NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti vs NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti and NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 share the same TU102 Turing chip, but they are positioned very differently in the market. The benchmark data shows a clear pattern: the RTX 2080 Ti wins all nine head-to-head tests, though the margins vary wildly from a near-tie in compute to a dominant lead in OpenCL. The Quadro RTX 8000’s massive 48 GB memory pool and higher boost clock do not translate into benchmark victories, making the comparison about workload fit rather than raw performance supremacy.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive win for the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 128,171 against the Quadro’s 101,883. That is a 25.8% advantage, the largest delta in the entire comparison. This is a significant gap for two cards built on the same silicon, and it suggests the GeForce’s driver stack or clock behavior gives it a real edge in general-purpose compute workloads that use OpenCL.

The Geekbench Vulkan test also favors the RTX 2080 Ti, with a score of 132,930 versus 122,637 — an 8.4% lead. This is a relevant result for gaming and any Vulkan-based application, as the GeForce card maintains its advantage even in a modern, low-level graphics API. Similarly, in Passmark G3D, the RTX 2080 Ti posts 21,548 points against 19,799 for the Quadro, an 8.8% difference that reflects the overall 3D rendering performance gap.

DirectX results follow the same trend. The RTX 2080 Ti wins Passmark DirectX 10 with 153 points versus 137, an 11.7% margin, and DirectX 9 with 235 versus 211, an 11.4% margin. The DirectX 11 test is much closer, with the RTX 2080 Ti scoring 190 against 188 — just a 1.1% difference. DirectX 12 shows a 6.3% lead for the GeForce (84 versus 79). These results indicate that while the GeForce is consistently ahead, the gap narrows in more recent API versions where the Quadro’s higher boost clock of 1770 MHz can partially compensate.

The Passmark G2D test, which measures 2D graphics performance, gives the RTX 2080 Ti a 7% win (927 versus 866). Finally, Passmark GPU Compute is essentially a tie: the RTX 2080 Ti scores 10,056 against 9,992, a razor-thin 0.6% margin. This is the only test where the two cards are nearly identical, showing that pure compute throughput is not the differentiator here.

Overall, the RTX 2080 Ti wins 9 out of 9 benchmarks. However, the average benchmark score tells a slightly different story: the RTX 2080 Ti averages 29,783 points, while the Quadro RTX 8000 averages 28,421. The GeForce also sits at the 75th percentile of all GPUs, one point above the Quadro’s 74th percentile. The nearest rivals for the RTX 2080 Ti — the RTX 5070 Mobile at -0.5% and RTX 3070 Ti at -0.5% — show that it is clustered with mainstream enthusiast cards, while the Quadro’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 570 at -1.2%, which is a far less expensive part.

Architecture Differences

Both cards are built on the TU102 chip using TSMC’s 12 nm process, with 18,600 million transistors on a 754 mm² die. The transistor density is identical at 24.7M per mm². This means the fundamental silicon is the same, and the differences come from how NVIDIA configured and enabled the chip.

The Quadro RTX 8000 has more of everything in terms of raw hardware. It features 4608 shading units, 288 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs, compared to the RTX 2080 Ti’s 4352 shading units, 272 TMUs, and 88 ROPs. The RTX core count is 72 versus 68, and the Tensor core count is 576 versus 544. This gives the Quadro a theoretical FP32 performance of 16.31 TFLOPS and FP16 of 32.62 TFLOPS, versus 13.45 TFLOPS and 26.90 TFLOPS for the GeForce. The Quadro’s higher boost clock of 1770 MHz, compared to 1545 MHz, is the main driver behind this performance advantage on paper.

The memory subsystem is where the two cards diverge most clearly. The Quadro RTX 8000 ships with 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 672.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 2080 Ti has 11 GB of GDDR6 on a 352-bit bus, with 616.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Both use 14 Gbps effective memory clocks, but the Quadro’s wider bus and larger capacity make it the clear choice for memory-bound workloads.

The display outputs also differ. The RTX 2080 Ti offers 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and 1x USB Type-C. The Quadro RTX 8000 provides 4x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x USB Type-C, with no HDMI port. Power requirements are close, with the Quadro rated at 260 W TDP and the GeForce at 250 W. The Quadro uses a 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin connector setup, while the GeForce uses 2x 8-pin connectors. Both are dual-slot cards with a 267 mm length and require a 600 W power supply.

FAQ

Q: Which card has more memory, and does it matter?

A: The Quadro RTX 8000 has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the RTX 2080 Ti has 11 GB. The Quadro also has a wider 384-bit bus and higher bandwidth (672.0 GB/s versus 616.0 GB/s). This matters for datasets that exceed 11 GB, but it does not help in the benchmark suite tested here.

