NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile vs NVIDIA TITAN Xp Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile and NVIDIA TITAN Xp represent two very different eras of GPU design, yet their benchmark results place them in a surprisingly close contest overall. The RTX 3070 Mobile, an Ampere-generation laptop part, and the TITAN Xp, a Pascal-generation desktop flagship, trade blows across different workloads, with the final tally showing the TITAN Xp winning 8 out of 10 direct comparisons. The data reveals a generational clash where architecture and feature support matter as much as raw compute.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most striking result in the head-to-head data is the Geekbench OpenCL score, where the RTX 3070 Mobile delivers a decisive 28% victory. The mobile GPU scores 92,939 points against the TITAN Xp's 72,585, a massive margin that highlights the efficiency of the Ampere architecture in compute-heavy, general-purpose workloads. This is the single largest delta in either direction across the entire benchmark suite.

Outside of that OpenCL blowout, the TITAN Xp dominates the traditional DirectX benchmark suite. In Passmark DirectX 9, the TITAN Xp wins by 29.2%, scoring 226 against the RTX 3070 Mobile's 160. The margin narrows but remains firmly in the TITAN Xp's favor for DirectX 11, where it scores 152 versus 138, a 9.2% advantage. DirectX 12 shows a similar pattern, with the TITAN Xp ahead by 7.2% (69 vs. 64), and DirectX 10 sees a 5% lead for the older card (119 vs. 113).

The gap widens again in the Passmark G3D and GPU Compute tests. The TITAN Xp posts an 18.4% higher G3D score (18,750 vs. 15,309) and a 27.6% advantage in GPU Compute (9,430 vs. 6,827). The 2D workload also goes to the TITAN Xp, with a 27.4% lead (883 vs. 641), although this metric often reflects memory subsystem and driver overhead rather than pure rendering muscle.

Interestingly, the two most modern API tests tell a different story. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 3070 Mobile ekes out a 0.3% win (2,380 vs. 2,372), a negligible margin but a symbolic victory for the newer architecture. In Geekbench Vulkan, the TITAN Xp wins by just 0.5% (87,180 vs. 86,768), meaning the two are effectively tied in this API. The overall picture is that the TITAN Xp leverages its larger memory bus and raw fillrate for legacy and compute-bound DirectX tasks, while the RTX 3070 Mobile pulls ahead in OpenCL compute and matches or nearly matches its rival in modern low-level APIs.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 Mobile's wins are concentrated in compute and modern API scenarios. Its 28% OpenCL advantage suggests it is the better choice for general-purpose GPU computing tasks, such as OpenCL-based rendering, physics simulations, or data processing that relies on this API. The near-tie in Vulkan, combined with the slight win in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, indicates that the Ampere architecture handles contemporary game engines and modern graphics pipelines more efficiently per unit of raw power. For users running Vulkan titles or DX12 games that are optimized for newer hardware features, the RTX 3070 Mobile is at least competitive and occasionally ahead.

The TITAN Xp is the clear winner in legacy DirectX performance and overall rasterization throughput. Its 29.2% lead in DirectX 9 is substantial, and it maintains double-digit advantages in DirectX 11 (9.2%) and GPU Compute (27.6%). This makes it the stronger option for older game libraries, emulation, or any application that still relies on pre-DX12 rendering paths. The G3D score, which is 18.4% higher, reinforces that the TITAN Xp delivers more raw pixel-pushing capability in traditional 3D workloads. The 27.4% win in G2D also points to the TITAN Xp being snappier in 2D desktop compositing or 2D graphics applications, despite its age.

Architecture Differences

The architectural chasm between these two GPUs is vast. The RTX 3070 Mobile is built on the Ampere architecture using the GA104 chip, fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The TITAN Xp, in contrast, uses the older Pascal architecture with the GP102 chip, built on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It contains 11,800 million transistors on a larger 471 mm² die, resulting in a much lower density of 25.1M per mm². The smaller, denser process gives the RTX 3070 Mobile a significant efficiency advantage in principle.

The functional block counts diverge sharply. The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, 160 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. It also includes 40 dedicated ray tracing cores and 160 tensor cores, features that are entirely absent on the TITAN Xp. The TITAN Xp counters with 3,840 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. This means the TITAN Xp has 50% more texture units and 20% more ROPs, which explains its higher texture rate of 379.7 GTexel/s versus 249.6 GTexel/s for the mobile chip. The RTX 3070 Mobile, however, has 33% more shading units, giving it a theoretical FP32 throughput of 15.97 TFLOPS versus the TITAN Xp's 12.15 TFLOPS.

Memory architecture also distinguishes them. The RTX 3070 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, while the TITAN Xp uses 12 GB of GDDR5X on a wider 384-bit bus. The TITAN Xp's bandwidth of 547.6 GB/s far exceeds the RTX 3070 Mobile's 448.0 GB/s, despite the newer memory type in the latter. FP16 performance is a stark contrast: the RTX 3070 Mobile delivers 15.97 TFLOPS in FP16 (1:1 ratio with FP32), while the TITAN Xp manages only 189.8 GFLOPS (1:64 ratio), highlighting the Ampere chip's focus on mixed-precision and AI workloads.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets reveal several key divergences beyond the core architecture. The TITAN Xp has a higher base clock at 1,405 MHz versus 1,110 MHz, and a slightly higher boost clock at 1,582 MHz versus 1,560 MHz. Memory clocks differ: the RTX 3070 Mobile runs at 1,750 MHz (14 Gbps effective), while the TITAN Xp runs at 1,426 MHz (11.4 Gbps effective). The TITAN Xp's power draw is more than double that of the mobile part, rated at 250 W versus 115 W, and it requires dual-slot cooling with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin power connectors, plus a 600 W suggested PSU. The RTX 3070 Mobile has no power connectors listed and its display outputs are portable device dependent, whereas the TITAN Xp offers 1x HDMI 2.0 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

The bus interface differs as well: the RTX 3070 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the TITAN Xp uses PCIe 3.0 x16. API support shows the RTX 3070 Mobile is rated for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the TITAN Xp is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. Physical dimensions are only specified for the TITAN Xp: 267 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The TITAN Xp launched on 2017-04-05 with a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD, while the RTX 3070 Mobile launched on 2021-01-11 with no MSRP listed. The TITAN Xp's production status is end-of-life, and it sits in the 64th percentile of all GPUs, just below the RTX 3070 Mobile's 65th percentile.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile has a higher average benchmark score of 20,534, compared to the NVIDIA TITAN Xp's 19,177.

Q: How do the two compare in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile wins by 28%, scoring 92,939 against the TITAN Xp's 72,585.

Q: Does the TITAN Xp have any advantage in API support?

A: No, the RTX 3070 Mobile supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the TITAN Xp is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the difference in memory bandwidth?

A: The TITAN Xp has a higher memory bandwidth of 547.6 GB/s, while the RTX 3070 Mobile has 448.0 GB/s.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The RTX 3070 Mobile has 5,120 shading units, compared to the TITAN Xp's 3,840 shading units.

Q: What is the TITAN Xp's launch MSRP?

A: The NVIDIA TITAN Xp has a launch MSRP of 1,199 USD.