Today Nvidia is allowing us to lift the lid on GeForce RTX 4080 performance figures and this huge, expensive, but ultimately extremely powerful – the second Ada Lovelace architecture GPU to be released behind the RTX 4090 – will set you back a minimum of $1,199. Let’s see the Comparision, Nvidia RTX 4080 Vs RTX 4090 Vs RTX 3090 Ti: Which Should You Buy?
| NVIDIA | RTX 4090 | RTX 3090Ti | RTX 4080 |
| Boost Frequency | 2.52GHz | 1.86GHz | 2.5GHz |
| Cuda Cores | 16384 | 10752 | 9728 |
| Tensor Cores | 512 (4th Gen) | 336 (3rd Gen) | 304 (4th Gen) |
| RT Cores | 128 (3rd Gen) | 84 (2nd Gen) | 76 (3rd Gen) |
| Memory Bus | 384-bit | 384-bit | 256-bit |
| Dedicated Memory | 24GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6X |
| L2 Cache Size | 73728 kb | 6144 kb | 65536 kb |
| TDP | 450 W | 450 W | 320 W |
| Launch Price | $1599 | $1999 | $1199 |
The specifications are interesting because in a lot of ways the RTX 4080 is a lesser card than the likes of the RT 3090 Ti – a narrower memory bus, less memory, fewer Cuda cores – but trounces it with a massive 2.5GHz peak boost frequency, next-generation Tensor and RT cores and an L2 cache ten times the size. There’s also DLSS 3.0 that for now is RTX 4000-only.
Is my case big enough?
This is a big graphics card and the same size as the RTX 4090 – at least in Founders Edition guise. it’s 5.4in wide, requires three PCI slots, and has plenty of clearance underneath for cooling. It’s also 12 inches long. Most standard cases will be fine, but it’s worth checking these requirements, especially with smaller cases.
Test system and benchmarks
The test system uses the Nvidia release driver for the RTX 4080 and the latest drivers as of November 10th and 14th for other Nvidia and AMD cards along with a fully up-to-date version of Windows 11. I used an Intel Core i9-12900K, an Asus ROG Strix Z690 Apex motherboard, Kingston 6,000MHz Fury DDR5 memory, a Kingston Fury Renegade SSD, and Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1350W PSU.
Other GPUs were the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti OC, courtesy of Palit in the form of its GameRock models, and AMD RX 6950 XT.
Another interesting note is that there are two variants of the RTX 4080: one with 16GB of GDDR6X memory, which will retail for $1,199, and another with 12GB of GDDR6X memory that will cost $899. This would not be the first time Nvidia did this, as the company released two different versions of its RTX 3080 graphics cards – the launch model included 10GB of memory, while another version released nearly two years later included 12GB of memory.
But memory (and pricing) isn’t the only difference between the two RTX 4080 variants. The 16GB model has more RT, Tensor, and CUDA cores and requires at least 750W of power. In contrast, the 12GB model has a higher base and boost clock and requires at least 700W of power.
If anything the RTX 4080 has reaffirmed what a monstrously fast graphics card the RTX 4090 is, with it enjoying lofty leads in a lot of games. However, the RTX 4080 was also quicker than anticipated, sticking close to the flagship in a lot of benchmarks and often enjoying huge leads over the RTX 3090 Ti, leaving a huge gulf between it and the RTX 3080.
There isn’t much left to say other than this is a huge, powerful, and extremely expensive way to add a graphics card to your gaming PC, but with the addition of a reasonably quiet cooler, low temperatures, and a potentially very useful feature in DLSS 3.0, the RTX 4080 certainly won’t disappoint if you can afford it. Of course, it’s also worth waiting to see what AMD has in store with its RTX 7900 XTX that’s released soon.
Benchmarks
First up is Rainbow Six Extraction and at 1440p both new RTX 40 cards were outrageously fast, but the RTX 4090 had a significant lead over the RTX 4080. However, the latter was again much faster than the next best card, which was the AMD RX 6950 XT followed closely by the RTX 3090 Ti.
Rainbow Six Extraction 2560 x 1440, Ultra Settings
Stepping up to 4K below and the RTX 4080 was again a lot faster than any other card except the RTX 4090, which again enjoyed a huge advantage. Still, the RTX 3090 Ti was well and truly beaten by the new card which added more than 20fps to the minimum 99th percentile frame rate and also a 58 percent improvement over the RTX 3080.
