NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs NVIDIA Quadro 2000 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data for these two cards comes from different benchmark suites, so direct cross-test comparisons are not possible. The Quadro 2000 has a single Geekbench OpenCL score of 3898, placing it at the 23rd percentile of all GPUs in the database. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 4791, placing it at the 28th percentile. The percentile gap is small, only five points, but the workloads and APIs measured are entirely separate, meaning the scores cannot be converted into a percentage advantage for either card.

The Quadro 2000's nearest rivals in the database are all within a narrow band. The AMD Radeon R5 Graphics scores 3883, which is 0.4% lower. The NVIDIA Quadro K2000D scores 3919, which is 0.5% higher. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000D scores 3930, which is 0.8% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M scores 3953, which is 1.4% higher. The Quadro 2000 sits almost exactly in the middle of this cluster, and its delta values show that it trades blows with every nearby card by less than 1.5% in either direction. The data indicates a tightly packed group where the Quadro 2000 is neither a clear winner nor a clear loser.

The RTX 3080 12 GB's nearest rivals tell a different story in terms of the surrounding competition. The AMD Radeon R5 M255 scores 4788, which is 0.1% lower. The AMD Radeon R5 M335 scores 4752, which is 0.8% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce 940MX scores 4844, which is 1.1% higher. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M scores 4855, which is 1.3% higher. The RTX 3080 12 GB, despite its high-end positioning in the product stack, is recorded as sitting in a similarly tight cluster in this particular benchmark. It is not the top scorer in its own peer group, and it trails the GeForce GTX 560M and GeForce 940MX by small margins.

The only meaningful head-to-head statement that can be made from the data is that the RTX 3080 12 GB's benchmark score is 893 points higher in absolute terms than the Quadro 2000's score. However, because the tests differ, that raw difference should not be read as a performance ratio. The Quadro 2000 was measured with OpenCL, while the RTX 3080 12 GB was measured with a DirectX 12 workload. Neither test exists for the other card, so no common ground exists in the database for a fair comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The Quadro 2000 wins in situations where its measured workload matters. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 3898 is its only recorded result, and it places just 0.4% ahead of the AMD Radeon R5 Graphics, while sitting within 1.4% of all four nearest rivals. This indicates that in the OpenCL compute context, the Quadro 2000 is competitive with a set of low-power integrated and entry-level discrete parts, but it does not dominate any of them. The card's 23rd percentile standing means that it lands below the majority of all GPUs in the database, so its winning scenarios are limited to older or lighter compute tasks that match its capability profile.

The RTX 3080 12 GB wins in the DirectX 12 Steel Nomad test, where its score of 4791 places it at the 28th percentile. This is the only benchmark result recorded for the card, and it shows that the RTX 3080 12 GB performs in the same general region as the AMD Radeon R5 M255, Radeon R5 M335, GeForce 940MX, and GeForce GTX 560M in this specific test. The RTX 3080 12 GB sits 0.1% ahead of the Radeon R5 M255 and 0.8% ahead of the Radeon R5 M335, which are its two closest wins. It trails the GeForce 940MX by 1.1% and the GeForce GTX 560M by 1.3%.

The use-case split from the data is straightforward. The Quadro 2000's recorded win condition is OpenCL compute performance in a narrow band around 3900 points. The RTX 3080 12 GB's recorded win condition is DirectX 12 rendering performance in a narrow band around 4800 points. Neither card has benchmark entries for the other's test, so no cross-application victory can be assigned.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher recorded benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB has a recorded score of 4791 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, while the Quadro 2000 has a recorded score of 3898 in Geekbench OpenCL. These are different tests, so the scores are not directly comparable.

Q: How does the Quadro 2000 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Quadro 2000 scores 0.4% higher than the AMD Radeon R5 Graphics, 0.5% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro K2000D, 0.8% lower than the NVIDIA Quadro 2000D, and 1.4% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M.

Q: How does the RTX 3080 12 GB compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB scores 0.1% higher than the AMD Radeon R5 M255 and 0.8% higher than the AMD Radeon R5 M335. It scores 1.1% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce 940MX and 1.3% lower than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M.

Q: What percentile does each card occupy in the database?

A: The Quadro 2000 is at the 23rd percentile of all GPUs, and the RTX 3080 12 GB is at the 28th percentile.

Q: Do the two cards share any benchmark results?

A: No. The Quadro 2000 has only a Geekbench OpenCL result, and the RTX 3080 12 GB has only a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result. There are no overlapping tests in the recorded data.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB has an average benchmark score of 4791, while the Quadro 2000 has an average benchmark score of 3898. Each card's average is based on its single recorded test.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The Quadro 2000 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 41.60 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX 3080 12 GB uses 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus, delivering 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is 650 MHz (2.6 Gbps effective) for the Quadro 2000, while the RTX 3080 12 GB runs at 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective).

