AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Comparison

The GeForce RTX 4080 and Radeon RX Vega 64 represent two very different eras of GPU design, and the benchmark data reflects that gulf clearly. The RTX 4080 is a modern Ada Lovelace part built on a 5 nm process, while the RX Vega 64 is a GCN 5.0 architecture from the 14 nm era. The data shows a decisive performance gap, but the RX Vega 64 still holds relevance in specific legacy scenarios. This analysis draws strictly from the provided benchmark scores and specifications.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark data shows a complete sweep for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 across all three shared tests. The most dramatic gap appears in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where the RTX 4080 scores 6567 against the RX Vega 64’s 1669. That is a 293.5% advantage, meaning the RTX 4080 delivers nearly four times the performance in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This test stresses current-generation rendering features, and the RX Vega 64’s older GCN architecture simply cannot keep pace.

The Geekbench OpenCL test shows a similar story, though slightly less extreme. The RTX 4080 posts 214739 points, while the RX Vega 64 manages 62552. This represents a 243.3% delta in favor of NVIDIA. OpenCL compute performance is a strong indicator of general-purpose GPU capability, and the RTX 4080’s 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 throughput versus the RX Vega 64’s 12.66 TFLOPS explains much of this gap. The RTX 4080 has 9728 shading units compared to 4096 on the RX Vega 64, and the newer architecture processes these workloads far more efficiently.

The Geekbench Vulkan test mirrors the 3DMark result exactly: the RTX 4080 scores 263779 against the RX Vega 64’s 67032, another 293.5% advantage. Vulkan is a low-overhead API that scales well with raw hardware capability, and the RTX 4080’s combination of more shaders, higher clock speeds, and faster memory bandwidth dominates. The RTX 4080 boosts to 2505 MHz versus 1546 MHz on the RX Vega 64, and its 716.8 GB/s memory bandwidth outstrips the Vega’s 483.8 GB/s.

In total, the RTX 4080 wins 3 out of 3 head-to-head benchmarks. There are no tests where the RX Vega 64 takes a win. The closest margin is in OpenCL, where the RTX 4080 is "only" 243.3% ahead, but even that is a massive gulf. The average benchmark scores reinforce this: the RTX 4080 averages 54247 across all its tested workloads, while the RX Vega 64 averages 50001. The RTX 4080 also sits at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, matching the RX Vega 64’s percentile, but the raw scores show the 4080 is in a different performance class.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the GeForce RTX 4080 is the faster card in every measurable benchmark. Its 293.5% lead in both 3DMark Steel Nomad and Geekbench Vulkan, plus a 243.3% lead in OpenCL, means it is the only choice for anyone running modern DirectX 12 or Vulkan workloads. The RTX 4080 also has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory versus 8 GB of HBM2 on the RX Vega 64, which gives it far more headroom for high-resolution textures and large datasets.

However, the RX Vega 64 is not without a niche. Its average benchmark score of 50001 places it within 0.1% of the RTX 5070 Ti and 0.5% of the Intel Arc A550M, per its nearest rivals data. That means it still performs competitively against some current mid-range parts in aggregate. Its 86th percentile ranking among all GPUs is identical to the RTX 4080’s, which suggests that while the Vega 64 is far behind the 4080, it remains a capable card relative to the broader GPU market.

For a builder choosing between these two specifically, the RTX 4080 is the obvious pick for any serious gaming or compute work. The RX Vega 64 makes sense only if you have legacy software that relies on its specific GCN 5.0 feature set or if you need a dual-slot card with 2x 8-pin power connectors in an older system. The RTX 4080 requires a triple-slot footprint and a 16-pin connector, which may not fit older cases or power supplies. But on pure performance, the RTX 4080 wins every single test.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4080 wins in every modern workload category. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 6567 indicates strong DirectX 12 gaming performance, which is the standard for current AAA titles. The Geekbench Vulkan score of 263779 shows it excels at low-overhead rendering, which is increasingly common in both games and professional applications. The OpenCL score of 214739 makes it a better choice for general compute tasks like video encoding, scientific simulations, or machine learning inference, where its tensor cores and 48.74 TFLOPS FP32 throughput come into play.

The RX Vega 64 has no benchmark wins in the head-to-head data, but it does have a unique advantage in its Geekbench Metal score of 68750. This is not compared directly against the RTX 4080, but it shows the Vega 64 has some utility in Apple’s Metal API environment. The RTX 4080 has no Metal benchmark listed, so if you are working in a macOS or Metal-specific workflow, the RX Vega 64 may be the only option that has verified performance data. Additionally, the RX Vega 64’s 2048-bit memory bus and HBM2 memory type offer a different memory architecture that may behave better in certain legacy compute kernels, though the RTX 4080’s higher 483.8 GB/s bandwidth advantage in raw numbers suggests it will still win most memory-bound tasks.

