GeForce RTX 3080 vs Radeon RX 9070
The Radeon RX 9070 is a big jump in performance — leading the GeForce RTX 3080 by roughly 29% in our performance index. It also comes out ahead on value, making it the straightforward pick if the price fits your budget.
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Radeon RX 9070 vs GeForce RTX 3080: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Radeon RX 9070 vs GeForce RTX 3080
The Radeon RX 9070 is significantly faster, around 29% ahead of the GeForce RTX 3080. That gap is enough to move it up a tier: the Radeon RX 9070 is comfortable at 4K with upscaling and native 1440p, while the GeForce RTX 3080 is better matched to 1440p.
Price & Value
On price, expect to pay $485 EUR for the Radeon RX 9070 versus $629 EUR for the GeForce RTX 3080. Because it's both faster and competitively priced, the Radeon RX 9070 wins on performance-per-dollar by about 67%. The Radeon RX 9070 is trading below its $549 EUR MSRP — a genuine deal. The GeForce RTX 3080 is trading below its $699 EUR MSRP — a genuine deal.
Power & Efficiency
The Radeon RX 9070 draws just 220W versus 320W for the GeForce RTX 3080, and it also delivers more performance per watt — so it runs cooler and quieter and needs less PSU headroom. Its more modern RDNA 4 architecture on a TSMC N4 process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
With 16GB against 10GB, the Radeon RX 9070 has more headroom for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative/AI tasks where the GeForce RTX 3080's 10GB can fall short.
Generation & Longevity
The Radeon RX 9070 is roughly 5 years newer than the GeForce RTX 3080 (RDNA 4 vs Ampere), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Features & Ecosystem
Beyond raw numbers, the GeForce RTX 3080 brings NVIDIA DLSS upscaling/frame generation and stronger ray tracing, while the Radeon RX 9070 offers AMD FSR upscaling and strong rasterization value. If you lean on upscaling or ray tracing, that ecosystem difference can matter as much as the frame-rate gap.
Which should you buy: GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 9070?
The Radeon RX 9070 is the all-round winner here — it's faster and the better value, so buy it if it fits your budget. Only consider the GeForce RTX 3080 if you find it at a steep discount.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Radeon RX 9070 better than the GeForce RTX 3080?
Which is better for 4K gaming, the GeForce RTX 3080 or the Radeon RX 9070?
Is the GeForce RTX 3080 worth the extra $144 EUR over the Radeon RX 9070?
Does the Radeon RX 9070 have enough VRAM advantage to matter?
Which should you buy: GeForce RTX 3080 or Radeon RX 9070?
Technical Specifications Comparison
Architecture & Cores
| Specification | GeForce RTX 3080 | Radeon RX 9070 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Ampere | RDNA 4 |
| Process Node | Samsung 8nm | TSMC N4 |
| CUDA Cores (CUDA Cores / Stream Processors) | 8,704✓ | 3,584 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 68✓ | 56 |
| Tensor / AI Cores | 272✓ | 112 |
Clock Speeds
| Specification | GeForce RTX 3080 | Radeon RX 9070 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 1,440 MHz✓ | 1,330 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1,710 MHz | 2,520 MHz✓ |
Memory
| Specification | GeForce RTX 3080 | Radeon RX 9070 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 10 GB | 16 GB✓ |
| Memory Type | GDDR6X | GDDR6 |
| Memory Bus | 320-bit✓ | 256-bit |
| Memory Speed | 19 Gbps | 20 Gbps✓ |
| Bandwidth | 760 GB/s✓ | 644.6 GB/s |
Connectivity & Power
| Specification | GeForce RTX 3080 | Radeon RX 9070 |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x16 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |
| TDP | 320 W | 220 W✓ |
| Power Connectors | 1x 12-pin | 2x 8-pin |
| Released | Sep 2020 | Mar 2025 |
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