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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB: Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB separate most on tdp: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 215 W, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB at 350 W, 63% in favour of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080. Slot Width splits them by another 35%, again favouring NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080. They match on 4 other specifications, including gpu brand, tier and boost clock. In Blender Cycles (GPU) the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB scores 4,529 against 2,280 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, a lead of 50%.
Specs
| Specification |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Brand | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| Series | GeForce RTX 20 | GeForce RTX 30 |
| Board Partner | NVIDIA Founders Edition | NVIDIA Founders Edition, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac, EVGA (legacy) |
| VRAM | 8 GB-33% | 12 GB |
| Tier | High-End | High-End |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR6X |
| Boost Clock | 1710 MHz | 1710 MHz |
| Ray Tracing Support | true | true |
| TDP | 215 W | 350 W-63% |
| Architecture | Turing | Ampere |
| Card Length | 267 mm | 313 mm-17% |
| Slot Width | 2 | 2.7-35% |
| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit-33% | 384 bit |
| Power Connector | 1x 8-pin, 1x 6-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| CUDA Cores | 2944 | 8960 |
| PCIe Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |
| Display Outputs | 3x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 1x USB-C (VirtualLink) | 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, 1x HDMI 2.1 |
Benchmarks
Measured results, not specifications. Percentages are the gap to the leading product in each test.
Blender Cycles (GPU)
Blender 4.5, Blender Open Data (CC0). Median of monster + junkshop + classroom, combined samples/min.
Blender renders 3D scenes by tracing light through them, which loads every shader unit on the card at once. The score measures sustained render throughput, so it tells you what a card does in Cycles and similar renderers rather than what it does in a game. Figures come from Blender's Open Data project, which places no restriction on reuse, and we publish the median of every submission for that card on the same Blender version.
Verdict
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
5.3 / 10 Expert Rating
A historically important card for introducing RT and DLSS, but the weakest implementation of both; buy the Super refresh instead if pricing is close.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
8.2 / 10 Expert Rating
A genuinely better RTX 3080 - the extra VRAM and bandwidth make it the version to look for on the secondhand market over the original 10GB card.
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