NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB Comparison

# NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB

The data presents an unusual pairing: a 2010-era entry-level Fermi card and a 2022-era high-end Ampere card, both landing at the 28th percentile in the benchmark database despite their vastly different architectures and intended markets. The GTS 450 scores 4,893 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the RTX 3080 12 GB scores 4,791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 — a different workload, so the numbers are not directly comparable, but the percentile alignment suggests both cards occupy similar positions relative to their respective contemporary competition. The GTS 450 sits within 0.7% of the AMD Radeon R7 M265 and 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX, while the RTX 3080 12 GB is 1.1% behind the GeForce 940MX and 0.8% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 M335. These rival clusters reveal how benchmark context shapes interpretation: the old card competes with mobile APU graphics, while the new card is bracketed by legacy mobile GPUs in this particular test.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

There are no direct head-to-head benchmark results shared between the two cards, so the comparison relies on their individual scores and the rival sets provided. The GTS 450’s Geekbench OpenCL score of 4,893 puts it 0.2% behind the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB (4,901) and 0.2% behind the AMD FirePro W5130M (4,904), while edging out the Radeon R6 M255DX by 0.5% and trailing the Radeon R7 M265 by 0.7%. This tight cluster — a spread of just 1.2% across four rivals — indicates that the GTS 450’s compute performance in this legacy OpenCL workload is remarkably consistent with a group of low-power mobile and entry desktop parts from different eras.

The RTX 3080 12 GB’s 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4,791 places it 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 M255 (4,788) and 0.8% ahead of the Radeon R5 M335 (4,752), while falling 1.1% behind the GeForce 940MX (4,844) and 1.3% behind the GeForce GTX 560M (4,855). The deltaPct values here are small — under 1.5% in every direction — yet they suggest the RTX 3080 12 GB is not dominating this particular DX12 workload the way its specifications might imply. The GTX 560M, a mobile card from 2011, outperforms it by 1.3% in this test, which raises questions about whether the Steel Nomad benchmark is stressing features where the newer card’s architectural advantages are neutralized.

Interpreting these numbers requires caution because the workloads differ fundamentally. The GTS 450 runs a compute-oriented OpenCL test, while the RTX 3080 12 GB runs a graphics-oriented DX12 test with ray tracing and mesh shading elements. The percentile parity — both at 28 — suggests that in their respective test suites, each card lands at the same relative standing among all GPUs in the database. That parity is striking given the 24x difference in shading units (192 vs 8,960), the 16x difference in texture units (32 vs 280), and the 6x difference in ROPs (16 vs 96). The data does not show the RTX 3080 12 GB crushing the older card; instead, it shows both cards anchoring their own competitive clusters with similar percentile outcomes.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The GTS 450 has an average benchmark score of 4,893 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the RTX 3080 12 GB has an average score of 4,791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GTS 450’s raw number is higher by 102 points, but the tests are entirely different workloads, so this is not a head-to-head comparison.

Q: How does the GTS 450 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The GTS 450 is 0.2% behind both the RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB and the AMD FirePro W5130M, 0.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon R6 M255DX, and 0.7% behind the AMD Radeon R7 M265. All four rivals are within 1% of its score, indicating a very tight performance band.

Q: What does the RTX 3080 12 GB’s rival set tell us?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB is 0.1% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 M255 and 0.8% ahead of the Radeon R5 M335, but 1.1% behind the GeForce 940MX and 1.3% behind the GeForce GTX 560M. These are all legacy or low-end mobile parts, suggesting the Steel Nomad test does not favor the RTX 3080 12 GB’s modern feature set.

Q: Are both cards in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, both the GTS 450 and the RTX 3080 12 GB are at the 28th percentile among all GPUs in the database, despite being released roughly 11 years apart and targeting completely different market segments.

Q: Which card has a higher memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB has a memory bandwidth of 912.4 GB/s, while the GTS 450 has 57.73 GB/s. The newer card’s 384-bit bus with GDDR6X memory delivers roughly 15.8 times the bandwidth of the older card’s 128-bit GDDR5 setup.

Q: Do the cards share any APIs?

A: Both support OpenGL 4.6 and DirectX 12, but the GTS 450’s DirectX support is limited to 12 (11_0) with no Vulkan support, while the RTX 3080 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4.

Where Each One Wins

The GTS 450 wins in scenarios where legacy OpenCL compute performance matters and where the workload is simple enough that the older Fermi architecture’s 192 shading units can keep pace. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 4,893 places it within 0.7% of a cluster of mobile GPUs, meaning it can handle basic compute tasks like older physics simulations or image processing filters without falling behind. The card also wins on physical footprint: at 210 mm length and 111 mm height, it is substantially smaller than the RTX 3080 12 GB’s 285 mm length, making it suitable for compact cases where the newer card would not fit. Its 106 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU also make it far less demanding on system power delivery.

The RTX 3080 12 GB wins in nearly every raw specification category that matters for modern gaming and professional workloads. Its 8,960 shading units, 280 TMUs, and 96 ROPs dwarf the GTS 450’s 192, 32, and 16 respectively. The 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS features that the GTS 450 cannot execute at all. The memory subsystem is another clear win: 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth versus 1 GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 57.73 GB/s. In terms of pixel and texture throughput, the RTX 3080 12 GB delivers 164.2 GPixel/s and 478.8 GTexel/s, versus 6.264 GPixel/s and 25.06 GTexel/s for the GTS 450 — a 26.2x advantage in pixel rate and 19.1x in texture rate. FP32 compute also shows a massive gap: 30.64 TFLOPS versus 601.3 GFLOPS, a 50.9x difference.

