GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs GeForce RTX 3090

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce RTX 3090, which uses a 8 nm design. nVidia has clocked the core frequency at 1395 MHz. The GDDR6X memory works at a frequency of 1219 MHz on this model. It features 10496 SPUs along with 328 Texture Address Units and 112 ROPs.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Both cards have the same power consumption.

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce RTX 3090, in theory, should perform just a bit faster than the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB in general. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		958668 MB/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		934298 MB/sec
	Difference: 24370 (3%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3090 should be much (approximately 30%) better at AF than the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		457560 Mtexels/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		352800 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 104760 (30%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3090 is a bit (about 11%) more effective at anti-aliasing than the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, and able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3090		156240 Mpixels/sec
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		141120 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 15120 (11%)

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 max amount of data (in units of megabytes per second) that can be transferred over the external memory interface in one second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory speed. If the card has DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

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

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics chip could possibly write to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.