For those of you who read our review of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition (opens in new tab), our conclusion was "an excellent graphics card marred by an overly high price." FE's $1,200/£1,269/ A$2,219 AUD is beyond the reach of mainstream gamers. The console looks attractive to many.

However, now that the Radeon RX 7900 XT (open in new tab) and RX 7900 XTX (open in new tab) are available, expect these prices to trend down. Perhaps not a big drop, but at least a move in the right direction. Thank goodness Minor is not competing this time around.

The Zotac GeForce RTX 4080 Amp Extreme Airo is a big (and curvy. It aims to beat the Founders Edition in every aspect, claiming to be faster, quieter, cooler, and more feature-rich than the FE. It is priced at $1,399/£1,319/$2,349 Australian, $199 more than the FE's launch price. In the UK and Australia, Zotac is priced £50 or A$130 more than FE, which is fairer.

The Zotac Airo, like all other RTX 4080s, is built around a 4nm AD103 GPU with 9,728 of the available 10,240 cores. This leaves room for Nvidia to release an RTX 4080 Ti in the future; the AD103's L2 cache size has been significantly increased to 64 MB versus the RTX 3080's 5 MB (open in new tab). In addition, with much improved ray tracing support, impressive DLSS 3, and a reasonable TDP of 320W, the RTX 4080 looks very powerful in terms of specs.

Other key specs include 16GB of 22.4Gbps GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus. While this is a step back from the RTX 3080, the die size of the 4080 is 379mm², compare that to the massive 628mm² die size of the 3080 and other GA102 cards, and it is clear that Nvidia is making gains with the RTX 4080. And when it comes to performance per watt, the RTX 4080 is in a league of its own.

The Zotac Amp Extreme Airo is Zotac's top 4080 card so far, and sits above the Trinity. Its boost clock is 2,565 MHz; officially, it does not appear to be overclocked above FE's 2,505 MHz. Some top-class cards ship overclocked above 2,600 MHz, but the rated boost clock has little significance and is nothing to worry about. In my tests, the Zotac was able to reach over 2,800 MHz in default operation.

Many manufacturers are repurposing 450W+ rated RTX 3090 Ti (open in new tab) or RTX 4090 (open in new tab) coolers for the RTX 4080, which can be seen in passing. This is a big 3.5 slot card. The fan shroud also has an unusual curved design. Attention-grabbing RGB lighting is integrated along the length of the card and can be controlled via Zotac's Spectra RGB app.

The full-cover metal backplate features another branded RGB element, which I personally think is a great looking card.

Like all RTX 4080s, this card comes with a 12+4 pin 12VHPWR connector. In this case, there are 3x 8-pin adapters, providing up to 450W. This is more than enough power to power a 320W Airo; at 320W, you would not expect Zotac to require an extreme PCB, but to show that it is built for higher TDPs, the card has a 24 phase VRM with an additional 3 phases for memory for memory. It should be noted that the memory is rated at 24Gbps, which is higher than the card's 22.4Gbps. This should allow for OC headroom.

Other key features include an RGB header for controlling external strips and a dual BIOS with performance and quiet modes. Brief tests showed no difference, and given the over-spec cooler, it is recommended to leave it at the performance setting. Unusually, it is controlled by buttons rather than switches, and changes are applied after reboot.

The cooler is a traditional design, avoiding the use of vapor chambers in favor of a traditional 9 heat pipe baseplate. As one would expect from such a huge cooler, the heat generated by the AD103 GPU is perfectly acceptable. Peak temperatures are as high as only 62°C, and full system power consumption is below the previous generation of high-end cards.

The Zotac consumes just under 20W more than the Founders Edition, but that is not a problem considering all the RGB and additional fans.

But raw wattage doesn't tell the real story; the RTX 4080 dramatically outperforms the likes of the RTX 3080 Ti on less power, and it's the performance per watt that really stands out; Nvidia did well, and the RTX 4080 is a great example of that.

Synthetic Gaming Performance

1440p Gaming Performance

4K Gaming Performance

The RTX 4080 performs very well and the Zotac Amp Extreme Airo is a great example of the Nvidia card boosting method is a bit better than FE, though not dramatically so given the more gradual boosting method of the

Most games that used to struggle to cut 60Hz at 4K are now able to cut 60Hz with ray tracing effects enabled, even before DLSS is enabled. Even the most demanding titles can be 1440p at high refresh rates at the highest settings.

Despite its massive size, however, the Zotac card is not what one would call quiet, but it is no leaf blower either. In high-load games, the cards are audible, but the tone and volume are not annoying.

The Radeon RX 7900 XTX (open in new tab) is also a threat. Our launch day review will show that while it doesn't match the RTX 4080 in ray-traced games, it is a worthy competitor. If that doesn't matter, XTX is worth a look; XT is no threat to RTX 4080, except for its lower price.

Zotac's RTX 4080 Amp Extreme Airo is a genuine high-end contender. It is a very good looking card, especially if you are a fan of RGB lighting. Its curved shroud may not appeal to everyone, but to me it is a nice change from other boxy designs.

My sample clocked in at one of the highest levels of the three RTX 4080s I've tested so far. As one would expect from its massive cooler, it is constantly cooled. The only problem is the noticeable fan noise, which is unnecessary when peak temperatures are in the low 60s. However, it is by no means loud.

At $1,399| £1,319| $2,349 AUS, this card stands up to premium-class competitors like the MSI Suprim and Gigabyte Aorus. In my experience, MSI has a narrow lead, but in the end it comes down to price.

The Zotac RTX 4080 Amp Extreme Airo is a fast card, very well built, looks good, and offers excellent performance on top of Nvidia's high-quality feature set. But as with all RTX 4080s, and all high-end cards, this card needs more value, too. whether it's the RTX 4080, RTX 4090, or RX 7900 XT/X, the current price is hard to swallow. 2023 will bring better news in this regard. Let's hope 2023 brings better news in this regard.