NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Side-by-side benchmark comparison, specs, pricing, and value analysis.
Benchmark Comparison
Gaming figures are average frames per second, measured by Tom's Hardware GPU hierarchy. Geometric mean of 15 games, ultra settings, no upscaling. Ray tracing figures are DXR-enabled at 1440p. A dash means the card was not tested at that resolution. Productivity and Steel Nomad are synthetic scores on their own scales and are not comparable to the fps columns.
Specifications
| Spec | GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB | Radeon RX 7900 XTX |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 960 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8960 | 6144 |
| Boost Clock | 1845 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| TDP | 350W | 355W |
| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 3.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,797 | 6,837 |
| Best Price | $799 | $959 |
| Value Score | 38/100 | 42/100 |
Verdict
The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the clear winner — it offers both better performance and better value.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX: Which Should You Buy?
This is not a close race. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX delivers 135.3 fps at 1440p ultra to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB's 102.3 fps, a 32% gap. Only pick the slower card if it is dramatically cheaper or you need it for a lower resolution.
You pay a 20% premium for the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX ($959 against $799) to get 32% more frames. The extra performance more than covers the extra cost.
Two things beyond raw speed: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX carries 24GB against 12GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 12GB cards age badly.