Q: Why does the RTX 2080 Ti win benchmarks despite having fewer cores?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti has fewer shading units (4352 versus 4608) and lower theoretical FP32 (13.45 TFLOPS versus 16.31 TFLOPS), yet it wins all nine head-to-head tests. The benchmark results indicate that clock speed alone — the Quadro boosts to 1770 MHz versus 1545 MHz — does not translate into real-world wins in these specific tests.

Q: Are these cards the same generation?

A: Both are Turing architecture GPUs on the TU102 chip, but they belong to different product lines. The RTX 2080 Ti is from the GeForce 20-series, released on 2018-09-19, while the Quadro RTX 8000 is from the Quadro Turing (Tx000) generation, released on 2018-08-12.

Q: What is the performance percentile ranking for each card?

A: The RTX 2080 Ti is in the 75th percentile of all GPUs, with an average benchmark score of 29,783. The Quadro RTX 8000 is in the 74th percentile, with an average score of 28,421. This places them nearly equal in overall standing, despite the Quadro’s higher price.

Q: Do both cards support the same APIs?

A: Yes. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The API feature sets are identical, so software compatibility is not a differentiator.

Q: Which card has a higher power draw?

A: The Quadro RTX 8000 has a TDP of 260 W, while the RTX 2080 Ti is rated at 250 W. Both require a 600 W power supply, and both are dual-slot cards with a 267 mm length.

Specification Differences

The key differences between the two cards are in compute resources, memory, clocks, and physical connectors. The Quadro RTX 8000 has 4608 shading units versus 4352, 288 TMUs versus 272, and 96 ROPs versus 88. It also has 72 RT cores and 576 Tensor cores, compared to 68 and 544 on the GeForce. The base clock is 1395 MHz versus 1350 MHz, and the boost clock is 1770 MHz versus 1545 MHz.

Memory is the biggest split: 48 GB versus 11 GB, 384-bit versus 352-bit bus, and 672.0 GB/s versus 616.0 GB/s bandwidth. The pixel rate is 169.9 GPixel/s versus 136.0 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 509.8 GTexel/s versus 420.2 GTexel/s. FP32 is 16.31 TFLOPS versus 13.45 TFLOPS, and FP16 is 32.62 TFLOPS versus 26.90 TFLOPS.

The TDP is 260 W versus 250 W. Power connectors are 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin on the Quadro, and 2x 8-pin on the GeForce. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 1.4a plus USB Type-C on the Quadro, versus 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, and USB Type-C on the GeForce. The cards have slightly different heights: 111 mm for the Quadro versus 116 mm for the GeForce.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 2080 Ti wins every benchmark in this comparison. It is faster in OpenCL by 25.8%, in Vulkan by 8.4%, in DirectX 10 by 11.7%, and in G3D by 8.8%. The margins are smaller in DirectX 11 (1.1%) and GPU compute (0.6%), but the direction is consistent. For anyone running the workloads represented by these tests — which cover graphics, compute, and API-specific paths — the RTX 2080 Ti is the better performer.

The Quadro RTX 8000 does not win a single test. Its advantages are entirely in hardware specifications: 48 GB of memory, 16.31 TFLOPS of FP32, and a 1770 MHz boost clock. These specs are useful for workloads that are not captured by these benchmarks, such as rendering scenes that exceed 11 GB of VRAM or running large machine learning models that need more memory than the GeForce can hold. The Quadro also has a higher pixel rate (169.9 GPixel/s) and texture rate (509.8 GTexel/s), which are relevant for certain fill-rate-limited tasks.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti outperforms the Quadro RTX 8000 in every head-to-head benchmark, from 0.6% in GPU compute to 25.8% in OpenCL. Its average benchmark score of 29,783 is higher than the Quadro’s 28,421, and it holds a one-point advantage in percentile ranking. The launch MSRP of 999 USD for the RTX 2080 Ti is far below the Quadro’s 9,999 USD, though pricing is not the focus here.

For a user whose primary concern is benchmark performance in the tested categories, the RTX 2080 Ti is the clear choice. It wins all nine tests and delivers better results across the board. The Quadro RTX 8000 should only be selected by someone who specifically needs 48 GB of memory or the higher theoretical compute throughput of 16.31 TFLOPS, even though those specs do not yield faster results in this benchmark suite. The Quadro’s higher boost clock and wider memory bus are real hardware advantages, but the data shows they do not convert into wins. Pick the RTX 2080 Ti for speed, or the Quadro RTX 8000 for memory capacity — the benchmarks leave no middle ground.