GeForce GTX 970 vs GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, which features a core clock frequency of 1260 MHz and a GDDR6X memory frequency of 1188 MHz. It also makes use of a 384-bit memory bus, and uses a 8 nm design. It is made up of 8960 SPUs, 280 TAUs, and 112 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		350 Watts
	Difference: 205 Watts (141%)

Memory Bandwidth

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should in theory be a lot faster than the GeForce GTX 970 overall. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		934298 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
	Difference: 710298 (317%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should be much (approximately 223%) more effective at AF than the GeForce GTX 970. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		352800 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 243600 (223%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB should be a lot (about 110%) more effective at full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 970, and also capable of handling higher screen resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB		141120 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 73920 (110%)

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 data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It's worked out by multiplying the interface width by the speed of its memory. If the card has DDR RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the bandwidth is, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied per second. This is calculated 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 handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the video card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The figure is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for drawing the pixels (image) on the screen. The actual pixel output 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 max fill rate.