GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs GeForce RTX 3090

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce RTX 3090, which features a core clock frequency of 1395 MHz and a GDDR6X memory speed of 1219 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit memory bus, and uses a 8 nm design. It is comprised of 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

As far as performance goes, the GeForce RTX 3090 should in theory be a little 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 is quite a bit (approximately 30%) more effective 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 using high levels of AA is important to you, then the GeForce RTX 3090 is superior to the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, but it probably won't make a huge difference. (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 MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface within a second. It's worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. If it uses DDR type RAM, it must be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better 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 are processed in one second. This is worked out by multiplying the total 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 processed in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels that the graphics card can possibly record to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the number of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the core speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output 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 ability to get to the max fill rate.