The Fastest RTX 3080 Yet – EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming

If you are looking for the fastest, and perhaps one of the best GeForce RTX 3080 in the market; well, look no further. The EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming (10G-P5-3897-KR) is the fastest RTX 3080 graphics card yet. But let’s check out first why this card is (perhaps) the fastest RTX 3080 yet.

EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Graphics Card

The EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming is just one of the many graphics cards that EVGA plans to release this 17th. What makes this the fastest RTX 3080 is due to its higher boost clock speed. It has a boost clock speed of 1,800 MHz out of the box. That’s right, no software needed, it’s factory overclocked with 1,800MHz.

The next graphics cards to come close are the EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 and EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra. Both cards have a boost clock speed of 1755MHz. The XC3 and XC3 Black have boost clock speeds of only 1710MHz. I think most RTX 3080 will have around 1710MHz or 1755MHz boost clock speed.

For reference, NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition has a boost clock speed of 1,710MHz and a base clock speed of 1,440MHz. However, I don’t think EVGA overclocked the memory on the FTW3 Ultra Gaming. Since its memory speed is running at 19Gbps, similar to all other RTX 3080 cards.

Higher Boost Clock Speed Doesn’t Always Result To Faster Performance

Having the highest boost clock speed doesn’t always result in being the fastest around. Even if the manufacturer clocks their card with a higher speed; if the cooling solution can’t keep the GPU cool, the card would only throttle.

The EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming requires 2 PCI slots to mount. However, if you include the thickness of its cooler shroud, it would occupy more or less a 3 PCI-slot space. Just look at those chunky heatsinks cooled by three fans.

I think the FTW3 Ultra Gaming has enough cooling performance to keep the GPU cool and running at its highest possible clock speeds. Or at least sustain higher boost clock speeds for a longer period. This would generally result in higher frame rates.

Only Fastest Air-Cooled RTX 3080 (Yet)

Another thing to consider is, categorically speaking; the EVGA FTW3 Ultra Gaming is the fastest air-cooled RTX 3080 graphics card. I’m positive that water-cooled RTX 3080 would perform better than the air-cooled. They have a better cooling solution; resulting in cooler (and quieter) operation, thus achieving higher sustained clock speeds and frame rates.

Right now, I’m saying that the FTW3 Gaming Ultra is the fastest yet. But it’s not a “period”. EVGA has not revealed the clock speed of the RTX 3080 Hydro Copper yet. It’s has a GPU water block and it’s intended to be used in a custom liquid cooling loop. EVGA might set it with a higher boost clock speed as well.

Outside of EVGA, there are also custom graphics cards from other companies; like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, Galax, and many more. Who knows, one of these company might decide to release an RTX 3080 with a boost clock speed of 1.9GHz or 2GHz. However, expect that those types of graphics cards are more or less niche-type; and will come with a hefty premium. Usually, they are geared towards (extreme) overclockers.

EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Pricing and Availability

As of this moment, we don’t know yet the exact (retail) price of the RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra Gaming edition. However, the RTX 3080 Founders Edition comes with an MSRP of $699. So, expect that the FTW3 Ultra Gaming might be price north of $799. As for availability, you can check it via the link below.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series Specifications