AMD Radeon 680M vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Comparison

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and AMD Radeon 680M occupy opposite ends of the hardware spectrum: a 2017 flagship discrete card versus a 2023 integrated graphics processor. Their average benchmark scores—15548 for the GTX 1080 Ti and 15270 for the Radeon 680M—are remarkably close, placing both within 0.2% of each other in overall standing. Yet the head-to-head results reveal a decisive performance gap in raw compute and modern API workloads, with the older NVIDIA card dominating every shared test.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most lopsided result comes from the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the GTX 1080 Ti scores 2231 against the Radeon 680M’s 378. That is a 490.2% advantage—the NVIDIA card delivers more than five times the frame throughput in this demanding DirectX 12 scenario. The gap is so large that the Radeon 680M’s score falls below the GTX 1080 Ti’s PassMark DirectX 9 result of 231, though that comparison crosses different test suites.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 1080 Ti posts 67929 points versus 23468 for the Radeon 680M, a 189.5% lead. This measures general-purpose compute performance, where the discrete card’s 3584 shading units and 11.34 TFLOPS FP32 throughput overwhelm the integrated part’s 768 shading units and 3.379 TFLOPS. The Vulkan API test narrows the margin somewhat: 40511 for NVIDIA against 21965 for AMD, still an 84.4% win for the GTX 1080 Ti. Vulkan’s lower overhead helps the Radeon 680M close some ground, but not enough to threaten the older card.

The GTX 1080 Ti wins all three head-to-head benchmarks, giving it a clean 3-0 record. The Radeon 680M’s best showing is its Vulkan result, where it achieves 54.2% of the NVIDIA card’s score—a respectable fraction for an IGP, but still a decisive loss. Notably, the Radeon 680M lacks any PassMark or Geekbench Metal results in the data, so its average score of 15270 relies on just three tests, while the GTX 1080 Ti’s average draws from eleven benchmarks.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The GTX 1080 Ti uses NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture on a 16 nm TSMC process, packing 11,800 million transistors into a 471 mm² die. The Radeon 680M employs AMD’s RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 6 nm TSMC node, with 13,100 million transistors in a much smaller 208 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story: 63.0M per mm² for the Radeon 680M versus 25.1M per mm² for the GTX 1080 Ti, reflecting the newer manufacturing process.

Memory configurations could not differ more. The GTX 1080 Ti has 11 GB of dedicated GDDR5X memory on a 352-bit bus, delivering 484.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Radeon 680M uses System Shared memory, with its bus width and bandwidth listed as “System Dependent.” This architecture choice means the IGP’s performance scales with the host system’s memory speed, while the discrete card’s bandwidth is fixed and far higher.

Shader resources also diverge sharply. The GTX 1080 Ti features 3584 shading units, 224 texture mapping units, and 88 render output units. The Radeon 680M has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. This translates to pixel rates of 139.2 GPixel/s versus 70.40 GPixel/s, and texture rates of 354.4 GTexel/s versus 105.6 GTexel/s. The GTX 1080 Ti nearly doubles the pixel fill rate and more than triples the texture throughput.

Clock speeds and power efficiency tell the opposite story. The Radeon 680M runs at a 2000 MHz base and 2200 MHz boost, far above the GTX 1080 Ti’s 1481 MHz base and 1582 MHz boost. The IGP’s 50 W TDP is a fraction of the discrete card’s 250 W TDP, making it dramatically more efficient per watt—though the data does not provide a direct performance-per-watt comparison. The GTX 1080 Ti requires dual-slot cooling, a 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin power connector, and a 600 W suggested PSU, while the Radeon 680M needs no power connectors and fits as an IGP.

Feature sets reflect their eras. The GTX 1080 Ti supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Radeon 680M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), adding features like hardware ray tracing via its 12 RT cores—something the Pascal card lacks entirely. Both support Vulkan 1.4 and OpenGL 4.6, but the Radeon 680M’s RDNA 2.0 architecture enables modern rendering pipelines that the GTX 1080 Ti cannot accelerate in hardware.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti averages 15548 across eleven benchmarks, while the Radeon 680M averages 15270 across three tests—a difference of just 1.8%, placing them nearly equal in overall standing.

Q: How much faster is the GTX 1080 Ti in DirectX 12?

A: In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the GTX 1080 Ti scores 2231 versus 378 for the Radeon 680M, a 490.2% advantage.

Q: Does the Radeon 680M have any architectural advantage?

