Welcome to the Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 benchmark comparison. In this review, we will take a deep look at how these two graphics cards compare to one another, as well as how these hardware specs deliver in gaming performance.
The 3000 series Ampere graphics cards are the first RTX and Raytracing generation to follow the initial Turning graphic cards, launched in 2018. Nvidia’s Turning cards have open the doors for developers to finally implement real time Raytracing into their games, and the results are spectacular.
I have a full list of the Best Raytracing Games available here, for you to check out. Not only that, the RTX platform also introduced DLSS, which has had mind blowing results in my benchmarks of the Best DLSS Games, doubling the performance of many of the gaming titles in 4K.
Ampere is set to take the foundation of what Turning started to the next level of performance and visual experience.
With that said, let’s see how the Nvidia RTX 3090 compares to the RTX 3080.
Table of Contents
Check out these other Ampere vs Turing vs Pascal benchmark comparisons
Ampere vs Ampere
Ampere vs Turing
- RTX 3090 vs RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super
- RTX 3070 vs RTX 2070 Super
Ampere vs Pascal
Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - General Specs
Graphics Architecture
- Both the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 use Nvidia Ampere Architecture
Die Size
- RTX 3090 has a 627mm DIE, which is 0mm (0%) smaller than the RTX 3080’s 627mm DIE size
PCIe Interface Technology
- Both the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 use PCIe 4.0 16x lanes at 1,970MB/s per lane (31,520MB/s in total)
Price
- RTX 3090 is priced at $1499 MSRP
- RTX 3080 is priced at $699 MSRP
Processor Name
- RTX 3090 uses the GA102-300-A1 processor
- RTX 3080 uses the GA102-200-K1-A1 processor
Processor Technology
- Both the RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 are built upon 8nm (nanometer) processor technology
Processor Transistors
- RTX 3090 has 28,300 million transistors, which is 0 million (0%) more than the RTX 3080’s 28,300 million transistors.
- The world's most advanced processor in the desktop PC gaming segment
- Can deliver ultra-fast 100 plus FPS performance in the world's most...
- 8 Cores and 16 processing threads bundled with the AMD Wraith Prism...
Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - Speed & Performance
Clock Speeds (Base & Boost)
- RTX 3090 has a Base Clock Speed of 1395MHz, which is 45MHz (3%) slower than the RTX 3080’s Base Clock Speed of 1440MHz.
- RTX 3090 has a Boost Clock Speed of 1695MHz, which is 15MHz (1%) slower than the RTX 3080’s Boost Clock Speed of 1710MHz.
- Supports 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Processors
- Dual Channel ECC/ Non-ECC Unbuffered DDR4, 4 DIMMs
- Direct 16 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 70A Power Stage
Cores (CUDA, Tensor & RT)
- RTX 3090 has 10,496 CUDA Cores, which is 1,792 CUDA Cores (21%) more than the RTX 3080’s 8,704 CUDA Cores.
- RTX 3090 has 328 Tensor Cores, which is 56 Tensor Cores (21%) more than the RTX 3080’s 272 Tensor Cores.
- RTX 3090 has 82 RT Cores, which is 14 RT Cores (21%) more than the RTX 3080’s 68 RT Cores.
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RTX Performance (Raytracing & AI)
- RTX 3090 outputs 10 GigaRay/s for Raytracing games, which is 0 GigaRay/s (0%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 10 GigaRay/s.
- RTX 3090 outputs 78 RTX-OP/s (RTX Operations), which is 0 RTX-OP/s (0%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 78 RTX-OP/s.
- RTX 3090 outputs 285 TFlop/s (AI/DLSS Operations), which is 47 TFlop/s (20%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 238 TFlop/s.
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Rasterization (ROPs/TMUs/CU/Texture Rate/Pixel Rate)
- RTX 3090 outputs 112 ROP/s (Rasterization Operations), which is 16 ROP/s (17%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 96 ROP/s.
- RTX 3090 has 328 TMU (Texture Map Units), which is 56 TMU (21%) more than the RTX 3080’s 272 TMU.
- RTX 3090 has 82 CU (Compute Units/Streaming Multiprocessor), which is 14 CU (21%) more than the RTX 3080’s 68 CU.
