MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G EXPERT Video Card Review - Page 8 of 8 (2024)

Conclusion

The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER 16G EXPERT is a master class in design, as MSI brings the Founders Edition look to its lineup of video cards. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT exudes a cohesive design language that entices both enthusiasts and professionals with this specific design.

MSI has embraced NVIDIA’s Push/Pull fan configuration cooling design with its Flow FROZR Thermal Design and has encased the video card in a die-cast aluminum alloy casing with a metal-mesh cover over the heatsink that is perforated for that passthrough air design.

MSI has also opted to make the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT a factory overclocked video card, bringing 2610MHz factory overclock out-of-the-box compared to the reference 2550MHz. There is even software control in MSI Center to boost that to 2625MHz, though you can just manually overclock it as well on both GPU and memory.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is based on NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER AD103 refresh that came out in January of 2024. Baring the full AD103 die, the RTX 4080 SUPER has 10,240 CUDA Cores, 80 SMs, and more RT and Tensor Cores on board with 16GB of GDDR6X at 23Gbps.

In our review today, we put the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT to the test at 4K, testing both raster, Ray Tracing, DLSS upscaling, and DLSS 3 Frame Generation. Since the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER has an MSRP of $999, we put it up against the Radeon RX 7900 XTX in our testing.

Overall, the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT trades blows with the Radeon RX 7900 XTX depending on the game. 4K was mostly playable, except for the most demanding games like Avatar (which uses RT by default), and maybe Alan Wake 2. However, enabling DLSS Upscaling fixed that easily, and allowed every game to have very smooth framerates and a playable experience at 4K.

When it comes to Ray Tracing performance, this is where the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT dominates the competition easily in every game. Ray Tracing can be difficult in some games at 4K, but again DLSS Upscaling allows playable performance with Ray Tracing at 4K, even in Path Tracing in Alan Wake 2. You can also enable DLSS 3 Frame Generation on the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT which further smooths out the gameplay experience at 4K.

Overclocking and Temp and Power

Even though the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT has this unique design, it also has the ability to overclock higher than the out-of-box default. Firstly, the factory overclock is 2610MHz but we experienced the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT boosting beyond that frequency while gaming, averaging 2654MHz while gaming, meaning you are getting maximum performance out-of-the-box without even doing anything.

When we overclocked the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT, we found the memory was very capable of reaching 24-24.5Gbps on overclock, increasing the bandwidth. We were also able to increase the GPU clock above 2900MHz and sustain that for very long sessions of gaming without it throttling, and without requiring more Voltage. If you really did want to push Voltage, that option was there and allowed even higher frequencies. The overall performance advantage while gaming was 6-7% with our overclock shown.

In terms of temperatures, it was a bit disheartening to find the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT ran warmer than the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition. However, we must keep in mind that even though they both have a Push/Pull configuration, the heatsinks themselves are very much different between the two video cards. NVIDIA has a much larger “fin stack” of heavier aluminum as it has very large ridges and fins extending upwards from the entire frame, giving it a larger ability to dissipate heat.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT has a more smoothed and rounded and more ‘contained’ casing, which ultimately has fewer ‘fins’ coming off the entire body of the video card like the Founders Edition. In addition, it is possible both have different fan profiles setup as well. If you were to enable a more aggressive fan profile on the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT yourself, it will run cooler, so that option is there.

As it is, the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT ran very quietly, even when overclocked, so MSI is definitely keeping the noise levels down with this design. We found no issues with the thermals holding back the GPU or memory. I would say, the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is cooled well for this design.

In terms of power the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is on par with the same power draw as the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Founders Edition. It was only 2% higher, due to the factory overclock. There is a big difference between the power draw of the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The Radeon RX 7900 XTX consumes much more power, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT is more efficient in that area at out-of-box specifications.

Final Points

You have to give it to MSI for this design, it strikes a unique look among MSI’s lineup and does bring that old-school Founders Edition look to a partner video card. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT performed very well at 4K, delivering a top-notch gameplay experience, and DLSS Upscaling and DLSS 3 Frame Generation are icing on the cake. The MSI GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER EXPERT dominates Ray Tracing performance at 4K, and the overall gaming experience is very enjoyable.

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