The Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity is one of the affordable third-party cards available but there is a catch.
Users often flood the official subreddit of manufacturers whenever they need some clarifications. This is the case with u/shooblyhoobly on Reddit. The user posted why the Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity is slower than the Nvidia RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition.
According to the post, the Zotac card is slower by one to three percent when compared to the reference design. Meanwhile, other brands at the same price point are offering one to eight percent performance gains over the Founder’s Edition.
Zotac might have cheaped out on the design
Redditor’s chimed in the post explaining that Zotac skimped on the design during the creation of the Trinity version.
The cheaper design may be the reason why the performance is worst. It is possibly the reason why its overclocking possibilities are limited.
Another factor why users are disappointed is its price. The RTX 3080 Trinity is sold for US$699. It is the same with the Founder’s Edition.
However, several reviews show that the Trinity does not handle overclocking properly. The thermals are not bad though topping at around 74C.
If there is one good take away from this card, then that is its noise performance. The fans are quiet even under load.
Zotac representative clarifies the situation
A Zotac official answered questions on its official subreddit. Going by the username u/Z_staff, the Zotac explained the Trinity situation.
According to u/Z_staff, the performance of Trinity is by design. This enables the company to differentiate between the high-performance cards from the basic ones.
One user u/uno_bagel said that nerfing their base cards to make their flagship more appealing is a disappointing step. But, he also raised a question of whether Zotac will provide a BIOS update to boost the card’s performance soon.
The representative said that a BIOS update is possible to address the issue. Nonetheless, Zotac is in contact with its Hong Kong headquarters to clarify the issue.
“When we know more, we’ll let you know! We won’t forget as this is high up on our priority right now,” said u/Z_staff.
Meanwhile, u/shooblyhoobly said “You nerf the card by design? It’s operating at the same clocks as an FE and performing worse by design? Seems like a bad design. Shouldn’t you match FE then push higher tier cards with better-binned chips? As far as I can see no other AIB is coming behind the FE like this card.”
Zotac rep answered, “we are reaching out to our HQ to see if there’s any other reasons why this is the case.”
No real answer yet
There is no real answer to why Zotac went for this route yet. Hopefully, it will all be sorted out, or else it is a blow to Zotac’s integrity.
Despite the hiccup, several users shared their appreciation of how transparent Zotac is.
“We want to be transparent, open, and honest. We’d expect the same as well if we spent our hard-earned money on the latest and great gaming tech,” u/Z_staff responded.
As of the moment, users are still waiting for clarification. But based on the representative’s response, several regions have no idea why Zotac did this to the Trinity.
The Zotac RTX 3080 Trinity is the cheapest in Zotac’s 3080 lineups. Interested users may opt for the AMP Holo or AMP Extreme Holo variants for better performance. But all of these models are currently out of stock.
Images (1) (2) (3) courtesy of Zotac