- RTX 3090 has a Texture Rate of 556 GT/s (GigaTexels), which is 91 GT/s (20%) faster than the RTX 3080’s Texture Rate of 465 GT/s.
- RTX 3090 has a Pixel Rate of 189.9 GP/s (GigaPixels), which is 25.9 GP/s (16%) faster than the RTX 3080’s Pixel Rate of 164 GP/s.
- 27-inch 4K (3840x2160) IPS gaming monitor with 144Hz refresh rate and...
- Supports Display Stream Compression (DSC) Technology for transporting...
- High dynamic range (HDR) technology with DisplayHDR 400 certification...
Theoretical Performance (Integer & Floating Point)
- RTX 3090 has an Integer Point (INT32) Speed of 13.4 TIP/s, which is 0 TIP/s (0%) faster than the RTX 2080 Ti’s Integer Point (INT32) Speed of 13.4 TIP/s.
- RTX 3090 has a Floating Point (FP32) Speed of 35.58 TFlop/s, which is 5.81 TFlop/s (20%) faster than the RTX 3080’s Floating Point (FP32) Speed of 29.77 TFlop/s.
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Cache
- RTX 3090 has 128KB of L1 Cache, which is 0KB (0%) more than the RTX 3080’s 128KB L1 Cache.
- RTX 3090 has 6MB of L2 Cache, which is 1MB (20%) more than the RTX 3080’s 5MB L2 Cache.
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Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - Memory
Memory Specs
- RTX 3090 uses GDDR6X Memory, while the RTX 3080 uses GDDR6X Memory
- RTX 3090 has 24GB of RAM, which is 14GB (118%) more than the RTX 3080’s 10GB of RAM
- RTX 3090 has a 384-bit Memory Interface, which is 64-bits (20%) more than the RTX 3080’s 320-bit Memory Interface
Memory Speeds
- RTX 3090 single lane memory outputs 1219MHz, which is 31MHz (3%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 1188MHz.
- RTX 3090 outputs 936.2GB/s of Memory Bandwidth, which is 176.2GB/s (23%) faster than the RTX 3080’s 760GB/s.
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Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - Power & Temperature
- RTX 3090 uses 2×8-pin Power Connectors, while the RTX 3080 also uses 2×8-pin Power Connectors.
- RTX 3090 has a 350W TDP (Thermal Design Power), which is 30W (9%) more than the RTX 3080’s 320W TDP.
- RTX 3090 has a maximum thermal temperature of 93°C, which is 0°C (0%) more than the RTX 3080’s 93°C.
- RTX 3090 has a minimum power supply requirement of 750W, which is 50W (7%) more than the RTX 3080’s 700W.
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RTX 3090 vs RTX 2080 Ti Benchmark PC Setup
The following RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 Benchmarks were done at 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution, using the following PC system specs:
- CPU : AMD Ryzen 3700x ($205.00)
- RAM: Corsair CMW32GX4M2C3200C16 Vengeance RGB PRO 32GB ($113.98)
- Motherboard : Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro Wifi ($399.99)
- Storage Drive : Western Digital 8TB Ultrastar DC HC320 ($150.00)
- Recording Drive : Samsung 970 EVO SSD 1TB M.2 NVMe ($109.99)
- System Drive : Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB SATA ($139.00)
- Power Supply : EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G3 ($179.99)
- Monitor :
Samsung 49″ RU7300 – 4K Smart TV (DISCONTINUED)
PC Setup Extras
- Keyboard : Corsair K70 RGB MK.2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (Price not available)
- Keyboard Rubber O-Rings : Rosewill Mechanical Keyboard Rubber O-Rings (Price not available)
- Mouse : Corsair M65 Elite – FPS Gaming Mouse ($42.85)
- Gaming Controller : Microsoft Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2 ($150.99)
- PC Case : Phanteks Eclipse P600S (Price not available)
- PC Case Fans : Corsair LL120 RGB, 120mm RGB LED Fan – Triple Pack ($69.99)
- PC Case RGB LED Strips : Speclux Computer Magnetic Addressable RGB LED Strip Kit ($16.99)
- PC Case RGB Controller : Corsair iCUE Commander PRO (Price not available)
- CPU Cooler : Cooler Master Hyper 212 RGB Black Edition CPU Air Cooler ($99.99)
Microphone : Rode NT1-A Anniversary Condenser Microphone (DEPRECIATED)- Microphone Stand : RODE PSA 1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm ($98.50)
- Audio Interface Device : Steinberg UR22C 2×2 USB 3.0 Audio Interface ($194.99)
- Headphones : Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 Limited Edition Black ($200.00)
- NVMe Expansion : ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 PCIe 3.0 X4 Expansion Card V2 – 4x NVMe M.2 ($47.99)
- HDMI Switch : KVM 4K60p HDMI USB 4 Way Switch (Price not available)
- Stream Deck : Elgato 15 Key Stream Deck (No products found.)
