NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
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 | GeForce RTX 3090 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 10GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bandwidth | 760 GB/s | 936.2 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8704 | 10496 |
| Boost Clock | 1710 MHz | 1695 MHz |
| TDP | 320W | 350W |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,427 | 5,117 |
| Best Price | $699 | $1,499 |
| Value Score | 35/100 | 18/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is faster but costs more. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 offers better value for money. Your choice depends on budget vs. performance priority.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090: Which Should You Buy?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 is 10% faster at 1440p ultra (106 fps against 96.4 fps). That is roughly one settings notch — enough to matter if you are chasing a specific refresh rate, not enough to rescue a bad price.
You pay a 114% premium for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 ($1,499 against $699) to get 10% more frames. The extra frames do not keep up with the extra cost — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the better value here.
Two things beyond raw speed: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 carries 24GB against 10GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 10GB cards age badly.