AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The data set shows a decisive NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti advantage across every shared benchmark. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 3080 Ti scores 5077 against the RX Vega 64's 1669, a delta of -67.1% from the AMD card's perspective. That is not a marginal gap; it is a generational chasm. The NVIDIA card is roughly three times faster in raw rasterization output in this test.

Geekbench results follow the same pattern. In OpenCL, the RTX 3080 Ti records 170037 points, while the RX Vega 64 manages 62552, yielding a -63.2% delta. The Vulkan test shows 192697 for NVIDIA against 67032 for AMD, a -65.2% delta. Every head-to-head measurement, all three of them, goes to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti with no AMD wins recorded.

The wider database averages put the RX Vega 64 at 50001 average benchmark score, which places it in the 86th percentile among all GPUs. The RTX 3080 Ti's average benchmark score is 41187, placing it at the 83rd percentile. This is a curious inversion: the older AMD card sits higher in the overall percentile ranking despite losing every direct comparison here. The explanation lies in the benchmark suite composition. The RX Vega 64's average is buoyed by Geekbench Metal, where it scores 68750, alongside its OpenCL and Vulkan results. The RTX 3080 Ti's average is dragged down by Passmark legacy tests, including a DirectX 9 score of 274, DirectX 10 score of 184, DirectX 11 score of 223, DirectX 12 score of 110, G2D score of 1091, G3D score of 26896, and GPU compute score of 15282. The RTX 3080 Ti's average is lower because Passmark tests are weighted into its set, whereas the RX Vega 64's set contains only high-level compute and API benchmarks.

Look at the nearest rivals for context. The RX Vega 64 sits within 0.1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, 0.5% of the Intel Arc A550M, 1.9% below the AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, and 3.1% above the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. The RTX 3080 Ti, by contrast, is 0.8% above the AMD Radeon Pro 5300, 1.2% below the NVIDIA Tesla M40 24 GB, 1.7% below the NVIDIA Tesla M40, and 2% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070. The RTX 3080 Ti's nearest rivals are generally slower, which reflects its lower average score relative to the field. The RX Vega 64's rivals include much faster modern cards, which means its average is competitive with a much higher tier of hardware.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different design philosophies and manufacturing eras. The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 uses the Vega 10 chip built on GCN 5.0 architecture, fabricated on a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti uses the GA102 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The process node difference alone, 14 nm versus 8 nm, explains a large portion of the performance gap, as the newer node allows for significantly more transistors in a comparable die area.

Transistor counts are starkly different. The RX Vega 64 packs 12,500 million transistors on a 495 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 25.3M per mm². The RTX 3080 Ti contains 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, with a density of 45.1M per mm². The NVIDIA chip has more than double the transistor count and nearly double the density. The physical dimensions are close, with the RX Vega 64 measuring 280 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, while the RTX 3080 Ti measures 285 mm, 112 mm, and 40 mm. Both are dual-slot cards. The AMD card uses two 8-pin power connectors, while the NVIDIA card uses a single 12-pin connector.

The memory architectures are entirely different. The RX Vega 64 uses 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3080 Ti uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has 50% more memory capacity and nearly double the bandwidth. Memory clocks reflect the different technologies: the AMD card runs at 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective), while the NVIDIA card runs at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective).

Compute resources diverge sharply. The RX Vega 64 has 4096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 64 raster operations pipelines. The RTX 3080 Ti has 10240 shading units, 320 TMUs, and 112 ROPs, plus 80 dedicated RT cores and 320 tensor cores. The RTX 3080 Ti also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX Vega 64 supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Vulkan support differs as well: the RX Vega 64 supports Vulkan 1.3, while the RTX 3080 Ti supports Vulkan 1.4. Both support OpenGL 4.6.

Pixel and texture rates tell the story of raw throughput. The RX Vega 64 achieves 98.94 GPixel/s and 395.8 GTexel/s. The RTX 3080 Ti achieves 186.5 GPixel/s and 532.8 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 12.66 TFLOPS for AMD versus 34.10 TFLOPS for NVIDIA. FP16 is interesting: the RX Vega 64 lists 25.33 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the RTX 3080 Ti lists 34.10 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The AMD card's FP16 advantage relative to its FP32 is a 2:1 ratio, but the absolute FP16 throughput is still lower than NVIDIA's.

Bus interface also differs. The RX Vega 64 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the RTX 3080 Ti uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are nearly identical: both have 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, but the AMD card has 1x HDMI 2.0b, while the NVIDIA card has 1x HDMI 2.1.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 Ti wins everywhere in direct comparison. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it beats the RX Vega 64 by 67.1%. In Geekbench OpenCL, it wins by 63.2%. In Geekbench Vulkan, it wins by 65.2%. The data shows no benchmark category where the RX Vega 64 comes out ahead in the head-to-head set.

However, the RX Vega 64 does have a claim to a different kind of win: its average benchmark score of 50001 places it in the 86th percentile, above the RTX 3080 Ti's 83rd percentile and its average of 41187. This is because the RX Vega 64's benchmark set is concentrated in modern compute and graphics APIs like Metal, OpenCL, and Vulkan, where its scores are 68750, 62552, and 67032 respectively. The RTX 3080 Ti's set includes Passmark legacy DirectX tests that score much lower in isolation, pulling its average down.

