Following last month’s launch of the $1,599 Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, a graphics card meant largely for professional use, today the new generation of GPUs has finally arrived for the slightly less wealthy crowd of PC gamers in the form of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 16GB Founders Edition, which launches tomorrow for $1,199. That means the entry point for the RTX 40-series’ lofty performance claims and frame-generating DLSS 3 has come down at least a bit. We’re still at the beginning of this new GPU generation, but so far the RTX 4080 is a strong showing.
Before we get to the spec sheet and performance numbers, we should cover the RTX 4080 naming kerfuffle and talk a bit about how Nvidia’s GPUs are typically positioned – and why this generation is a bit different than years previous. Dating back more than a decade, Nvidia GPUs bearing the “-80” moniker are considered the flagship mainstream cards, and have been priced in the $500 to $700 range. Looking more specifically at recent trends, the GTX 1080 launched at $599, and both the RTX 2080 and 3080 launched at $699.
You might be wondering, then, why the RTX 4080 starts at nearly double that range. The answer is in that aforementioned naming fiasco. Originally, Nvidia planned two variants of the RTX 4080 – a 16GB for $1,199 (the version we’re reviewing here) and a 12GB, priced at $899. This wouldn’t have been the first time Nvidia has launched VRAM-variant cards, but typically the amount of VRAM was the only difference, whereas in this case the two cards also carried different core counts and clockspeeds – differences that previously would have warranted a bump down to another tier (in this case, the RTX 4070).
People rightfully complained about the confusion this was already starting to cause, and to Nvidia’s credit it responded, opting to “unlaunch” the RTX 4080 12GB; it’s now rumored that those cards will be re-announced with the “RTX 4070 Ti” name, though as of yet there’s nothing official.
That’s all well and good, but it still leaves us with a “mainstream” card bearing the enthusiast-tier pricing that would previously have been reserved for a card bearing the “Ti” label – representing a mid-generation step up. In other words, typical generational comparisons are a bit skewed this time around, so we’ll mostly be comparing the RTX 4080 against the RTX 3080 Ti, which also launched at $1,199 in June 2021, as opposed to the RTX 3080.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 – Design and Features
If you read my review of the RTX 4090, you’ll remember that it’s an absolutely massive card, in both size and performance terms. The RTX 4080, meanwhile, is…not any smaller. It bears the same triple-slot designation, measuring 11.9 inches (304mm) long, 5.4 inches (137mm) wide, and 2.4 inches (61mm) thick – the exact same dimensions as the RTX 4090. This is a big card. For comparison, the RTX 3080 measured 11.2 inches (285mm) long, 4.4 inches (112mm) wide, and 1.5 inches (40mm) thick, while the RTX 2080 and GTX 1080 were even smaller.
Most of that heft comes from the large, dual-axial flowthrough cooling solution required to keep temperatures in check. The cooler design is mostly similar to that of the RTX 3090, but with larger fans and taller fins in order to achieve what Nvidia says is 15% more airflow at the same acoustic level. In practice, the RTX 4080 remained whisper-quiet while keeping temperatures hovering around 53-55C, with a peak of 57C, during a long stretch of benchmarking.
Compared to the RTX 3080 Ti, the RTX 4080 has 9,728 CUDA cores (down from 10,240), 304 fourth-gen Tensor cores (vs 320 third-gen), and 76 third-gen RT cores (vs 80 second-gen). In other words: it has newer cores, but slightly fewer of them overall. The decrease in count shouldn’t be alarming though, since the 4080 includes a boost clock speed of 2,505MHz compared to the RTX 3080 Ti’s 1,665MHz clock, not to mention the 16GB of GDDR6X VRAM, compared to 12GB on its 30-series “predecessor.”
Like the RTX 4090, the 4080 uses the somewhat contentious 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector that has recently been in the news due to reports of it overheating and melting. We haven’t had any issues with it in any of our testing, but we’ll definitely be monitoring the situation as this generation of graphics cards matures.
Speaking of power, the RTX 4080 has a TDP of 320W, down from 350W on the RTX 3080 Ti. Nvidia recommends using a 750W power supply at minimum. There’s also a 3x 8-pin adapter in the box for people whose power supplies don’t have the new connector.
