AMD Radeon R7 M260X vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB Comparison

# Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two GPUs in this comparison occupy entirely different segments of the graphics landscape, and the benchmark data reflects that divide with stark clarity. The AMD Radeon R7 M260X, a mobile-class part from the GCN 1.0 generation, delivers an average benchmark score of 5161 across its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan results. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, a desktop-class Ampere flagship, posts an average of 4791 in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. However, these scores are not directly comparable because they come from different benchmark suites—the R7 M260X was tested in Geekbench workloads while the RTX 3080 12 GB was evaluated in 3DMark Steel Nomad.

Looking at the raw numbers, the R7 M260X achieves 5690 in Geekbench OpenCL and 4631 in Geekbench Vulkan. The RTX 3080 12 GB scores 4791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The R7 M260X's OpenCL score is 18.7% higher than its own Vulkan result, showing that the GCN 1.0 architecture responds differently to these two APIs. The RTX 3080 12 GB, by contrast, posts a single benchmark result, so its performance profile within that suite cannot be compared to an alternative API workload.

The percentile rankings place both cards in similar territory relative to the broader GPU market. The R7 M260X sits at the 30th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 3080 12 GB ranks at the 28th percentile. This close percentile positioning is misleading, however, because the underlying scores come from different test suites with different performance scales. A 5161 average Geekbench score and a 4791 3DMark score cannot be directly compared as absolute performance figures.

The nearest rivals for each card further illustrate their separate market positions. The R7 M260X is bracketed by the NVIDIA Quadro K3100M (5154, 0.1% slower), the NVIDIA Quadro 4000M (5211, 1% faster), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M (5236, 1.4% faster), and the AMD Radeon R7 240 (5063, 1.9% slower). The RTX 3080 12 GB sits near the AMD Radeon R5 M255 (4788, 0.1% slower), the AMD Radeon R5 M335 (4752, 0.8% slower), the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4844, 1.1% faster), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (4855, 1.3% faster). These rival clusters reveal that each GPU competes in a completely different performance tier, with the R7 M260X trading blows with mid-range mobile parts from 2013-2015 and the RTX 3080 12 GB's benchmark score placing it near entry-level mobile GPUs in the 3DMark Steel Nomad suite.

# Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon R7 M260X wins in scenarios that leverage OpenCL compute workloads. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 5690 represents the highest single benchmark result for either card in this comparison. The Vulkan score of 4631, while lower, still outperforms the RTX 3080 12 GB's 3DMark Steel Nomad result of 4791 in absolute terms—though again, these are different benchmark suites measuring different types of workloads.

The RTX 3080 12 GB wins in modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads, as evidenced by its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score. This benchmark specifically tests DirectX 12 Ultimate features, which the R7 M260X cannot fully support given its DirectX 12 (11_1) API level. The RTX 3080 12 GB also has hardware ray tracing cores and tensor cores, giving it capabilities that the R7 M260X lacks entirely—though the FACT PACK provides no benchmark data for these specific features.

For users running legacy applications or OpenCL-based compute tasks, the R7 M260X's benchmark profile suggests it remains competitive within its peer group. The R7 M260X's 5690 OpenCL score places it comfortably above its nearest rivals, with the closest competitor (NVIDIA Quadro 4000M at 5211) trailing by roughly 9%. In Vulkan workloads, the R7 M260X's 4631 score would position it among its rival cluster, though the FACT PACK does not provide Vulkan scores for those rivals.

The RTX 3080 12 GB's single benchmark result shows it achieving 4791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad, a result that places it just 0.1% above the AMD Radeon R5 M255 and 1.3% below the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M. This suggests that in this specific DX12 test, the RTX 3080 12 GB performs at a level comparable to older mobile GPUs—an unusual finding for a card with 8960 shading units and 70 ray tracing cores, but one that reflects the benchmark's specific workload characteristics.

# Architecture Differences

The two GPUs could not be more different in their underlying architectures. The AMD Radeon R7 M260X uses the Opal chip built on the GCN 1.0 architecture, manufactured on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It contains 950 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.3 million per square millimeter. The GCN 1.0 architecture is AMD's first-generation Graphics Core Next design, which introduced unified shaders and a compute-oriented design philosophy.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB uses the GA102 chip built on the Ampere architecture, manufactured on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.1 million per square millimeter. The Ampere architecture represents a major evolution in NVIDIA's GPU design, incorporating dedicated ray tracing cores and tensor cores for AI acceleration.

