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It has been a fair while since we reviewed a RTX 2080 Ti, and while its pricing means this is only for the cash-rich enthusiasts out there, it is still a lot of fun to see exactly what £1000 can get you in the graphics department.
Starting with the overall look at feel of this PNY RTX 2080 Ti XLR8 Gaming model that we have reviewed, it's a fairly simple design that doesn't stand out too much. It does have a fairly aggressive appearance when looking at the front of the shroud, thanks to the angular metal plates screwed into the plastic shroud, but assuming you will install this case horizontally, you will be looking onto the plain black backplate which is much less distinct.
Despite the fairly hefty heatsink and triple 90mm fan cooler, PNY left the card running at the same 1635MHz boost clock speed as the 2080 Ti Founders Edition. Technically this means the card is factory overclocked, as reference spec for the card has a boost clock of 1545MHz, but it would have been nice for PNY to push things out a bit further.
Still, the card's beefy cooler means GPU Boost can take clock speed about 60MHz higher than the Founders Edition, and that gave PNY a 2% lead on average throughout all of the games we tested. Relative to RTX 2080 SUPER, the XLR8 is on average 19% faster, while its a 40% difference between this card and AMD's Radeon VII. It was the same when 2080 Ti launched, and it holds true today – the Turing flagship really is in a class of its own.
This means the card really is the go-to for 4K/60 gaming. In fact, of the ten games we tested today, only three averaged less than 60FPS when using Very High or Ultra settings, and two of those three still averaged 53FPS or more. 1440p gamers will also find this card perfect for a 144Hz monitor, with 8 of the 10 titles tested delivering over 100FPS on average at that resolution.
As for the XLR8's technical performance, it's a decent card. It peaked at just 67C on the GPU core, marking an 8C reduction in temperature over the Founders Edition. There's no practical difference in power draw between the two cards either, with noise levels being the one area I would've liked to see a bit more from this card – it's still quieter than the Founders Edition, but it's by no means silent. Lowering fan speeds, for slightly higher GPU temperatures, would be a fair trade-off in my view.
Overall, the PNY RTX 2080 Ti XLR8 Gaming is a solid offering. Compared to some of its pricier brethren, it is fair to say it is lacking a few features – there's no RGB lighting, no fan-stop mode and no fun accessories in the box. It's also not the quietest card I have ever tested. Still, at £1009 this is one of the cheaper RTX 2080 Ti partner cards going – it's not a cheap card by any stretch of the imagination, but if you don't want to spend £1500 on a different model, this will give you that class-leading performance in a simpler package.
You can buy the card for £1009.99 on Amazon UK HERE.
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Pros
- Fastest consumer card going.
- Monochrome styling.
- Runs cool.
- Cheaper than many other custom cards.
Cons
- Could be quieter.
- Missing some features.
KitGuru says: There's no such thing as an ‘affordable' RTX 2080 Ti, but if you want the GPU's class-leading performance without the extra bells and whistles to drive up the price, the PNY XLR8 is worth buying.
