NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 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 9070 XT |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 640 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8960 | 4096 |
| Boost Clock | 1845 MHz | 2970 MHz |
| TDP | 350W | 304W |
| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 4.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,797 | 7,249 |
| Best Price | $799 | $599 |
| Value Score | 38/100 | 72/100 |
Verdict
The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is the clear winner — it offers both better performance and better value.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT: Which Should You Buy?
This is not a close race. The AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT delivers 129.9 fps at 1440p ultra to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB's 102.3 fps, a 27% gap. Only pick the slower card if it is dramatically cheaper or you need it for a lower resolution.
Pricing settles it: the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is both faster and 33% cheaper at $599 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 9070 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 9070 XT draws 46W less (304W versus 350W), which can mean a smaller PSU and a quieter case; and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT is 3 years newer (2025 versus 2022), so it gets longer driver support and newer upscaling and frame generation features.