Rainbow Six Extraction, 4K, Ultra Settings
Finally at 4K but with DLSS enabled in balanced mode, again the RTX 4080 was much faster than the RTX 3090 Ti while the RTX 4090 was even faster, edging out a significant lead.
Rainbow Six Extraction, 4K, Ultra Settings, DLSS
Next in Forza Horizon 5, which certainly favors AMD handing second and third place to RX 6900 GPUs, the RTX 4080 had a decidedly average minimum 99th percentile, but a much more competitive average frame rate that was second overall.
Forza Horizon 5, 2560 x 1440, Ultra Settings, Ray Tracing
Stepping up to 4K saw the RTX 4080 leapfrog the RX 6900 XT and would be the pick over the RX 6950 XT given it offered a much higher average frame rate again. However, there wasn’t as big a difference between it and previous generation RTX cards as in other games.
Forza Horizon 5, 4K, Ultra Settings, Ray Tracing
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, High Settings, 2560 x 1440
4K was a similar picture although with a greater difference between the RTX 4080 and RTX 3080 -not enough to warrant the upgrade costs though.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, High Settings, 4K
Adding in DLSS didn’t help much seeing as bottlenecks were still hampering things, but a few frames were added mostly to the average frame rates in some cases.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, High Settings, 4K, DLSS
The ray tracing performance of the RTX 4080 was on full display here in Metro Exodus and here the average frame rates again impressed the most, streaking off into the distance with the RTX 4090 has more of a lead on the minimum 99th percentile over the RTX 4080. There were some significant gains for the RTX 4080 over previous generation cards too
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition, Ultra, 2560 x 1440, Hairworks off, Ray Tracing Ultra
At 4K the RTX 4090 edged a bigger lead, but the RTX 4080 was still significantly faster than other cards, with a 21 percent lead over the RTX 3090 Ti’s minimum 99th percentile.
Watch Dogs: Legion, 2560 x 1440, DXR
At 4K it was again an impressive showing, this time hitting a 34 percent lead over the RTX 3090 Ti and 72 percent over the RTX 3080, again with the RTX 4090 giving everything a bloody nose.
Halo Infinite Campaign, Ultra Settings, 4K
DLSS has established itself as a highly useful and worthwhile feature and in Flight Simulator, frame rates are king, especially if you’re more concerned about responsiveness than anything else. With DLSS 3.0, as discussed in the RTX 4090 review, games like this that are bottlenecked by other areas of the system benefit massively. Here, a different benchmark to the one above due to the limited nature of the Nvidia beta that enables DLSS 3.0, although this should be a native feature as you read this courtesy of the new 40th Anniversary Update package.
This is the way to get big frame rate improvements in Flight Simulator, nearly doubling the performance by not using DLSS at all, and even at 4K, you’re getting frame rates that will cater to most high refresh rate monitors too.
Cyberpunk 2077 (beta), 4K, High Settings, Ray tracing
Power consumption is high but actually less than the RTX 3080 and far less than the RTX 3090, so in terms of bang for your watt, the RTX 4080 packs a punch and likely won’t need a power supply upgrade.
System power consumption (watts)
Temperatures usually hovered around 60°C, and with the power draw above you’d kind of hope to see such low gaming temperatures given the absolutely enormous cooler. In fact, I’d sooner see a smaller cooler and add 10°C to that temperature.
Conclusions
If anything the RTX 4080 has reaffirmed what a monstrously fast graphics card the RTX 4090 is, with it enjoying lofty leads in a lot of games. However, the RTX 4080 was also quicker than anticipated, sticking close to the flagship in a lot of benchmarks and often enjoying huge leads over the RTX 3090 Ti, leaving a huge gulf between it and the RTX 3080.
There isn’t much left to say other than this is a huge, powerful, and extremely expensive way to add a graphics card to your gaming PC, but with the addition of a reasonably quiet cooler, low temperatures, and a potentially very useful feature in DLSS 3.0, the RTX 4080 certainly won’t disappoint if you can afford it. Of course, it’s also worth waiting to see what AMD has in store with its RTX 7900 XTX that’s released soon.