For ports, the RTX 4080 has 3x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x HDMI 2.1a. This is the typical layout for current-gen graphics cards, though AMD’s recently-announced RX 7900 XT and XTX use the newer DisplayPort 2.1, which has more than triple the bandwidth and enables 4K resolution at up to 480Hz, or 8K up to 165Hz, versus 240Hz at 4K and 60Hz at 8K for DisplayPort 1.4. Most games and monitors won’t be able to take advantage of that bandwidth, so it’s sort of a moot point, but AMD does technically have the advantage.
Nvidia Geforce RTX 4080 – Performance
Starting off with our synthetic benchmarks, the RTX 4080 comes out swinging in 3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra with a 17% improvement over the RTX 3090 Ti and 28% over AMD’s RX 3950 XT – the two best GPUs of the previous generation – and a 35% boost over its generational price-equivalent predecessor, the RTX 3080 Ti. As you’d expect it falls considerably short of the RTX 4090, however, with a score of 16,255 compared to the RTX 4090’s 21,872, which makes total sense given that card costs $400 more.
Moving on to Unigine Heaven, the RTX 4080 edges out the RTX 3090 Ti and RX 6950 XT at 1080p and 1440p, but actually falls short of both cards at 4K. Against the RTX 3080 Ti, though, it consistently wins out with a 13% lead at 1080p, 14% at 1440p, and a slight 4% at 4K.
The ray tracing synthetics are more dramatic. The RTX 4080 offers an average uplift of 28% compared to the RTX 3090 Ti across our three tests, and of course absolutely demolishes the RX 6950 XT, which lacks the ray tracing chops of Nvidia’s hardware. Comparing it to the 3080 Ti offers even more impressive results, with an average improvement of 45% compared to that card.
Moving on to our gaming benchmarks, the RTX 4080 again has a strong showing across all three resolutions tested. At this point our benchmark tests are basically CPU bound at 1080p, with the RTX 4080 pinging the meter alongside the more powerful RTX 4090. 1440p is relatively similar, with the card showing large gains over the last generation in tests that aren’t CPU bound, and of course matching the best in tests that are.
Given the high-end nature of this hardware, however, the real story is at 4K. (If you’re not playing at 4K or greater resolutions, you shouldn’t spend this much money on a GPU.) Expanding our test suite slightly, you can see that the RTX 4080 offers considerable gains over the previous generation, with an average improvement of 27% over the RTX 3090 Ti and 45% versus the RTX 3080 Ti. Keep in mind that the latter of those cards launched at the same $1,199 price, while the former carried a $2,000 MSRP when it launched earlier this year (though prices have now fallen to around what you should expect to pay for an RTX 4080 fresh off the shelf).
Those are impressive gains, but not really out of the ordinary when you consider this is a new graphics generation. Looking back to our RTX 3080 review, that card offered 50% to 70% improvements over its generational predecessor, the RTX 2080 Super. That’s not to discount the RTX 4080 – 4K framerates well above 60fps in the most demanding games will raise eyebrows for a few years to come – I just feel it’s important to remember that we’re talking about high-end, if not enthusiast-level pricing here, so my expectations are sky high.
Finally, I want to touch on Nvidia’s new DLSS 3 frame generation technology. Check out my RTX 4090 review for a more in-depth explanation, but in short the GPU looks at two sequential frames, calculates the difference between them, and then uses AI to generate a frame in between them. As with the RTX 4090, I tested DLSS 3 and frame generation in Cyberpunk 2077.
DLSS again offered a stunning uplift, bringing the RTX 4080’s framerate up to 73 without frame generation, and 108 with it. Those are awesome numbers for one of the most technically demanding games available on PC today – and remember, this benchmark is run at 4K with max settings and ray tracing enabled. The 30-series RTX cards, meanwhile, both receive less of an uplift from DLSS, and don’t have access to frame generation all together.
Of course, DLSS 3 is still a new technology, and game support is limited for the time being. That said, it’s steadily rolling out to more games, including Microsoft Flight Simulator, A Plague Tale: Requiem, and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. If support continues to grow as expected and the performance uplift remains as formidable, DLSS 3 will be the killer feature that truly makes upgrading to a 40-series card worth it for high-resolution, high-framerate gaming.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
