Nvidia RTX 4070 vs RTX 3080: Is the last-gen GPU better for gaming?

The RTX 4070 12 GB video card is Nvidia's latest creation. The GPU is now available for purchase at $599. This makes it almost as costly as the RTX 3080 10 GB, launched for a similar price. The graphics card is now over two and a half years old and can be purchased for much cheaper in the second-hand market. Thus, it might prove to be a better deal over the new card from the company.

It is worth noting that gamers must look at the graphics cards' performance and pricing before finalizing their next rendering powerhouse. RTX 3080 has generally been scalped and used for mining.

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The Nvidia RTX 4070 falls apart when compared to the last-gen RTX 3080

The last-gen RTX 3080 continues to be a very competent card even years after it was introduced to the gaming market. Although the GPU isn't as impressive in 4K, scaling the resolution down to QHD works wonders. Thus, it is no surprise that the video card offers steep competition to the newly introduced model.

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Specs

A glance at the specs table reveals that the RTX 3080 is a beefier card in terms of on-paper specs. The GPU is based on a larger die, packs more CUDA and RT cores, and has a much higher memory bandwidth.

However, one also needs to factor in the improvements the new Geforce 40 series lineup has introduced into the market. Efficiency is at the center of the new lineup. The Ada Lovelace card is all about achieving much higher performance marks without relying on the hefty underlying hardware.

Thus, it is no surprise that with a much lower power budget and weaker advertised specs, the RTX 4070 gets very close and even beats the 3080 in terms of overall performance.

Comparison factors	Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070	Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080
Market (main)	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	2023 Q2	2020 Q3
Model number	AD104-250-A1	GA102-200-KD-A1
GPU name	AD104	GA102
Architecture	Ada Lovelace	Ampere
Generation	GeForce 40	GeForce 30
Lithography	4 nm	8 nm
Transistors	35,800,000,000	28,300,000,000
Bus interface	PCIe 4.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
GPU base clock	1,920 MHz	1,440 MHz
GPU boost clock	2,475 MHz	1,710 MHz
Memory frequency	1,313 MHz	1,188 MHz
Effective memory speed	21 Gbps	19Gbps
Memory size	12 GB	10 GB
Memory type	GDDR6X	GDDR6X
Memory bus	192 bit	320 bit
Memory bandwidth	504.2 GB/s	760.3 GB/s
TDP	200 W	320 W
Suggested PSU	600W ATX Power Supply	700W ATX Power Supply
Outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Cores (compute units, SM, SMX)	46	468
Shading units (CUDA Cores)	5888	8704
TMUs	184	272
ROPs	64	96
RT cores	46	68
Cache memory	36 MB	22 MB
Pixel fillrate	158.4 GP/s	164.2 GP/s
Texture fillrate	455.4 GT/s	465.1 GT/s
Performance FP16 (half)	29.1 TFLOPS	29.77 TFLOPS
Performance FP32 (float)	29.1 TFLOPS	29.77 TFLOPS
Performance FP64 (double)	455.4 GFLOPS	465.1 GFLOPS

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Performance difference

The rendering prowess of the new Ada Lovelace-based GPUs is shown off in gaming performance. However, the new graphics card didn't win the performance crown.

While the RTX 40 series card takes a slight lead in rasterization performance-heavy titles like Resident Evil 4 Remake, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Forza Horizon 5, RTX 3080 is only barely slower.

In addition, the older graphics card ends up beating the RTX 4070 12 GB in ray tracing-heavy games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy. Even though the 3rd gen RT cores are far more capable, the much higher core count of the older 80-class GPU pays off in certain scenarios.

	Nvidia RTX 4070 12GB	Nvidia RTX 3080 10GB
Spider-Man: Miles Morales	80 FPS	77 FPS
Red Dead Redemption 2	104 FPS	96 FPS
Forza Horizon 5	114 FPS	99 FPS
Resident Evil 4 Remake	96 FPS	88 FPS
The Last of US Part 1	68 FPS	69 FPS
A Plague Tale Requiem	64 FPS	64 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	57 FPS	61 FPS
Hogwarts Legacy	51 FPS	53 FPS

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Pricing

It may be hard to choose between the RTX 4070 and 3080 just by looking at their performance. Thus, it is necessary to judge the cards by their price.

The pricing of RTX 3080 is all over the place. The cheapest models start from around $670 on Newegg, which is $70 over its launch MSRP. In comparison, multiple RTX 4070 models are available for $599.

However, the RTX 3080 can also be bought from the used market — an advantage the 40 series card doesn't have. Multiple 3080 models can be bought for around $350-400, thereby playing the UNO reverse card on the RTX 4070.

If you are fine with a slightly used GPU, the RTX 3080 simply makes more sense than the latest launch from Team Green. However, if that's not the case, the RTX 4070 is a better deal to opt for.