Selling RTX 3080 but little confuse in between what to upgrade with. Any advice please

Hello my friends, Since last Nov 2020 I am using RTX 3080 for my Pimax 8K X but I always feel 10 GB VRAM is not enough so was trying to sell it for the last few months and finally got a buyer who is willing to pay USD 1900 but now my confusion is about what to upgrade to 3090 or RX 6900 XT or RTX 3080 Ti?

Asus Rog Strix 3090 costs here USD 3000

Galax RTX 3080 Ti costs here USD 2054

ASUS ROG STRIX LC Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Edition costs here USD 2400 ( If I go with this then I think have to change my PC case as well to fit it )

What will be the best choice? For a long time If you think 3080 Ti 12 GB VRAM is more than enough or RX 6900 XT 16 GB then why throw money at RTX 3090. Or if you think that the RTX 3090 could be a great choice for long-term use because of its 24 GB VRAM then I have no issues going with it. Your suggestions will be really appreciated. Thanks

1 Like

In my opinion if your thinking 8kX the 3090 is your best bet. We have had users report over 12gigs being in use for vram. The And 6900xt looks good but Amd is still fletching things out. With Amd gpu might be better to wait on the next release. Though they have been making impressive gains.

3 Likes

Except for 16 GB VRAM, the other reason for putting that 6900 XT in the list is I also have a 5800 X CPU and I heard AMD Smart Access Memory Technology helps in performance if we combine an AMD Ryzen 5000 Series processor with Radeon. Not sure how much impact of it in VR or it is just a marketing trick of AMD :thinking:

3 Likes

Indeed there are some promising reports here on the 6000 series gpus. So could be good. What i’d recommend is do a search of the games your looking at playing.

2 Likes

Personally, I think anything less than 16GB is too small to let the 8KX shine (especially if you plan to keep the GPU for a few years). I’d like enough ram (and GPU) to allow me to crank up the super-sampling. I’d go for the 3090, if money is not an issue, but then, I have an Intel GPU, so the 6900 XT isn’t quite as good a fit for my system.

Honestly, I think you’d be happy with either of those GPUs, but I’d suggest you skip the 3080 Ti. The good news is that both are good options, which means it’s unlikely you’d regret owning either one. If you also play games on a high res flat monitor and you specifically want to play games which use ray tracing, the 3090 would perhaps, be the better choice.

I envy you. :slight_smile: I hope you really enjoy your new card, whichever brand you pick.

3 Likes

Get the RTX 3090 the 6900XT is going to be a sidegrade/downgrade over the RTX 3080 in super high resolution VR. The cache on the AMD cards falls flat in that use case. It isn’t up the the task.

6 Likes

I can’t speak from any first hand knowledge of the 8kx or the GPUs, but would love to have the 8KX and 3090. Still enjoy my 5k+ and 1080ti just can not see dumping the cash on the latest and greatest. Im going to hold out, believing we are in store for some amazing changes in the near future and a price drop in this hardware. So if the price is not the hurdle and you need it now, I vote for the 3090.

4 Likes

That’s my plan too. I was originally planning to get a 3080 Ti with 20 GB, back when it was first rumored, but the GPU supply issues delayed my plans. I now plan to make-do with my 2080, until I can get a 4080 (or similar) at a “reasonable” price. I’m resigned to waiting a year or two longer.

2 Likes

Extreme bad luck, I got a little late to grab that Rog Strix 3090 in time but this new ASUS TUF GAMING Radeon RX 6900 XT is in stock now and costing me exactly the same amount which I am getting for my almost year-old RTX 3080 so basically if I go with this 6900XT route then we can call it just a swap. Do you think it’s a good idea to make this swap or should I keep using my RTX 3080 and wait for 3090 to get in stock. Maybe RTX 3080 will always have a better resell value as compared to AMD’s 6900XT

2 Likes

If it was me, I’d hold off on spending money for any GPU right now. I have a 2080 and I’ve decided to wait for the 4080s to become available. That’s probably going to be in 1.5 years or so. The 40xx series is rumored to be more than twice the speed of the 30xx series.

