NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
Side-by-side benchmark comparison, specs, pricing, and value analysis.
Benchmark Comparison
Gaming figures are average frames per second, measured by Tom's Hardware GPU hierarchy. Geometric mean of 15 games, ultra settings, no upscaling. Ray tracing figures are DXR-enabled at 1440p. A dash means the card was not tested at that resolution. Productivity and Steel Nomad are synthetic scores on their own scales and are not comparable to the fps columns.
Specifications
| Spec | GeForce GTX 1080 | GeForce RTX 3060 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 8GB GDDR5X | 12GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 320 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| Shaders | 2560 | 3584 |
| Boost Clock | 1733 MHz | 1777 MHz |
| TDP | 180W | 170W |
| Architecture | Pascal | Ampere |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 1,561 | 1,965 |
| Best Price | $599 | $250 |
| Value Score | 13/100 | 54/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is the clear winner — it offers both better performance and better value.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060: Which Should You Buy?
This is not a close race. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 delivers 54 fps at 1440p ultra to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080's 39.4 fps, a 37% gap. Only pick the slower card if it is dramatically cheaper or you need it for a lower resolution.
Pricing settles it: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is both faster and 140% cheaper at $250 versus $599. There is no scenario in this pairing where the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 is the better buy at these prices.
Two things beyond raw speed: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 carries 12GB against 8GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 8GB cards age badly; and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 is 5 years newer (2021 versus 2016), so it gets longer driver support and newer upscaling and frame generation features.