The transistor counts represent a 29.8-fold difference between the two chips. The die size difference is 8.2-fold, while the transistor density difference is 3.7-fold, reflecting the more advanced 8 nm process node used for the RTX 3080 12 GB. The GCN 1.0 architecture in the R7 M260X lacks any dedicated ray tracing or tensor hardware, while the RTX 3080 12 GB includes 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores.

The memory architectures differ fundamentally as well. The R7 M260X uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, while the RTX 3080 12 GB uses 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus. The R7 M260X's memory operates at 1000 MHz with 4 Gbps effective speed, producing 64.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3080 12 GB's memory runs at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed, yielding 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth—a 14.3-fold difference.

The compute resources differ by similar magnitudes. The R7 M260X has 384 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 8 raster output units. The RTX 3080 12 GB has 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. This translates to 23.3 times more shading units, 11.7 times more TMUs, and 12 times more ROPs for the NVIDIA part. The pixel rate of the RTX 3080 12 GB is 164.2 GPixel/s versus 5.720 GPixel/s for the R7 M260X, a 28.7-fold difference. The texture rate is 478.8 GTexel/s versus 17.16 GTexel/s, a 27.9-fold difference. FP32 compute is 30.64 TFLOPS versus 549.1 GFLOPS, a 55.8-fold difference.

# Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification field in the FACT PACK. The R7 M260X has a base clock of 620 MHz and a boost clock of 715 MHz, while the RTX 3080 12 GB has a base clock of 1260 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. The R7 M260X draws no additional power connectors, while the RTX 3080 12 GB requires a single 12-pin connector. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a TDP of 350 W and a suggested PSU of 750 W; the R7 M260X has no TDP or suggested PSU listed.

The bus interfaces differ: the R7 M260X uses PCIe 3.0 x8 while the RTX 3080 12 GB uses PCIe 4.0 x16. The R7 M260X's display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," while the RTX 3080 12 GB has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. The RTX 3080 12 GB measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, occupying a dual-slot form factor. The R7 M260X has no dimensions listed.

The API support differs significantly. The R7 M260X supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The RTX 3080 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The FP16 capability also differs: the R7 M260X has no FP16 listing, while the RTX 3080 12 GB achieves 30.64 TFLOPS FP16 with a 1:1 ratio to FP32.

The release dates are separated by roughly six years. The R7 M260X launched on December 5, 2015, while the RTX 3080 12 GB launched on January 10, 2022. Both cards are now end-of-life. The R7 M260X's predecessor is listed as Solar System and its successor as Polaris Mobile; the RTX 3080 12 GB's predecessor is GeForce 20 and successor is GeForce 40. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a launch MSRP of 799 USD.

# FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The AMD Radeon R7 M260X has an average benchmark score of 5161 across its Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan results. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB has an average benchmark score of 4791 from its single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result.

Q: How do the two cards rank among all GPUs?

A: The R7 M260X ranks at the 30th percentile among all GPUs, while the RTX 3080 12 GB ranks at the 28th percentile. Despite the similar percentile positions, the scores come from different benchmark suites and cannot be directly compared.

Q: What are the closest rivals to each card?

A: The R7 M260X's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro K3100M (5154, 0.1% lower), NVIDIA Quadro 4000M (5211, 1% higher), NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760M (5236, 1.4% higher), and AMD Radeon R7 240 (5063, 1.9% lower). The RTX 3080 12 GB's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon R5 M255 (4788, 0.1% lower), AMD Radeon R5 M335 (4752, 0.8% lower), NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (4844, 1.1% higher), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M (4855, 1.3% higher).

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The R7 M260X has 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 64.00 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3080 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth—a 14.3-fold bandwidth advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: What ray tracing and tensor capabilities do the cards have?

A: The R7 M260X has no ray tracing cores or tensor cores listed. The RTX 3080 12 GB includes 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores, providing dedicated hardware for these workloads.

Q: What are the DirectX support levels?

A: The R7 M260X supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the RTX 3080 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). The RTX 3080 12 GB's level includes additional features not available on the older GCN 1.0 architecture.