[Comparison] NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (Laptop, 130W) vs RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) – The RTX 3080 wins, but the RTX 3070 doesn’t go down without a fight
The new RTX 3000-series GPUs hit the market and we have already received some devices with them, so have had the ability to perform our own tests and provide a deeper level of insight into the performance of the GPUs. For today we have the RTX 3080 and the RTX 3070.
Both graphics cards are mobile units and have the same Power consumption on 130W, so they are evenly matched. Of course, the RTX 3080 has a higher core count and other characteristics, since it is a flagship GPU. The RTX 3070, on the other hand, is both a powerful card, that is cheaper and is honestly one of the best bank for the buck GPUs that you can buy.
Here is our Top Laptop Graphics Ranking, where you can see that the RTX 3080 recently secured the #1 spot.
You can find more information about both GPUs here: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (Laptop, 130W) / NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W)
Specs table
RTX 3080 (Laptop, 130W) | RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | |
---|---|---|
Architecture | Ampere | Turing |
Lithography | 8 nm | 8 nm |
Base / Max Frequency | 1110MHz / 1545MHz | 1110MHz / 1560MHz |
Memory Type | GDDR6-1500MHz | GDDR6-1750MHz |
Memory capacity | up to 16GB | 8GB |
Cores | 6144 | 5120 |
Power Consumption | 130W | 130W |
Memory bus | 256-bit | 256-bit |
Memory bandwidth | 384 GB/sec | 384 GB/sec |
GPU benchmarks
It doesn’t surprise us that the RTX 3080 performed better, but what was truly phenomenal to see was how close the RTX 3070 was, considering the price difference between the two. The RTX 3080 was 8% faster in 3DMark Fire Strike and scored 10% higher in Unigine Superposition.
Results are from the 3DMark: Time Spy (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Conclusion
The RTX 3080 is undoubtedly the faster GPU, and there is no question about it. However, the RTX 3070 will do everything just fine and you can get it for less, so the question arises: Is the RTX 3080 necessary? With every single generation, GPU performance increases, and right now you max out games with the 3070 at high enough resolutions so the RTX 3080, and even the RTX 3090 become more of a statement piece, one that you buy not for the performance, but for the prestige and exclusivity that comes with owning one.