NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
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 RTX 3080 12 GB | Radeon RX 6800 XT |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 512 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8960 | 4608 |
| Boost Clock | 1845 MHz | 2250 MHz |
| TDP | 350W | 300W |
| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 2.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,797 | 3,675 |
| Best Price | $799 | $649 |
| Value Score | 38/100 | 38/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is faster but costs more. The AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT offers better value for money. Your choice depends on budget vs. performance priority.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT: Which Should You Buy?
These two land on top of each other: 102.3 fps versus 99 fps at 1440p ultra, a 3% difference you will not notice in a game. The decision comes down to price, VRAM and power draw rather than speed.
You pay a 23% premium for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB ($799 against $649) to get 3% more frames. The extra frames do not keep up with the extra cost — the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is the better value here.
Two things beyond raw speed: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT carries 16GB against 12GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 12GB cards age badly; and the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT draws 50W less (300W versus 350W), which can mean a smaller PSU and a quieter case; and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is 2 years newer (2022 versus 2020), so it gets longer driver support and newer upscaling and frame generation features.