A: Yes, it uses RDNA 2.0 on a 6 nm process with 12 RT cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 1080 Ti’s Pascal architecture lacks ray tracing cores and only supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: What is the memory bandwidth difference?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti has 484.4 GB/s from 11 GB of GDDR5X on a 352-bit bus, while the Radeon 680M uses System Shared memory with bandwidth described as “System Dependent.”

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The Radeon 680M has a 50 W TDP and requires no power connectors, whereas the GTX 1080 Ti has a 250 W TDP and needs 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors with a 600 W suggested PSU.

Q: How do their compute capabilities compare?

A: The GTX 1080 Ti delivers 11.34 TFLOPS FP32 and 177.2 GFLOPS FP16 (1:64), while the Radeon 680M offers 3.379 TFLOPS FP32 and 6.758 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1)—the AMD part is far stronger in FP16 relative to its FP32 output.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every measurable specification. Process node: 16 nm for the GTX 1080 Ti versus 6 nm for the Radeon 680M. Transistors: 11,800 million versus 13,100 million. Die size: 471 mm² versus 208 mm². Transistor density: 25.1M / mm² versus 63.0M / mm².

Clock speeds: the GTX 1080 Ti runs at 1481 MHz base and 1582 MHz boost, while the Radeon 680M runs at 2000 MHz base and 2200 MHz boost. Memory: 11 GB GDDR5X on a 352-bit bus with 484.4 GB/s bandwidth for NVIDIA, versus System Shared memory with System Dependent bandwidth for AMD.

Compute resources: 3584 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 88 ROPs for the GTX 1080 Ti, against 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the Radeon 680M. The GTX 1080 Ti has no RT cores; the Radeon 680M has 12. Pixel rate: 139.2 GPixel/s versus 70.40 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 354.4 GTexel/s versus 105.6 GTexel/s. FP32: 11.34 TFLOPS versus 3.379 TFLOPS. FP16: 177.2 GFLOPS (1:64) versus 6.758 TFLOPS (2:1).

Power and physical specs: 250 W TDP, dual-slot, 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connectors, 600 W suggested PSU, and dimensions of 267 mm length, 112 mm height, and 40 mm width for the GTX 1080 Ti, versus 50 W TDP, IGP slot width, no power connectors, no suggested PSU, and no listed dimensions for the Radeon 680M.

Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA, PCIe 4.0 x8 for AMD. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0 plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for NVIDIA, “Portable Device Dependent” for AMD. The GTX 1080 Ti is end-of-life with a launch MSRP of 699 USD; the Radeon 680M is active with no launch MSRP. The GTX 1080 Ti’s predecessor is GeForce 900 and successor is GeForce 20; the Radeon 680M’s predecessor is Vega II IGP and successor is Navi III IGP.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 1080 Ti wins decisively in raw performance and memory bandwidth. Its 484.4 GB/s dedicated GDDR5X bandwidth makes it far superior for high-resolution gaming, heavy texture workloads, and any application that benefits from large, fast memory pools. Its 11.34 TFLOPS FP32 throughput and 354.4 GTexel/s texture rate give it a massive edge in traditional rasterization and compute-heavy tasks. The 490.2% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 demonstrates its dominance in modern DirectX 12 gaming, and its 189.5% OpenCL advantage shows clear superiority in general compute. The GTX 1080 Ti also holds the edge in Vulkan performance by 84.4%, making it the better choice for any workload that leverages these APIs.

The Radeon 680M wins on efficiency, modern features, and portability. Its 50 W TDP versus 250 W allows deployment in thin-and-light devices with no power connectors, making it the only viable option for laptops and compact systems. The 6 nm process and 63.0M / mm² transistor density represent a generational leap in manufacturing efficiency. Its 12 RT cores and DirectX 12 Ultimate support enable hardware ray tracing and the latest rendering features that the GTX 1080 Ti cannot accelerate. The FP16 throughput of 6.758 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 177.2 GFLOPS (1:64) gives it a massive relative advantage in half-precision workloads, which matters for AI inference and certain compute tasks. The Radeon 680M also wins on bus interface, supporting PCIe 4.0 x8 versus PCIe 3.0 x16, and on production status as an active product versus the GTX 1080 Ti’s end-of-life designation.

For use-case selection: choose the GTX 1080 Ti for desktop gaming at high resolutions, GPU compute, or any workload requiring sustained high bandwidth and FP32 throughput. Choose the Radeon 680M for mobile computing, ray-traced effects, or applications that prioritize power efficiency and modern API support over raw rasterization performance. The data shows two very different tools: a retired heavyweight champion and a current lightweight contender, each suited to its own arena.