For power-constrained builds, the RX Vega 64’s 295 W TDP is slightly lower than the RTX 4080’s 320 W, and it uses a standard 2x 8-pin connector versus the 4080’s 16-pin. The Vega 64 also suggests a 600 W PSU versus 700 W for the 4080. If your system has a 600 W power supply and no 16-pin adapter, the RX Vega 64 is the only card that fits without upgrading other components.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4080 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RTX 4080 scores 6567, while the RX Vega 64 scores 1669. This is a 293.5% advantage for the RTX 4080.

Q: Does the RX Vega 64 win any benchmark against the RTX 4080?

A: No. In the three head-to-head benchmarks (3DMark Steel Nomad, Geekbench OpenCL, Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 4080 wins all of them. The RX Vega 64 has 0 wins.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the two cards?

A: The RTX 4080 has an average benchmark score of 54247, while the RX Vega 64 averages 50001. The RTX 4080 is approximately 8.5% higher in average score.

Q: Which card has more memory and what type?

A: The RTX 4080 has 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, while the RX Vega 64 has 8 GB of HBM2 memory. The RTX 4080 also has a higher memory bandwidth at 716.8 GB/s versus 483.8 GB/s.

Q: Are these cards in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, both the RTX 4080 and RX Vega 64 are at the 86th percentile of all GPUs, despite the large score differences.

Q: What is the TDP and power connector difference?

A: The RTX 4080 has a 320 W TDP and uses a 1x 16-pin connector, while the RX Vega 64 has a 295 W TDP and uses 2x 8-pin connectors. The suggested PSU is 700 W for the RTX 4080 and 600 W for the RX Vega 64.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two cards is enormous. The RTX 4080 uses the AD103 chip built on TSMC’s 5 nm process, packing 45,900 million transistors into a 379 mm² die. The RX Vega 64 uses the Vega 10 chip on GlobalFoundries’ 14 nm process, with 12,500 million transistors on a much larger 495 mm² die. The transistor density tells the story: the RTX 4080 achieves 121.1M transistors per mm² versus 25.3M on the RX Vega 64. This is a 5 nm versus 14 nm process generation leap.

The RTX 4080 is based on Ada Lovelace architecture, which introduces dedicated RT cores (76 of them) and tensor cores (304 of them). The RX Vega 64 is GCN 5.0 and has no RT cores or tensor cores at all. This means the RTX 4080 supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based features like DLSS, while the RX Vega 64 relies entirely on traditional rasterization. The shading unit count also differs: 9728 on the RTX 4080 versus 4096 on the RX Vega 64. The RTX 4080’s FP32 performance is 48.74 TFLOPS, nearly four times the RX Vega 64’s 12.66 TFLOPS.

The memory architecture is also fundamentally different. The RTX 4080 uses GDDR6X on a 256-bit bus, while the RX Vega 64 uses HBM2 on a 2048-bit bus. The RTX 4080’s 716.8 GB/s bandwidth edges out the RX Vega 64’s 483.8 GB/s. The RX Vega 64 supports FP16 at a 2:1 ratio (25.33 TFLOPS), while the RTX 4080 does FP16 at 1:1 (48.74 TFLOPS). The API support differs too: the RTX 4080 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the RX Vega 64 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support Vulkan, but the RTX 4080 has Vulkan 1.4 versus Vulkan 1.3 on the RX Vega 64.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences are stark. The RTX 4080 has a base clock of 2205 MHz and a boost clock of 2505 MHz, while the RX Vega 64 runs at 1247 MHz base and 1546 MHz boost. Memory capacity is 16 GB versus 8 GB, and the type differs (GDDR6X vs HBM2). The bus width is 256-bit on the RTX 4080 versus 2048-bit on the RX Vega 64, but the RTX 4080’s bandwidth is higher at 716.8 GB/s versus 483.8 GB/s.

The RTX 4080 has 304 TMUs and 112 ROPs, while the RX Vega 64 has 256 TMUs and 64 ROPs. Pixel rate is 280.6 GPixel/s on the RTX 4080 versus 98.94 GPixel/s on the RX Vega 64. Texture rate is 761.5 GTexel/s versus 395.8 GTexel/s. The RTX 4080 is triple-slot with a 16-pin connector, while the RX Vega 64 is dual-slot with 2x 8-pin. The RTX 4080 is 310 mm long, 140 mm tall, and 61 mm wide; the RX Vega 64 is 280 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 40 mm wide. The RTX 4080 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RX Vega 64 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are similar, but the RTX 4080 has HDMI 2.1 versus HDMI 2.0b on the RX Vega 64.