NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data splits these two NVIDIA cards into entirely different eras, and the benchmark results make that separation obvious. The RTX 3090 wins both head-to-head tests in the database, taking Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan outright. The GTX 780 Ti has no recorded wins in the shared comparisons, so the use-case split is not about one card beating the other in specific tasks; it is about the scale of the gap across different workloads.

The RTX 3090 dominates in compute-oriented scenarios. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 172,758 against the GTX 780 Ti's 27,326 represents a 532.2% advantage, meaning the 3090 is roughly six times faster in this general-purpose compute workload. That kind of margin points to use cases like rendering, physics simulation, and any OpenCL-accelerated productivity task where raw throughput matters more than latency. The Vulkan result tells a similar story but with a smaller gap: the RTX 3090 scores 53,927 versus 27,238, a 98% lead, so it is nearly twice as fast in Vulkan graphics workloads. For modern game engines that use Vulkan, the RTX 3090 is clearly the stronger option.

The GTX 780 Ti does have one exclusive benchmark result in the database: Geekbench Metal at 18,144. That test is not available for the RTX 3090, so it cannot be used for a direct comparison. What it does indicate is that the GTX 780 Ti has some utility in Metal-based environments, likely older macOS or iOS development pipelines, but the RTX 3090 has no recorded Metal score to measure against. In terms of overall standing, the RTX 3090 sits at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 780 Ti sits at the 70th percentile. That percentile difference is modest, but the average benchmark scores reveal the real gap: the RTX 3090 averages 27,565 across its recorded tests, while the GTX 780 Ti averages 24,236.

The use-case conclusion is straightforward. The RTX 3090 is for anyone running modern compute-heavy or Vulkan-based workloads. The GTX 780 Ti is a legacy card with no competitive scenario in the shared data, though its Metal result suggests it can still function in niche Apple-ecosystem tasks.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 3090 in OpenCL compute?

A: The RTX 3090 scores 172,758 in Geekbench OpenCL versus 27,326 for the GTX 780 Ti, a 532.2% difference. That is more than six times the performance of the older card.

Q: Does the GTX 780 Ti beat the RTX 3090 in any shared benchmark?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests recorded, Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3090 wins both. The GTX 780 Ti has no recorded wins against the RTX 3090.

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

A: The RTX 3090 scores 53,927 in Geekbench Vulkan, while the GTX 780 Ti scores 27,238. The RTX 3090 leads by 98%, making it nearly twice as fast.

Q: Which card has a higher overall standing in the database?

A: The RTX 3090 ranks at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 780 Ti ranks at the 70th percentile. The RTX 3090 also has a higher average benchmark score at 27,565 versus 24,236.

Q: Is there any benchmark where the GTX 780 Ti has a recorded score that the RTX 3090 lacks?

A: Yes, the GTX 780 Ti has a Geekbench Metal score of 18,144. The RTX 3090 has no Metal result in the database, so this test cannot be compared directly.

Q: How do the two cards compare in memory capacity?

A: The RTX 3090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, while the GTX 780 Ti has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, also on a 384-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 936.2 GB/s for the RTX 3090 and 336.6 GB/s for the GTX 780 Ti.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two shared benchmark results are the core of the comparison, and they show an overwhelming trend in favor of the RTX 3090. The first is Geekbench OpenCL, where the RTX 3090 records 172,758 points against the GTX 780 Ti's 27,326 points. The delta of 532.2% is the largest margin in the entire head-to-head dataset. To put that in perspective, the GTX 780 Ti's score is only about 15.8% of the RTX 3090's score. OpenCL workloads are highly parallel, and the RTX 3090's massive shading unit count and modern architecture make this result unsurprising. The GTX 780 Ti, with its much older Kepler design, simply cannot keep up in a raw compute test that scales with core count and memory bandwidth.

The second shared test is Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX 3090 scores 53,927 and the GTX 780 Ti scores 27,238. The 98% delta means the RTX 3090 is just under twice as fast. This is a narrower gap than OpenCL, but still a decisive victory. Vulkan is a lower-level API that can sometimes reduce architectural differences, but the RTX 3090's advantages in texture rate, pixel rate, and memory bandwidth still shine through. The GTX 780 Ti's texture rate is 222.7 GTexel/s, while the RTX 3090 reaches 556.0 GTexel/s, a 2.5x difference that directly impacts Vulkan scene rendering.

Beyond the shared tests, the average benchmark score reinforces the head-to-head results. The RTX 3090 averages 27,565 across its full benchmark suite, which includes Passmark DirectX 9 through DirectX 12, Passmark G2D, G3D, and GPU Compute, plus 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GTX 780 Ti averages 24,236, but that average is based on only three Geekbench tests. The RTX 3090's individual Passmark scores are telling: G3D at 26,645, GPU Compute at 15,356, G2D at 1,063, and DirectX 11 at 220. The GTX 780 Ti has no Passmark scores recorded, so direct comparison on those tests is impossible. Still, the average scores show that the RTX 3090 is the stronger card overall, even when accounting for the different test suites.