- Monitor RGB LED Light Strips : GIDERWEL RGBW LED Strip Light,16.4ft SMD5050 ($15.99)
- RGB LED Light Strip Controller : GIDERWEL Home Smart Zigbee RGBCCT (Philips Hue Compatible) ($21.99)
- SATA Cables : 10 Pack 16 Inch SATA III 6.0 Gbps Cable (Price not available)
- Figurine (Storm Trooper) : Revoltech Star Wars Stormtrooper 6.7″ Action Figure ($181.64)
- Figurine (Darth Vader) : Revoltech Star Wars Darth Vader 6.7″ Action Figure ($64.36)
Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - Benchmarks
With all the above tech specs said and done, let’s dive right into the RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 Benchmarks and see how they relate to real world gaming performance.
Below are 29 current gen games benchmarked at 2.5K (2560×1440) & 4K (3840×2160) resolutions.
All games benchmarks were done while using Nvidia GeForce Experience (Shadowplay) recording software. This was done as I wanted to create a worst case scenario for the benchmarks that YouTube Gamers would experience, as this recording software generally has about about a 5% hit in performance.
FYI: This is a far lower performance hit than in OBS, which is the reason I don’t use it for my YouTube 4K gameplay recordings.
If you don’t use recording software, then you can simply add back about 5% to all the below results.
RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 : 1440p Benchmarks
I have color coded the below 1440p benchmarks results into colored tiers of achievable refresh rates. This allows you to easily see what refresh monitor to buy/use in relation to your favorite game and the graphics card:
- ≤ 59 (Less than 1440p 60Hz Gaming) = Red
- 60-119 (1440p 60Hz Ready Gaming) = Orange
- 120-143 (1440p 120Hz Ready Gaming) = Yellow
- 144-164 (1440p 144Hz Ready Gaming) = Green
- 165-240 (1440p 165Hz Ready Gaming) = Blue
- ≥ 240 (1440p 240Hz Ready Gaming) = Purple
RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 : 4K Benchmarks
As per the above 1440p benchmarks, I have also colored the 4K benchmarks into colored tiers as follows:
- ≤ 59 (Less than 4K 60Hz Gaming) = Red
- 60-119 (4K 60Hz Ready Gaming) = Orange
- 120-143 (4K 120Hz Ready Gaming) = Yellow
- 144-164 (4K 144Hz Ready Gaming) = Green – See list of the Best 4K 144Hz Gaming Monitors
- 165-240 (4K 165Hz Ready Gaming) = Blue
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Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 - Conclusion
Well guys, that’s it from me and this Nvidia RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 Benchmark comparison.
Check out the RTX 3080 Graphics Cards on Amazon in the links below to get yours
Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080... | $899.00 | Buy Now | ||
Gigabyte ASUS TUF Gaming NVIDIA GeForce... | 82 Reviews | $899.90 | Buy Now | |
MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 10GB GDRR6X... | 134 Reviews | $879.99 | Buy Now | |
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 EAGLE OC 10G... | 6 Reviews | $499.99 | Buy Now | |
GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING OC 10G... | $832.13 | Buy Now | ||
EVGA 10G-P5-3881-KR GeForce RTX 3080 XC3... | 21 Reviews | $799.99 | Buy Now | |
EVGA 10G-P5-3883-KR GeForce RTX 3080 XC3... | Buy Now | |||
EVGA 10G-P5-3885-KR GeForce RTX 3080 XC3... | $849.99 $763.13 | Buy Now | ||
EVGA 10G-P5-3895-KR GeForce RTX 3080... | $1,070.00 | Buy Now | ||
EVGA 10G-P5-3897-KR GeForce RTX 3080... | $889.99 $799.99 | Buy Now |