AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear overall winner, but the margins vary sharply by workload type. The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT takes 8 of the 10 head-to-head tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile wins only 2. The most decisive AMD victory comes in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RX 7700 XT leads by 124.1% — the largest delta in either direction across the entire test suite. That is not a close contest; it is a generational gap in graphics API performance.

The RX 7700 XT also dominates in Passmark DirectX 9, scoring 294 versus 170, a 42.2% advantage. Its Passmark GPU Compute result of 12912 against 7276 represents a 43.6% lead, indicating substantially stronger raw compute throughput. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result shows the AMD card at 3316 versus 2644, a 20.3% edge, which is significant for modern DirectX 12 gaming workloads. Passmark G2D shows the largest percentage gap after Vulkan, with the RX 7700 XT at 1161 versus 637, a 45.1% difference in 2D acceleration.

The NVIDIA card’s two victories are narrow but notable. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3080 Mobile scores 104066 against 46443 — a 124.1% margin that flips the overall narrative. This suggests NVIDIA’s Vulkan driver implementation or hardware scheduling gives it a massive advantage in that specific API, far outweighing the AMD card’s lead elsewhere. The other NVIDIA win is trivial: Passmark DirectX 10 at 120 versus 119, a 0.8% difference that is essentially a statistical tie. The RTX 3080 Mobile also loses Passmark DirectX 11 by 37.1% (146 to 232) and DirectX 12 by 8.9% (72 to 79), showing that its API-specific strengths do not carry over to the DirectX legacy or modern paths.

Looking at aggregate scores, the RX 7700 XT’s average benchmark score is 22549, while the RTX 3080 Mobile averages 23628. This is counterintuitive given the head-to-head results — the NVIDIA card’s higher average is driven by its massive Vulkan score and strong OpenCL result of 104831, which offsets its losses elsewhere. The RX 7700 XT’s OpenCL score of 138383 is 24.2% higher, yet the NVIDIA card’s Vulkan outlier pulls its average up. The percentile rankings reflect this: both cards sit in the same range, with the RTX 3080 Mobile at the 69th percentile and the RX 7700 XT at the 67th percentile across all GPUs. The data shows two cards with similar overall standing but wildly different workload profiles.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different design philosophies. The RTX 3080 Mobile uses the GA104 chip on a Samsung 8nm process, while the RX 7700 XT uses the Navi 32 chip on a TSMC 5nm node. The process node difference is stark: 8nm versus 5nm, which directly impacts transistor density. The AMD chip packs 28,100 million transistors into a 346 mm² die, achieving 81.2M transistors per mm². The NVIDIA chip has 17,400 million transistors on a larger 392 mm² die, yielding only 44.4M per mm². This means the RX 7700 XT packs nearly twice the transistor density, a direct consequence of the more advanced fabrication process.

The architectural split is Ampere versus RDNA 3.0. The RTX 3080 Mobile relies on 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, with 48 dedicated ray tracing cores and 192 tensor cores. The RX 7700 XT uses 3456 shading units but 216 TMUs and 96 ROPs, with 54 ray tracing cores and no tensor core equivalent. The AMD card’s higher TMU count (216 versus 192) and higher clock speeds compensate for fewer shading units. The boost clock tells the story: the RX 7700 XT boosts to 2544 MHz with a game clock of 2171 MHz, while the RTX 3080 Mobile boosts to only 1545 MHz. That clock advantage explains why the AMD card achieves 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 against the NVIDIA card’s 18.98 TFLOPS — a 85% raw throughput advantage.

Memory configurations also diverge. The RTX 3080 Mobile has 8GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RX 7700 XT offers 12GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, with 432.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite the narrower bus, the AMD card’s higher memory clock (2250 MHz versus 1750 MHz) keeps bandwidth competitive, and the larger capacity is a clear advantage for modern textures and higher resolutions. Both support PCIe 4.0 x16, and both list DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The power envelopes differ dramatically: the RTX 3080 Mobile is rated at 115W TDP, while the RX 7700 XT draws 245W — more than double. The AMD card requires a 550W suggested PSU and dual 8-pin connectors, while the NVIDIA mobile part uses no external power connectors since it is designed for laptops.

