Palit RTX 2080 SUPER WGRP Review

After spending the last few weeks analysing various RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT graphics cards, today we have taken a quick break from custom Navi boards to review Palit's RTX 2080 SUPER WGRP.

As the company's flagship RTX 2080 SUPER card, the WGRP (White GameRock Premium) is actually a limited edition – so if you want the white shroud, you may need to act fast. There is a regular GRP, finished in black and grey which is otherwise identical to the model reviewed here, but it is worth noting this white model is a limited edition.

I personally think it is a very good looking card, and Palit has also added a 45MHz factory overclock, bringing rated boost speeds up to 1860MHz. This, in tandem with GPU Boost, meant the Palit did run slightly faster than the RTX 2080 SUPER Founders Edition we reviewed back in July – coming in, on average, 3% faster. In Battlefield V the difference was 5%, but then a couple of games saw only a 2% improvement. Either way, it's hardly a huge leap forward but it is slightly faster than the reference card.

Compared to a similarly-priced custom card – MSI's RTX 2080 SUPER Gaming X Trio – the margins are essentially non-existent, though our figures do show that the Palit is 1% faster on average. That is barely 1FPS difference in the real world, so it's certainly not going to make a meaningful difference which card you go for if raw frame rates is your number 1 priority.

As for cooler performance, Palit has done well to reduce temperatures by 5C versus the Founders Edition, and the WGRP is also noticeably quieter than Nvidia's own card. MSI does take the edge here, however, as its Gaming X Trio is both cooler and quieter than Palit's flagship offering. Not by much, but there is a slight difference.

I would have also liked to see Palit implement its dual-BIOS functionality a bit better. At present, neither the OC or Silent BIOS are that different from each other – the Silent BIOS runs the fans 3% slower, for example, which makes little difference to overall noise levels. If Palit had gone really aggressive with that secondary BIOS, as PowerColor did with its Red Devil RX 5700 XT, it would have improved the overall appeal – but as it stands, MSI does have the quietest 2080 SUPER we have tested.

Balanced against that, dual-BIOS is certainly better than just one for redundancy purposes, so it does come down to your priorities – would you rather have two marginally louder BIOS, or one quieter and cooler BIOS as per the Gaming X Trio? Hardcore overclockers, or anyone experimenting with flashing a custom vBIOS, may well prefer the former option, so it's definitely something to consider.

The biggest drawback to recommending the WGRP – and this applies to all 2080 SUPER cards, not just Palit's – is pricing. Even going on the £709.99 sale price OCUK currently has for this card, that's still a 49% price increase over the RTX 2070 SUPER. Considering the Palit is just 14% faster, I really find the pricing very difficult to understand for the 2080 SUPER series.

To be clear, this is hardly Palit's fault – while I would have liked to see a quieter secondary BIOS, by and large the WGRP is a very good custom card, with improved thermals, acoustics and clock speeds versus the Founders Edition. Nvidia's pricing strategy for 2080 SUPER as a whole is what I just can't fathom, as paying £200+ for up to a 14% performance increase just doesn't make sense to me. In my opinion, if you want a quality Nvidia card, 2070 SUPER is the way to go – 2080 SUPER is faster, but is it worth an extra 49%? Not in my book.

If you do want the Palit RTX 2080 SUPER WGRP, it is currently on sale for £709.99 from Overclockers UK HERE. The regular price is £749.99.

Pros

• Looks very swish with the white shroud.
• Boosted to almost 2GHz out of the box.
• Great for high-refresh 1440p gaming.
• Runs cooler, quieter and faster than Founders Edition.

Cons

• 2080 SUPER, as a whole, is far too expensive for what you get.
• Dual-BIOS implementation could be improved.
• MSI's Gaming X Trio is cooler and quieter.

KitGuru says: Palit's RTX 2080 SUPER WGRP is an effective custom card, but Nvidia's pricing strategy means it is just too expensive for what you get versus the 2070 SUPER.

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