NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
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 | GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 10GB GDDR6X | 12GB GDDR6X |
| Memory Bandwidth | 760 GB/s | 912.4 GB/s |
| Shaders | 8704 | 8960 |
| Boost Clock | 1710 MHz | 1845 MHz |
| TDP | 320W | 350W |
| Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 4,427 | 4,797 |
| Best Price | $699 | $799 |
| Value Score | 35/100 | 38/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is faster but costs more. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 offers better value for money. Your choice depends on budget vs. performance priority.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB: Which Should You Buy?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is 6% faster at 1440p ultra (102.3 fps against 96.4 fps). That is roughly one settings notch — enough to matter if you are chasing a specific refresh rate, not enough to rescue a bad price.
You pay a 14% premium for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB ($799 against $699) to get 6% more frames. The extra frames do not keep up with the extra cost — the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the better value here.
Two things beyond raw speed: 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.