If you want to do a “swap” then that’s reasonable, but I suspect the 6900XT will indeed have a lower resale value.

3 Likes

Yes, that’s my thought too because whenever I see Rog Strix 3090 in the price range of USD 3000 then I will surely go for it and if I got 6900XT now then it might not provide me the good resell value as compare to my year-old RTX 3080. By the way, there is a deal of 4 months old Gigabyte RTX 3090 Vision OC, and the person quoted nearly USD 2600 so If I go with it then I have to add USD 600 to my 3080 money and I am currently thinking of it but I am really not a fan of used products as I am always unlucky in that section. Also, hats off to your patience level and I really wish to get that type of patience.

2 Likes

I hardly play games on flat monitor using my PC because for that I use my PS5 as more friends are there for online multiplayer so yes I can say the PC is mostly used for VR and browsing etc.

2 Likes

there is always something just around the corner, one could literally be waiting forever for the next thing. For me I have no regrets gettings the latest straight away, especially if it is mining capable. (my 3080 already paid for itself)

1 Like

@neal_white_iii has a good point as prices may also continue to fall as well. Plus I think we have a black friday/cyber monday coming up in a couple of months.

As for the 6900xt it would be better to check games you play and others here that have one. As it has more Ram than the 3080 it is likely still an upgrade. Plus waiting gives opportunity for sales and restock of the 3090.

2 Likes

How impactful is Ray tracing and DLSS factor in VR or is it most beneficial for standard monitor gaming only? I am seriously thinking to give a shot to 6900XT just because it has 16 GB VRAM + I have 5800X CPU too and especially no additional money required to get it. Also, I feel it might perform better than 3080 OR 3080 Ti in VR and if that’s the case then I could easily pass a good time with it until 4000 series of Nvidia comes out or 3090’s availability or 3090 super release if that’s happened

My understanding is that DLSS is available for VR, but only if the game supports it. I’m not aware of any VR games which use ray-tracing, but it seems likely that some do. If you want to run higher levels of super-sampling, that 16GB might be helpful. Otherwise, I’m not sure it matters too much.

Perhaps someone with more firsthand experience can provide some advice.

1 Like

I have that Tuf 6900XT but is in my wife Apple Mac Computer. No VR :sweat_smile:

Cost: 1,600 USD

2 Likes

It’s a good card though with a decent VRAM of 16 GB but 3080 Ti is still better in 4K and it’s unfair to compare it with the almighty RTX 3090, I really wanted 3080 Ti with 16 GB VRAM at least so no need for 3090 in VR and if it comes up with 20 GB then it will be a 3090 killer for sure. Bad move by Nvidia to make 3080 Ti a 12 GB VRAM card especially for VR Gamers.

I have a 3080 ti myself

2 Likes

That’s not how it works. They physically only had 2 options when it came to the 3080 TI due to the memory bus configuration. It was either 12GB or 24GB, like the 3090. The 20GB 3080 that’s rumored would be working off the 3080’s specs, but literally just 20GB vs 10, instead of the very slightly cut down 3090 the 3080 TI is. Trying to put anything in between would result in some normal speed memory and then some “slow” memory which Nvidia tried once and got sued for because the card did not run at proper specs they advertised because things worked weird with that memory config.

The 20GB 3080 would run slower than the 3080TI does due to having slower memory and smaller memory bus.

At that point your card’s physical ability to run a game at high FPS is going to be a bottleneck way, way before VRAM ever is, the raw horsepower will not be enough and you’ll be running single digit FPS way before you’d get high enough supersampling and textures to be VRAM limited. 10’s fine on the 8k X and 12 should be good as well if you’re not supersampling the crap out of the image and getting bad FPS.

EDIT: For further clarification, reasons like this are partially why the RTX 3060 has 12GB of VRAM while the 3060 TI, 3070(TI), and 3080 all have less. Rather have too much VRAM than too little.

2 Likes