package with the RTX 3080 Trinity.
116You're paying the same $700 right now for the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity as you would for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition graphics card. You would be choosing a custom style card with its triple-fan cooler and thicker triple-slot design over a few more frames and a sleeker more Apple-ish design.
That decision is up to you... if you can get your hands-on the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity and you want it right now, like... immediately -- and can't get the RTX 3080 FE, then do it. I want to take a look at the Trinity OC model though to see if it will boost up to FE and beyond speeds.
116If you don't like the style of the Founders Edition, and can pick up the ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity then you're still going to have a kick ass RTX 3080 experience. I would just wait a few more weeks, to see how the Trinity OC and more especially the AMP models -- if they are $50-$75 more then the value might be worth waiting for.
As it stands, ZOTAC has a fine release with its GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity -- it's not the best, as the MSI RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO beats it by a few percentage points. But still, it is a fine choice for anyone who wants an RTX 3080 right now.
Performance | 90% |
Quality | 95% |
Features | 100% |
Value | 75% |
Overall | 90% |
ZOTAC's first custom GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity graphics card has what you want: killer 4K performance. Not much OC here, while the design choice is an interesting one.
What's in Anthony's PC?
- CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K
- MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE Z690 AERO-G
- RAM: Corsair 32GB DDR4-3200
- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 24GB
- SSD: Sabrent 4TB Rocket 4 Plus
- OS: Windows 11 Pro
- CASE: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL
- PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 850W
- KEYBOARD: Logitech G915 Wireless
- MOUSE: Logitech G502X Wireless
- MONITOR: LG C3 48-inch OLED TV 4K 120Hz
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