NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7800 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 7800 XT |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 624 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8960 | 3840 |
| Boost Clock | 1845 MHz | 2430 MHz |
| TDP | 350W | 263W |
| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 3.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,797 | 4,154 |
| Best Price | $799 | $499 |
| Value Score | 38/100 | 64/100 |
Verdict
The AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is the clear winner — it offers both better performance and better value.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT: Which Should You Buy?
These two land on top of each other: 105.8 fps versus 102.3 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.
Pricing settles it: the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is both faster and 60% cheaper at $499 versus $799. There is no scenario in this pairing where the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is the better buy at these prices.
Two things beyond raw speed: AMD Radeon RX 7800 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 7800 XT draws 87W less (263W versus 350W), which can mean a smaller PSU and a quieter case.