For gaming workloads, the RTX 3080 Ti's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 5077 is the strongest indicator. This is a modern DX12 rasterization test, and the NVIDIA card more than triples the AMD card's result. The RTX 3080 Ti also has RT cores and tensor cores, which the RX Vega 64 completely lacks, making it the only card of the two that can handle ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads.

For compute workloads, the RTX 3080 Ti's Geekbench OpenCL score of 170037 versus 62552 shows a 2.7x advantage. Its Vulkan score of 192697 versus 67032 shows a 2.9x advantage. The RX Vega 64's best hope is its Metal score of 68750, but there is no direct Metal comparison available for the RTX 3080 Ti in the data set, so that remains a one-sided observation.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 has an average benchmark score of 50001, compared to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti's 41187. The RX Vega 64 also ranks higher in percentile, at 86th versus 83rd.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3080 Ti in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti scores 5077, while the RX Vega 64 scores 1669. The delta is -67.1% from the AMD card's perspective.

Q: Does the RX Vega 64 have any dedicated ray tracing hardware?

A: No. The RX Vega 64 lists no RT cores, while the RTX 3080 Ti has 80 RT cores and 320 tensor cores.

Q: What are the memory configurations?

A: The RX Vega 64 uses 8 GB of HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus with 483.8 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3080 Ti uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports a newer DirectX version?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX Vega 64 supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti has a transistor density of 45.1M per mm², while the RX Vega 64 has 25.3M per mm². The NVIDIA chip also has 28,300 million transistors versus 12,500 million.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RX Vega 64 uses a 14 nm process at GlobalFoundries with the Vega 10 chip and GCN 5.0 architecture. The RTX 3080 Ti uses an 8 nm process at Samsung with the GA102 chip and Ampere architecture. Transistor count is 12,500 million for AMD versus 28,300 million for NVIDIA. Die size is 495 mm² versus 628 mm². Transistor density is 25.3M per mm² versus 45.1M per mm².

Base clocks are 1247 MHz for the RX Vega 64 and 1365 MHz for the RTX 3080 Ti. Boost clocks are 1546 MHz versus 1665 MHz. Memory clocks are 945 MHz (1890 Mbps effective) versus 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). Memory size is 8 GB HBM2 versus 12 GB GDDR6X. Bus width is 2048 bit versus 384 bit. Bandwidth is 483.8 GB/s versus 912.4 GB/s.

Shading units: 4096 versus 10240. TMUs: 256 versus 320. ROPs: 64 versus 112. RT cores: none versus 80. Tensor cores: none versus 320. Pixel rate: 98.94 GPixel/s versus 186.5 GPixel/s. Texture rate: 395.8 GTexel/s versus 532.8 GTexel/s. FP32: 12.66 TFLOPS versus 34.10 TFLOPS. FP16: 25.33 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 34.10 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP: 295 W versus 350 W. Power connectors: 2x 8-pin versus 1x 12-pin. Suggested PSU: 600 W versus 750 W. Bus interface: PCIe 3.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.0b and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. DirectX: 12 (12_1) versus 12 Ultimate (12_2). Vulkan: 1.3 versus 1.4.

Release dates are 2017-08-06 for the RX Vega 64 and 2021-05-30 for the RTX 3080 Ti. The RX Vega 64's predecessor is Polaris and successor is Navi. The RTX 3080 Ti's predecessor is GeForce 20 and successor is GeForce 40. The launch MSRP for the RX Vega 64 is 499 USD. The launch MSRP for the RTX 3080 Ti is 1,199 USD. Both are end-of-life products.

The Verdict

The benchmark data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is the faster card by every direct measurement available. It wins 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 by 67.1%, Geekbench OpenCL by 63.2%, and Geekbench Vulkan by 65.2%. It has more than double the shading units, more than double the FP32 compute, nearly double the memory bandwidth, and it is the only card with ray tracing and tensor cores. It also supports newer API versions in both DirectX and Vulkan.

The AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 retains a single statistical advantage: its average benchmark score of 50001 and 86th percentile ranking exceed the RTX 3080 Ti's 41187 and 83rd percentile. That advantage is an artifact of benchmark composition rather than raw performance. The RX Vega 64's benchmark set is limited to Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, Vulkan, and 3DMark Steel Nomad, all of which are modern high-level tests. The RTX 3080 Ti's set includes Passmark legacy tests with substantially lower scores, which depress its average.

Who should pick which? If the priority is modern gaming, DX12 workloads, ray tracing, AI acceleration, or any compute task that scales with raw throughput, the RTX 3080 Ti is the clear choice from the recorded data. Its 34.10 TFLOPS FP32 and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth are unmatched by the RX Vega 64's 12.66 TFLOPS and 483.8 GB/s. If the priority is a higher percentile ranking in a mixed benchmark database, the RX Vega 64 holds that distinction, but it comes from a narrower set of tests. The data suggests the RTX 3080 Ti is the superior hardware, while the RX Vega 64's ranking is better only in the aggregate score across its specific benchmark selections.