How does Nvidia RTX 4080 compare to RTX 3090? Benchmarks, specs, and more explained

The RTX 4080, the second-most powerful GPU, is mostly sold out at major retailers. Scalpers are flipping the card on eBay for $1,700 and up. Gamers eyeing the GPU should wait another week before the inventory normalizes.

Amidst these conditions, many users are considering last-gen flagships over the latest and greatest. Multiple high-end RTX 30 series and RX 6000 series models have dropped in price.

The $1,599 RTX 3090 is trading for as low as $947 at major retailers. However, gamers should keep a few points in mind and make an informed decision before finalizing their GPU.

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By how much does the RTX 4080 pull ahead of the last-gen RTX 3090?

The 4080 and the 3090 are enthusiast-class graphics cards. Both GPUs offer unmatched flagship-level performance in high resolution.

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Specs

The RTX 3090 is a solid card. It is characterized by the flagship GA102 processor that packs 10,496 CUDA cores, 328 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs),112 render output units (ROPs), and 24 GB of GDDR6X memory based on a wide 384-bit bus,

In contrast, the RTX 4080 16 GB — the only 4080 right now — is a massive step down from the flagship 4090. It is characterized by a smaller and slower AD103 processor with 9,728 CUDA cores, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, and 16 GB of GDDR6X memory based on a narrower 256-bit bus.

	Nvidia RTX 3090	Nvidia RTX 4080
CUDA core count	10,496	9,728
Tensor cores	328	304
RT cores	82	76
Base clock	1,395 MHz	2,205 MHz
Boost clock	1,695 MHz	2,505 MHz
VRAM	24 GB GDDR6X	16 GB GDDR6X
VRAM bus width	384 bit	256 bit
Total board power (TBP)	350 W	320 W

On paper, the RTX 4080 looks like an engineering abomination. A glance at the specs might suggest that the 3090 is a more capable card.

However, in real life, the 4080 benefits from the improved Ada Lovelace architecture. Gamers can expect anywhere between 25% to 30% more performance with the new graphics card, depending on the game it is being benchmarked in. The difference will be larger in games that utilize pure rasterization performance.

Another solid contender to the 3090 and the 4080 is the Radeon RX 6950 XT. The graphics card currently sells for around $800 and is cheaper. However, it managed to beat the RTX 3090 in most scenarios. However, the RX 6000 series is bloated with slower ray tracing performance and driver support.

The 3090 also has a less power-efficient design. The card pulls up to 350 W under full load. The RTX 4080, in contrast, is rated for a total board power (TBP) of 320 W. However, according to some reviews, the card draws around 250 W in most workloads.

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Conclusion

With the current price reduction, the RTX 3090 can be classified as a gaming-class GPU. Thus, the graphics card should be capable of high frames per dollar. However, the steep price tags on both the RTX 4080 and the 3090 do not classify them as good value.

AMD's upcoming $900 RX 7900 XT and the $1000 RX 7900 XTX seem to be more sensible options. Although AMD has promised that its next-gen cards will fix the general issues Team Red GPUs face, only time will tell.

Thus, for now, gamers should hold off upgrading to the next-gen cards for a couple more weeks until the reviews of the RX 7900 series drop.