ASUS announces RTX 3080 Noctua Edition Graphics Card

Feature ASUS
Feature ASUS

Today, ASUS announced the GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition GPU. This is in response to the excellent feedback ASUS and Noctua received with the GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition released in October of 2021. The partnership between ASUS and Noctua is truly a win-win situation with the graphics cards running cooler and quieter. In addition, those of you that are in love with the Noctua brown and tan get to take that aesthetic one step further now with the GPU cooler. While pricing was not mentioned in the press release, availability is expected in early June. For complete details about the new ASUS RTX 3080 Noctua Edition, continue reading ASUS’ press release below.

ASUS and Noctua announce ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition graphics card

Taipei/Vienna, May 16th 2022 – Following the resounding success of the ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition, ASUS and Noctua have presented another graphics card that runs exceptionally quiet thanks to a jointly-developed cooling solution: Like the GeForce RTX 3070 model, the new ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition employs two Noctua NF-A12x25 fans and a tailored heatsink, which enables it to run quieter than any other card in its class.“The synthesis of our custom-engineered unified heatsink and Noctua’s famously whisper-quiet fan technology forges a creation that is more than the sum of its parts,” said Kent Chien (Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the ASUS Multimedia Business Unit). “This inspiring partnership with a world-class leader in DIY PC cooling establishes a noise level breakthrough for the powerhouse GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition graphics card — and a visual style that you won’t find anywhere else.”“The response on the first Noctua Edition graphics card was simply overwhelming, so we’ve been thrilled to continue our cooperation with ASUS”, says Roland Mossig (Noctua CEO), “The GeForce RTX 3080 with its heat emission of up to 340W is an entirely different beast to tame than the GeForce RTX 3070, but leveraging our fan technology and a customised heatsink, we have once again managed to create a card that combines serious GPU power with excellent quietness of operation.”

ASUS RTX 3080 Noctua Edition
ASUS RTX 3080 Noctua Edition

Like the ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition card, the new GeForce RTX 3080 model uses Noctua’s award-winning, state-of-the-art NF-A12x25 120mm fans and a tailored heatsink that was custom-designed to make best use of the fans’ superior airflow and static pressure characteristics. Compared to the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3080, the Noctua Edition runs significantly quieter while, at the same time, achieving lower GPU and memory (VRAM) temperatures.

At typical auto-speed fan settings, the Noctua Edition runs 4.5 dB(A) quieter while achieving 3°C lower GPU temperatures and 14°C lower VRAM temperatures. When running the fans at their maximum speed, like it might be required in worst-case situations such as when fully stressing the card in poorly ventilated cases or with very high ambient temperatures, the reduction in noise levels is 8.6 dB(A) and the memory still runs 12°C cooler. The picture at low fan speeds is similar with slightly lower GPU temperatures, significantly reduced memory temperatures and a reduction in noise levels of 2.3dB(A), making the already quiet original ASUS TUF Gaming card even quieter. In sum, the Noctua Edition provides lower noise levels across the entire speed range with the most prominent improvement of almost 9dB(A) at maximum fan speed and 2-5dB(A) at lower speeds. The reduced noise levels go hand in hand with lower GPU temperatures as well as substantial reductions in memory temperature of up to 22°C.

Like the GeForce RTX 3070 Noctua Edition, the GeForce RTX 3080 model features a dual BIOS that enables customers to switch between a performance profile that provides the lowest GPU temperatures and a quiet profile that allows slightly higher temperatures in order to achieve the best possible acoustics. Catering to the demands of Noctua’s customers, the quiet profile is set as the default.

The GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition features a semi-passive fan control setup (ASUS 0dB technology) that can switch the fans off completely whenever the GPU temperature goes below 50°C. This means that in typical configurations with low to moderate ambient temperatures and well-ventilated cases, the card can run entirely fanless at lower GPU loads such as during office productivity tasks, web browsing, or even light gaming. Even at high GPU loads such as during gaming or benchmarking, the fan speeds will stay extremely low as long as the ambient temperature inside the case isn’t excessive.

In summary, the ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Noctua Edition is the ideal card for quiet cooling enthusiasts who demand serious GPU performance without sacrificing quietness of operation.

-John Nester (Blaylock)

About John Nester 399 Articles
John started writing and reviewing PC components for Overclockers.com in 2015, but his passion for PCs dates all the way back to the early 1980s. His first personal computer was a Commodore 64 with a cassette drive. As a dedicated member of the news team, he focuses his articles on new product releases and software updates. He reviews a wide variety of PC components including chassis, storage drives, keyboards, and more. John works in technology as a C.A.D. designer for a major automotive manufacturer. His other passions in life include motorcycles, hunting, guns, and football.

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Avatar of Nebulous
Nebulous

Dreadnought Class Senior

12,353 messages 877 likes

OMG it's ugly as sin. But...why? Love the noctua fans, but can never wrap my head around it's ugly colors. It's like it's made to match with Asus' Sabertooth motherboards.

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Avatar of stompah
stompah

Deep Pain Senior Member

2,050 messages 258 likes

That shroud is chunky.

And my question is why at the end of the GPU's run do they do this? Wouldn't it make sense to be designing 4000 series cards/cooling?

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Avatar of BugFreak
BugFreak
2,409 messages 636 likes

WTF? Never could stand that brown Noctua made fans, not sure why they would do this to a poor GPU.

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Avatar of Blaylock
Blaylock

"That Backfired" Senior Member

8,001 messages 845 likes

Believe it or not (mostly not) some people like the brown and tan. I'm not one of them.

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Avatar of Kenrou
Kenrou

Member

4,959 messages 652 likes

You can easily replace the brown fans for the chromax.black, the shroud on the other hand....

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y
yoadknux

Member

343 messages 30 likes

10GB is a very weird choice. That's like producing a new model of a 2080 when the 2080 super already came out.

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Avatar of EarthDog
EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

76,365 messages 3,111 likes

10GB is a very weird choice. That's like producing a new model of a 2080 when the 2080 super already came out.

Why is 10GB weird? It's plenty of vRAM for what it can power, 2560x1440 (even 4K). This is simply a new cooler/fans... not a new SKU carved out of the product stack. It's more like adding another tier of card in the same family. THis is still a 3080, but with a nicer (subjective, that... these are fugly to me) set of fans.

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y
yoadknux

Member

343 messages 30 likes

Why is 10GB weird? It's plenty of vRAM for what it can power, 2560x1440 (even 4K). This is simply a new cooler/fans... not a new SKU carved out of the product stack. It's more like adding another tier of card in the same family. THis is still a 3080, but with a nicer (subjective, that... these are fugly to me) set of fans.

It's not that the 10GB model can't perform, it's just that it was first released in 2020, and refreshed in 2022 with the 12GB. Releasing a new cooling solution for a card that had already gone through a refresh, a few months before the (presumably) new series is announced/released, still seems weird to me.
Again, I think it's like releasing a new cooling solution for the 2080 when the 2080s was already out.

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Avatar of EarthDog
EarthDog

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

76,365 messages 3,111 likes

Ahh, I see what you're saying now. That said, it doesn't bother me considering this had to be started well before the refresh came out. It's just another version... it doesn't have to be on the refresh.

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Avatar of Kenrou
Kenrou

Member

4,959 messages 652 likes

I think it's stranger (considering how good the cooling is), that ASUS didn't allow for much higher voltage limit for extra OC (more so with the 3070), I mean, as it stands it's... A tad over average? Could have potentially clocked much higher if it has the good caps config, or was this release marketed just for the "no noise" setups?

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