GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs GeForce RTX 4090

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce RTX 4090, which features a core clock speed of 2235 MHz and a GDDR6X memory frequency of 1325 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit bus, and uses a 4 nm design. It features 16384 SPUs, 512 TAUs, and 176 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		350 Watts
GeForce RTX 4090		450 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (29%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce RTX 4090 should in theory be just a bit superior to the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1042432 MB/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		934298 MB/sec
	Difference: 108134 (12%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 4090 should be quite a bit (about 224%) better at AF than the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1144320 Mtexels/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		352800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 791520 (224%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 4090 will be a lot (about 179%) more effective at FSAA than the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, and should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		393360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		141120 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 252240 (179%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in a second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is worked out by multiplying the total amount of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the graphics card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card could possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of ROPs by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the maximum fill rate.