The compute resources are vastly different. The Quadro 2000 has 192 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 ROPs. The RTX 3080 12 GB has 8960 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The Quadro 2000 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, while the RTX 3080 12 GB has 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores.

The clock behavior also differs. The Quadro 2000 has no recorded base or boost clock. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a base clock of 1260 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. The pixel rate is 5.000 GPixel/s for the Quadro 2000 versus 164.2 GPixel/s for the RTX 3080 12 GB. The texture rate is 20.00 GTexel/s versus 478.8 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is 480.0 GFLOPS versus 30.64 TFLOPS. The RTX 3080 12 GB also records FP16 at 30.64 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio, while the Quadro 2000 has no FP16 entry.

The process and power profile differ significantly. The Quadro 2000 is built on a 40 nm process from TSMC with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die. The RTX 3080 12 GB is built on an 8 nm process from Samsung with 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die. Transistor density is 4.9M per mm² for the Quadro 2000 and 45.1M per mm² for the RTX 3080 12 GB. The Quadro 2000 has a TDP of 62 W with no power connectors and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The RTX 3080 12 GB has a TDP of 350 W with a single 12-pin connector and a suggested PSU of 750 W.

The physical and interface specs also differ. The Quadro 2000 is single-slot, 178 mm long, 111 mm high, with PCIe 2.0 x16 and display outputs of 1x DVI and 2x DisplayPort. The RTX 3080 12 GB is dual-slot, 285 mm long, 112 mm high, 40 mm wide, with PCIe 4.0 x16 and display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Architecture Differences

The Quadro 2000 is based on the GF106 chip using the Fermi architecture, from the Quadro Fermi (x000) generation. The RTX 3080 12 GB is based on the GA102 chip using the Ampere architecture, from the GeForce 30-series. The Quadro 2000 is fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC, while the RTX 3080 12 GB is fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The RTX 3080 12 GB uses roughly 24 times more transistors, 28,300 million versus 1,170 million, and has a die that is nearly three times larger at 628 mm² versus 238 mm².

The memory architecture is fundamentally different. The Quadro 2000 uses GDDR5 with a 128-bit bus, while the RTX 3080 12 GB uses GDDR6X with a 384-bit bus. The memory bandwidth difference is over 20-fold, but the architectural difference matters more: GDDR6X is a higher-speed memory type designed for the bandwidth demands of Ampere's compute and ray tracing hardware.

The feature sets diverge sharply. The Quadro 2000 has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, reflecting its Fermi-era design. The RTX 3080 12 GB includes 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores, which are dedicated hardware blocks for ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads. The RTX 3080 12 GB also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the Quadro 2000 supports DirectX 12 (11_0). Both support OpenGL 4.6. The RTX 3080 12 GB records Vulkan 1.4 support, while the Quadro 2000 has no Vulkan entry.

The production timeline also separates them. The Quadro 2000 was released in December 2010, and its predecessor is the Quadro FX Tesla line with the Quadro Kepler as its successor. The RTX 3080 12 GB was released in January 2022, with the GeForce 20 as its predecessor and the GeForce 40 as its successor. Both cards are marked as end-of-life in the database.

The Verdict

The data supports a clear choice for different audiences. The RTX 3080 12 GB is the only card with modern architectural features: ray tracing cores, tensor cores, GDDR6X memory, PCIe 4.0, and DirectX 12 Ultimate support. It also has the higher recorded benchmark score at 4791 versus 3898, though the tests differ. The Quadro 2000 is a Fermi-era part with no ray tracing, no tensor cores, a 128-bit GDDR5 interface, and a 40 nm process. Its only benchmark result places it at the 23rd percentile, and its nearest rivals are all within 1.4%, indicating it sits in a flat performance cluster.

The RTX 3080 12 GB's percentile standing at 28th is only five points higher than the Quadro 2000's 23rd, and its nearest rivals in the Steel Nomad test are similarly close. The practical interpretation is that in the database's recorded measurements, the RTX 3080 12 GB does not run away from its peer group, but it is the only card with the hardware feature set required for modern DirectX 12 Ultimate workloads. The Quadro 2000 cannot run those workloads at the same API level, and its 11_0 DirectX support limits it to older rendering paths.

For a builder choosing between these two, the decision should be based on workload requirements, not raw score. If the task requires ray tracing, tensor core acceleration, or DirectX 12 Ultimate features, the RTX 3080 12 GB is the only option with the necessary hardware. If the task is limited to legacy OpenCL compute and older DirectX 11-era workloads, the Quadro 2000 remains functional but its performance cluster shows no advantage over its immediate rivals. The RTX 3080 12 GB is the stronger pick for any modern application, while the Quadro 2000 is best left to systems that specifically require its Fermi-era feature set and power profile of 62 W.