For users running modern DX12 Ultimate titles with ray tracing, the RTX 3080 12 GB is the only viable option. For legacy software that relies on OpenCL 1.x-era compute and older DirectX 11 feature levels, the GTS 450 remains functional and, per the benchmark data, performs at a level comparable to much newer low-end parts. The GTS 450 also supports dual DVI and mini-HDMI 1.3a outputs, which may be useful for old monitors, whereas the RTX 3080 12 GB offers one HDMI 2.1 and three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs for modern displays.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across every major specification category except for a few shared traits. Both are dual-slot designs from NVIDIA, both support OpenGL 4.6, and both are end-of-life products. The GTS 450 uses a 40 nm TSMC process with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die, while the RTX 3080 12 GB uses an 8 nm Samsung process with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Transistor density is 4.9M per mm² for the GTS 450 versus 45.1M per mm² for the RTX 3080 12 GB — a 9.2x improvement in packing efficiency.

Memory configurations are dramatically different: the GTS 450 has 1,024 MB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit bus with 57.73 GB/s bandwidth, while the RTX 3080 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s. The clock speeds also diverge — the GTS 450 lists only a memory clock of 902 MHz (3.6 Gbps effective), while the RTX 3080 12 GB has a base clock of 1,260 MHz, a boost clock of 1,710 MHz, and a memory clock of 1,188 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The GTS 450 has no base or boost clock listed, reflecting its older fixed-clock design philosophy.

Power requirements scale similarly: the GTS 450 draws a 106 W TDP with a 1x 6-pin connector and a 300 W suggested PSU, while the RTX 3080 12 GB draws 350 W with a 1x 12-pin connector and a 750 W suggested PSU. The bus interface jumps from PCIe 2.0 x16 to PCIe 4.0 x16, and the display outputs differ — 2x DVI plus 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a versus 1x HDMI 2.1 plus 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX 3080 12 GB also includes dimensions for width (40 mm), which the GTS 450 lacks. Release dates are separated by over 11 years: September 12, 2010, versus January 10, 2022.

Architecture Differences

The GTS 450 is built on the Fermi architecture using the GF106 chip, a 40 nm design from TSMC. Fermi introduced the modern unified shader model but lacked dedicated ray tracing or tensor cores. The GTS 450 has 192 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, with no RT or tensor core counts listed. Its DirectX support is 12 (11_0), meaning it can run DX12 titles at feature level 11_0 but lacks mesh shaders, variable rate shading, and other modern DX12 Ultimate features. Vulkan support is absent entirely.

The RTX 3080 12 GB is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA102 chip, an 8 nm design from Samsung. Ampere introduced second-generation RT cores and third-generation tensor cores, which are present here as 70 RT cores and 280 tensor cores. The shading unit count is 8,960, with 280 TMUs and 96 ROPs. DirectX support is 12 Ultimate (12_2), the highest feature level, and Vulkan 1.4 is supported. The FP16 performance matches FP32 at 30.64 TFLOPS (1:1), whereas the GTS 450 lists no FP16 capability, indicating it predates the half-precision compute push in consumer GPUs.

The architectural gap is more than just a node shrink. Fermi’s 1,170 million transistors on 238 mm² produced a 4.9M/mm² density, while Ampere’s 28,300 million transistors on 628 mm² achieved 45.1M/mm². That 9.2x density increase enabled the massive parallel throughput advantage — 30.64 TFLOPS FP32 versus 601.3 GFLOPS — and the inclusion of specialized hardware units. The RTX 3080 12 GB’s pixel rate of 164.2 GPixel/s versus 6.264 GPixel/s for the GTS 450 reflects both the higher ROP count and the much faster memory interface. Similarly, texture rate jumps from 25.06 GTexel/s to 478.8 GTexel/s, driven by 280 TMUs versus 32.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear split based on workload and system constraints. For modern gaming, content creation, or any application that uses DirectX 12 Ultimate features, ray tracing, or tensor core acceleration, the RTX 3080 12 GB is the only choice — its 8,960 shading units, 30.64 TFLOPS FP32 compute, and 912.4 GB/s bandwidth provide the raw throughput that the GTS 450 cannot approach. The 12 GB VRAM capacity is also essential for high-resolution textures and large datasets, while the GTS 450’s 1 GB would be exhausted almost immediately.

For legacy applications, particularly those that rely on OpenCL compute in the style of the Geekbench test where the GTS 450 scores 4,893, the older card remains viable. Its performance is within 1% of modern low-end mobile parts like the Radeon R7 M265 and Radeon R6 M255DX, meaning it can still handle older games and basic compute tasks. The 106 W TDP and 300 W PSU requirement make it easier to integrate into older or lower-wattage systems, and its shorter 210 mm length fits in compact cases. The RTX 3080 12 GB, by contrast, requires a 750 W PSU and 285 mm of clearance.

The percentile tie at 28 is the most curious data point. It suggests that in the database’s overall ranking, both cards occupy the same relative position — the GTS 450 among all GPUs tested in OpenCL, and the RTX 3080 12 GB among all GPUs tested in Steel Nomad DX12. This could indicate that the RTX 3080 12 GB’s Steel Nomad score is anomalously low for its hardware, or that the benchmark’s GPU pool is heavily weighted toward newer, faster cards, pushing a high-end 2022 part down to a modest percentile. The GTS 450’s position at 28 is less surprising given its age and entry-level positioning. Users should weigh the individual benchmark scores carefully: the GTS 450 wins the raw number game in its test, but the RTX 3080 12 GB operates in a completely different performance class for modern workloads. Choose the GTS 450 for retro compatibility and low power draw; choose the RTX 3080 12 GB for anything that demands contemporary graphics features.