The nearest rival data for each card provides additional context. The RTX 3090's closest competitors are the RTX 4070 Mobile at 27,435 (0.5% higher), the RX 6700 XT at 27,425 (0.5% higher), the Radeon Pro Vega 20 at 27,839 (1% higher), and the RX 7800M at 27,883 (1.1% higher). The GTX 780 Ti's nearest rivals are the GTX 1630 at 24,277 (0.2% lower), the RTX 2080 SUPER at 24,170 (0.3% lower), the RX 6800S at 24,063 (0.7% lower), and the RX 6600 XT at 24,442 (0.8% higher). Neither card is an outlier among its peers, but the RTX 3090's peer group sits at a much higher average score level.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification. The RTX 3090 uses the GA102 chip on an 8 nm Samsung process, while the GTX 780 Ti uses the GK110B chip on a 28 nm TSMC process. Transistor counts reflect the generational leap: the RTX 3090 has 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, while the GTX 780 Ti has 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die. Transistor density is 45.1 million per mm² for the RTX 3090 versus 12.6 million per mm² for the GTX 780 Ti.

Clock speeds also differ substantially. The RTX 3090 has a base clock of 1395 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz, while the GTX 780 Ti runs at 875 MHz base and 928 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1219 MHz with 19.5 Gbps effective for the RTX 3090 versus 1753 MHz with 7 Gbps effective for the GTX 780 Ti. The memory subsystems are fundamentally different: 24 GB of GDDR6X versus 3 GB of GDDR5, though both use a 384-bit bus. Bandwidth is 936.2 GB/s for the RTX 3090 and 336.6 GB/s for the GTX 780 Ti.

Compute resources show the largest divergence. The RTX 3090 has 10,496 shading units, 328 TMUs, and 112 ROPs. The GTX 780 Ti has 2,880 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The RTX 3090 also adds 82 RT cores and 328 tensor cores, features the GTX 780 Ti lacks entirely. Pixel rate is 189.8 GPixel/s for the RTX 3090 versus 55.68 GPixel/s for the GTX 780 Ti. Texture rate is 556.0 GTexel/s versus 222.7 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 35.58 TFLOPS for the RTX 3090, while the GTX 780 Ti manages 5.345 TFLOPS. The RTX 3090 also has FP16 at 35.58 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the GTX 780 Ti has no recorded FP16 capability.

Power and physical specifications differ as well. The RTX 3090 has a TDP of 350 W and uses a triple-slot cooler with a single 12-pin connector, plus a suggested PSU of 750 W. The GTX 780 Ti has a TDP of 250 W, a dual-slot cooler, one 6-pin and one 8-pin connector, and a suggested PSU of 600 W. The RTX 3090 is much larger: 336 mm long, 140 mm high, and 61 mm wide, versus 267 mm, 111 mm, and 38 mm for the GTX 780 Ti. Bus interfaces are PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 3.0 x16. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a for the RTX 3090, while the GTX 780 Ti has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 3090 is built on Ampere architecture, a major redesign that introduces hardware ray tracing and tensor cores, features that simply do not exist in the GTX 780 Ti's Kepler architecture. The 82 RT cores enable real-time ray tracing, while the 328 tensor cores accelerate AI and deep learning workloads. The GTX 780 Ti has neither, so any workload relying on those features is ineligible on the older card. The process node difference is stark: 8 nm Samsung versus 28 nm TSMC, which explains the RTX 3090's ability to pack 28,300 million transistors into a die that is only slightly larger at 628 mm² versus 561 mm².

API support also diverges. The RTX 3090 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 780 Ti supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. The DirectX 12 Ultimate designation means the RTX 3090 can handle the latest graphics features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, while the GTX 780 Ti is limited to the older DirectX 12 feature set. The memory architecture also reflects a generational shift: GDDR6X with effective speeds of 19.5 Gbps gives the RTX 3090 nearly three times the bandwidth of the GTX 780 Ti's GDDR5 at 7 Gbps effective.

The production status is the same for both cards: end-of-life. The RTX 3090 released on 2020-08-31, while the GTX 780 Ti released on 2013-11-06. The RTX 3090's predecessor is the GeForce 20 series and its successor is the GeForce 40 series. The GTX 780 Ti's predecessor is the GeForce 600 series and its successor is the GeForce 900 series. These lineage details confirm that the two cards come from completely different design philosophies, one focused on raw rasterization efficiency (Kepler) and the other on hybrid rendering with dedicated ray tracing and AI hardware (Ampere).

The Verdict

The data makes the choice clear for most users. The RTX 3090 wins every shared benchmark by a wide margin, with a 532.2% lead in OpenCL and a 98% lead in Vulkan. It also has a higher average benchmark score at 27,565 versus 24,236 and a higher percentile ranking at 73 versus 70. For anyone running modern games, compute workloads, or anything that uses Vulkan or OpenCL, the RTX 3090 is the only sensible option. The 24 GB memory capacity and 936.2 GB/s bandwidth also make it future-proof for large datasets and high-resolution textures, while the GTX 780 Ti's 3 GB and 336.6 GB/s are severely limiting by comparison.

The GTX 780 Ti has one niche advantage: its Geekbench Metal score of 18,144 is the only Metal result in the database, and the RTX 3090 has no Metal score at all. In a macOS or Metal-specific environment, the GTX 780 Ti could still function, though its 70th percentile standing and lower average score suggest it is not a strong performer even there. The GTX 780 Ti also draws less power at 250 W versus 350 W and uses a smaller dual-slot cooler, so it may fit in older or smaller systems, but those physical advantages do not translate into benchmark wins.

The verdict is straightforward: the RTX 3090 is the superior card by every measurable metric in the shared data. The GTX 780 Ti is a legacy product with no competitive standing against its modern counterpart, and its only unique benchmark result, Metal, does not factor into the head-to-head comparison. Users who need maximum compute performance, ray tracing, or modern API support should choose the RTX 3090. Users with a strict Metal-only workflow might consider the GTX 780 Ti, but the broader data shows that the RTX 3090 dominates in all comparable scenarios.