GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs Radeon R9 290

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 290, which comes with a GPU core clock speed of 800 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM running at 1250 MHz through a 512-bit bus. It also features 2560 Stream Processors, 160 Texture Address Units, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon R9 290		300 Watts
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		350 Watts
	Difference: 50 Watts (17%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should theoretically be much superior to the Radeon R9 290 overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		934298 MB/sec
Radeon R9 290		320000 MB/sec
	Difference: 614298 (192%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is much (approximately 176%) faster with regards to AF than the Radeon R9 290. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		352800 Mtexels/sec
Radeon R9 290		128000 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 224800 (176%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should be much (approximately 176%) faster with regards to AA than the Radeon R9 290, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions without slowing down too much. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		141120 Mpixels/sec
Radeon R9 290		51200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 89920 (176%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (counted in megabytes per second) that can be transferred past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. In the case of DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The higher the memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels that the graphics chip can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of Render Output Units by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate is also dependant on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to get to the max fill rate.