Yes, I've wanted a 3080 since it came out. But by the time the prices fall back to normal, the 4xxx will be nearly out. So I'll wait for that. Meanwhile, I'll "suffer" with my EVGA 10809Ti FTW3 Hybrid. Not the latest, but no slouch! It's definitely quiet and cool!
It's still a decent card for 1440p but 3440x1440 might be pushing it unless you play older games or lower graphic settings alot. I still have a 1080 Ti lying around, ASUS STRIX, backup card. 1080 Ti and 980 Ti have been my best Ti cards ever. I remember the 980 Ti overclocked like crazy, from 1200ish MHz to 1600 MHz matching 1080 in most games and benches... So glad I picked that over Fury X, which I almost bought instead...
My Asus 3080 TUF OC is the quiestest card I have ever had. Way quieter than my 1080 Ti and former RTX 2080 Gigabyte Aorus, thats for sure. Most 3080's have a huge cooling surface and slowspinning fans, they don't require high RPM to keep cool. My 3080 hits 70c TOPS in the hot summer days with a +150 MHz OC. Usually it's 65c or so.
The Ampere chips themselves are not that power hungry, GDDR6X is the culprit in most cases. Just look at 3070 vs 3070 Ti, you get ~5% more performance at 1440p but power usage goes up 90 watts on average. Thats because of the GDDR6X.
I got my 3080 4 days after release for MSRP, 715 dollars (ASUS TUF OC EDITION) so yeah I'm ready for 4000 series in Q4 2022 unless AMD delivers something decent again with RDNA3 - However I'm not buying first gen MCM cards to be a beta tester.
It worries me tho, that 4000 series and RDNA3 should get even more power hungry.
3090 and 6900XT can pull crazy watts, especially peak (above 600 watts spikes).
My 3080 never went above 400 watts spike, usually is 350ish average and the GDDR6X is 90-100 watts of those so the chip is pulling around 250-300 watts, which is nothing crazy for a high-end GPU.
When you replace that 1080 Ti with a brand new RTX you will see a night and day improvement in performance, believe me. With DLSS enabled on Quality mode, you will be looking at a 250-300% improvement going from 1080 Ti to 3080 like I did. Without DLSS it's more like 200% on average.
Biggest leap I have ever gotten from an upgrade I think.
In Cyberpunk at 1440p/165 Hz the 1080 Ti delivered like 30-45 fps maxed, rarely hit 50+ fps. The 3080 did 80-110 without DLSS and 130-160 with (using Quality Mode and NO RAY TRACING obviously). Night and day difference in gameplay.
I had a 3080 Ti too for a few weeks but returned it. Not worth it for me. Only got 10% more perf and price was WAY HIGHER, like double of what I paid for my 3080.
100% higher price for 10% performance? No thanks.
RTX 4080 or 4070 will probably be my next GPU.