Nvidia's Geforce RTX 3080 and RTX 4080 graphics cards are both trendy releases in the gaming community. The former was released in 2020 and quickly became a sought-after product for its high performance and amazing features such as Ray Tracing.
Two years later, Nvidia released the RTX 4080 with improved specs and capabilities. In this article, we'll compare the two GPUs and see how they stack up against each other in 2023. We'll look at their specs, performance, and features to determine which is the best choice for gamers and enthusiasts.
Disclaimer: This article reflects the opinions of the writer. It contains affiliate links for the products mentioned.
Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 vs RTX 4080 comparison, features, and more
Specification
Initially, the RTX 3080 was launched at an amazing price point of $699 and saw a tremendous response from consumers due to its powerful performance and affordability. When the RTX 4080 arrived in 2022 at a premium price point of $1,199, there were questions about whether it was worth it or not, but it still got sold well enough.
Let's explore more about these two GPUs and how they stand against each other today. Before moving on to the details, here are the technical specs for both GPUs:
Performance
The RTX 3080 is a top-of-the-line graphics card that features cutting-edge Nvidia Ampere architecture. It offers an immersive and realistic gaming experience with its second generation ray tracing capabilities, which deliver accurate lighting and reflections in-game.
The card also leverages AI to enhance performance through DLSS technology, providing smoother gameplay and improved image quality. The low system latency of Nvidia reflex further enhances the gaming experience by reducing input lag. The RTX 3080 is also optimized for live streaming, with its powerful Nvidia encoder making it easier to broadcast gameplay and other content.
On the other hand, the RTX 4080 is based on Ada Lovelace architecture, offering improved performance and efficiency, which is up to two times more than its predecessor.
It also includes advanced cooling and customizable ARGB lighting, along with multiple fan options. The card is also 8K ready, capable of supporting up to four displays, and is compatible with HDCP 2.3 and VR technology.
Better buy
Although both can offer quite good performance in almost all high-end games without any lag or heating issues, there are some questions about better-value GPUs due to the current pricing and availability.
At present, Nvidia RTX 3080 (Buy from Amazon) will cost you almost $1000 on most of the online marketplaces, whereas the RTX 4080 (Buy from Amazon) is available at $1199. Based on this pricing, there is no doubt in going for the latter since you'll be getting almost double the performance of its older version of GPUs at just $200 more.
However, if there are price drops in the future or if you can manage to get the Nvidia RTX 3080 at its original price, it's a better value purchase than the new RTX 4080. It's also important to note that it is using the new DLSS 3 technology, which will give a performance boost to most of the games.
Unfortunately, you don't have this technology on the 30-series GPUs so it's on you to decide whether or not to spend those extra dollars on the RTX 4080.