Best gadgets for Gaming: Tech Awards 2021 Editor's Choice Results (Part 4)

Best Graphics Card

Best Graphics Card

It's without a doubt that NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3080 graphics processor is very, very fast (as determined on the previous page). With DLSS 2.0 turned on, ray-tracing gaming at 1440p and even in some games at 4K without going below 60 frames per seconds is a common reality now. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Founders Edition is still our go-to card for pure looks and out-of-the-factory performance, but if you're looking to push things a little further then cards from AIB partners such as ASUS, MSI and Zotac are your best bets. These cards are usually overclocked out of the factory and comes with custom cooling solutions and more often than not, complete with fancy add-ons like RGB lighting and even extra fan headers.

To make the cut for this year's awards, the cards must be at least high-end representatives of their respective brand line-ups, so for instance, ASUS' would pick a card from their top of the line ROG rather than say, the TUF series. Unfortunately, even we were not immune to the global shortage of RTX 30 series. While ASUS managed (just barely) to sneak in an ROG GeForce RTX 3080 card for us, MSI sent one from their Gaming X Trio series, while Gigabyte's AORUS card could not reach us in time at this point of writing even after giving them many months lead time. 

Nominees:

• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 10G GDDR6X
• MSI Gaming X Trio GeForce RTX 3080 10G
• Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity

And the winner is...

The ASUS card ultimately came ahead because of its strong performance in areas that really matter, such as cooling. Cooling is the one area where there's an obvious and measurable difference between the cards, so ASUS scores big points here. On top of that, it comes with several value-added features to help it stand out, such as additional RGB and fan headers. The card also features a BIOS switch to change fan profiles and a toggle button to instantly switch off its LEDs. The biggest drawback is its price, which is selling significantly higher than its SRP because of the market demand and shortage. And that is, if you can even find one at retail.

The alternatives aren't too far behind, but differences between graphics cards of the same GPU class usually come down to differences that are pretty much down to your personal taste and if you prefer to save money or if you need all the bells and whistles. As such, we can only point out who has the best of the best offering, but these days, stock and availability are also valid purchase factors. If you must have an ASUS, their TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 at S$1,299 was our previous shoo-in for this category before we managed to get hold of the Strix edition.

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed in the References section below.

References

• ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 10G GDDR6X review
• MSI Gaming X Trio GeForce RTX 3080 10G review
• Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity review