GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs GeForce RTX 3090

Intro

Compare those specifications to the GeForce RTX 3090, which comes with a core clock speed of 1395 MHz and a GDDR6X memory frequency of 1219 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 8 nm design. It features 10496 SPUs, 328 TAUs, and 112 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Both cards have the same power consumption.

Memory Bandwidth

Performance-wise, the GeForce RTX 3090 should in theory be a small bit better 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 a lot (about 30%) better at anisotropic filtering 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

If running with lots of anti-aliasing is important to you, then the GeForce RTX 3090 is a better choice, though not by far. (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 maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported over the external memory interface within a second. It's calculated by multiplying the card's bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the better 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 texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card 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 per second.

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