Where Each One Wins

The RX 7700 XT wins in almost every compute-heavy and modern gaming scenario. Its Passmark GPU Compute lead of 43.6% makes it the clear choice for OpenCL-based workloads, and its Geekbench OpenCL score of 138383 confirms this with a 24.2% edge. For gaming, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result (3316 versus 2644) shows a 20.3% advantage in current-generation DirectX 12 titles. Legacy DirectX 9 performance is dramatically better on the AMD card — a 42.2% lead — which matters for older game libraries or emulation. The Passmark DirectX 11 result (232 versus 146) is also strongly in AMD’s favor at 37.1%, covering a vast catalog of still-popular titles.

The RTX 3080 Mobile’s wins are concentrated in Vulkan. The 124.1% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is not just a win; it is a complete reversal of the expected hierarchy. Any application or game that uses Vulkan — from Doom Eternal to many Linux-native titles — will see outsized performance on the NVIDIA card. The other win is a 0.8% edge in Passmark DirectX 10, which is negligible in practice. The NVIDIA card’s higher average benchmark score (23628 versus 22549) suggests that its Vulkan and OpenCL results give it a broader overall lead in mixed workloads, despite losing most individual tests.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The process node is 8nm for NVIDIA versus 5nm for AMD, with transistor counts of 17,400 million versus 28,100 million. Die size is 392 mm² versus 346 mm², and transistor density is 44.4M/mm² versus 81.2M/mm². Clock speeds: the RTX 3080 Mobile has a base of 1110 MHz and boost of 1545 MHz, while the RX 7700 XT has a base of 1435 MHz, boost of 2544 MHz, and a game clock of 2171 MHz. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) versus 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). Memory capacity is 8GB versus 12GB, with bus widths of 256-bit versus 192-bit, and bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s.

Shading units are 6144 versus 3456, TMUs are 192 versus 216, ROPs are equal at 96, and ray tracing cores are 48 versus 54. The NVIDIA card has 192 tensor cores; the AMD card has none. Pixel rate is 148.3 GPixel/s versus 244.2 GPixel/s, texture rate is 296.6 GTexel/s versus 549.5 GTexel/s, and FP32 is 18.98 TFLOPS versus 35.17 TFLOPS. TDP is 115W versus 245W. The RX 7700 XT is a dual-slot card measuring 267mm x 135mm x 50mm, with 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 550W suggested PSU, plus display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1a, 2x DisplayPort 2.1, and 1x USB Type-C. The RTX 3080 Mobile has no listed dimensions or power connectors, with display outputs described as "Portable Device Dependent." Production status is end-of-life for the NVIDIA card and active for the AMD card, with release dates of January 2021 versus September 2023.

The Verdict

The data points to the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT as the stronger performer in the majority of benchmarks, winning 8 of 10 tests. Its advantages in DirectX 9 (42.2%), GPU compute (43.6%), and 2D performance (45.1%) are substantial, and its 3DMark Steel Nomad lead of 20.3% confirms modern gaming superiority. The 12GB memory capacity and 35.17 TFLOPS FP32 throughput give it a clear edge for future workloads. The RTX 3080 Mobile is the choice only if Vulkan performance is the primary requirement — its 124.1% lead there is unmatched — or if power consumption is a hard constraint, given its 115W TDP versus 245W. The NVIDIA card also holds a higher average benchmark score (23628 versus 22549) and sits at the 69th percentile versus 67th, indicating broader overall utility across the full test suite. For most users, the RX 7700 XT’s decisive wins in gaming and compute make it the data-backed recommendation.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the most head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT wins 8 of 10 tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Mobile wins 2.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The biggest delta is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX 3080 Mobile leads by 124.1% (104066 versus 46443).

Q: How does memory capacity compare?

A: The RX 7700 XT has 12GB of GDDR6, while the RTX 3080 Mobile has 8GB. The NVIDIA card has a wider 256-bit bus (versus 192-bit) and slightly higher bandwidth at 448.0 GB/s versus 432.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the FP32 compute figures?

A: The RX 7700 XT delivers 35.17 TFLOPS, while the RTX 3080 Mobile delivers 18.98 TFLOPS — an 85% advantage for AMD.

Q: Which card is more power-efficient?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile has a 115W TDP, while the RX 7700 XT is rated at 245W, making the NVIDIA card significantly lower power.

Q: What is the release timeline difference?

A: The RTX 3080 Mobile launched in January 2021 and is end-of-life, while the RX 7700 XT launched in September 2023 and remains active.