Legends Never Die

Linus Tech Tips

44,340 views • yesterday Save 7 min 4 min read

Video Summary

Despite being a decade old, the NVIDIA GTX 1080 and 1080 Ti GPUs surprisingly remain viable for many modern games. This longevity is attributed to a "perfect storm" of factors, including NVIDIA's strong position before the Pascal architecture, developers targeting hardware that predated the PS5, the rise of "games as a service" reducing upgrade incentives, and the popularity of less demanding games on handhelds and retro-style graphics.

While these cards struggle with the newest, most demanding titles and lack support for features like ray tracing and DLSS, they can still run tens of thousands of games on Steam, often at 1080p Ultra settings. Even in demanding new releases, lowering in-game details can provide a playable experience. However, pairing them with modern CPUs doesn't overcome their bottlenecking limitations, and their outdated encoding and power consumption make them poor choices for streaming or media encoding. Furthermore, their use in AI is significantly outpaced by newer hardware, and their resale value remains inflated, making new purchases risky due to potential hardware failure.

Short Highlights

The GTX 1080 and 1080 Ti, released a decade ago, remain surprisingly capable for modern gaming.
Their longevity is due to a confluence of factors including developer targeting, "games as a service," and less demanding game trends.
These cards can run tens of thousands of Steam games, often at 1080p Ultra settings.
Newer, demanding games and features like ray tracing and DLSS pose significant challenges.
Pairing with modern CPUs does not eliminate the GPU bottleneck.
Older encoding engines and high power consumption limit their use for streaming or media.
Resale prices are inflated, and new purchases carry a risk of hardware failure.

Key Details

The "Goats" of GPUs: A Decade of Dominance [0:00]

The GTX 1080 and 1080 Ti are compared to legendary female tennis players for their sustained dominance and longevity.
Both cards revolutionized the market, obsoleting previous hardware, and remained competitive for an unusually long time.

"Discussing the greatest GPU of all time is a lot like discussing the goats in women's tennis."

A Perfect Storm for Longevity [0:49]

NVIDIA's Pascal architecture benefited from a successful gaming market and fortuitous timing, arriving four years before the PS5.
Developers targeting hardware that would remain relevant for seven years, coupled with the rise of "games as a service," reduced the need for frequent upgrades.
Hybrid consoles and handheld PCs also led to games designed for modest hardware, further extending the 1080 family's relevance.

"It really was a perfect storm for these things."

Baseline Performance: A Decade Later [2:08]

Testing baseline performance with period-accurate components showed the 1080 Ti achieving nearly 60 FPS and the 1080 achieving nearly 45 FPS at 1080p Ultra settings.
Even demanding moments stayed above 30 FPS without artificial resolution or frame generation.
Exceptions like "Black Myth Wukong" brought both cards to their knees, but playable experiences were achievable by lowering settings.

"We didn't even have to turn the settings way down, guys."

Modern Pairings and Feature Limitations [3:49]

Pairing the 1080 family with modern CPUs does not eliminate them as the bottleneck in demanding modern games, even at 1080p.
Games requiring ray tracing, such as "Indiana Jones and the Great Circle" or "Doom the Dark Ages," will not launch on these cards.
Popular live service games like "Rocket League" and "Minecraft" still run well, eclipsing many ray-tracing-required titles in player counts.

"No, they won't."

The Shifting Upgrade Landscape and Tensor Cores [5:44]

NVIDIA's price band shifts made newer GPUs increasingly expensive, delaying upgrades for 1080 buyers.
The 20 series was considered a skip generation, and the crypto winter further impacted upgrade cycles.
Newer GPUs benefit from more efficient CUDA cores and Tensor cores, which accelerate AI tasks and DLSS upscaling, significantly improving performance and image quality.

"And I haven't even gotten into Tensor cores yet."

Limited Second Lives and Inflated Prices [7:50]

The 1080 family's outdated encoding engine and high power consumption make them unsuitable for dedicated media encoding or game streaming.
While usable for some AI workloads, they lag significantly behind newer cards like the RTX 3060.
Despite their age, 1080 cards are still listed for over $200 on eBay, a price considered too high given the risk of hardware failure and lack of warranty.

"The only bad news is that everyone else seems to know that too."