NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs NVIDIA Quadro K3000M Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the RTX 3080 12 GB and Quadro K3000M compare in overall benchmark positioning?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB ranks in the 28th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the Quadro K3000M sits in the 25th percentile. Their average benchmark scores are 4791 and 4241 respectively, placing them in adjacent performance tiers despite their very different ages.

Q: What does the RTX 3080 12 GB's nearest rival data suggest about its performance class?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB's closest competitors are the AMD Radeon R5 M255, AMD Radeon R5 M335, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M. It leads the R5 M255 by 0.1% and the R5 M335 by 0.8%, while trailing the GeForce 940MX by 1.1% and the GTX 560M by 1.3%.

Q: Where does the Quadro K3000M sit relative to its nearest rivals?

A: The Quadro K3000M's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon Vega 3, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, and AMD FirePro W2100. It trails the Radeon Vega 3 by 0.6%, the GTX 460M by 1%, and the FirePro W2100 by 1.3%, but leads the GTX 1050 Ti by 1.2%.

Q: What are the release dates and production statuses of these two GPUs?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB was released on 2022-01-10, while the Quadro K3000M launched on 2012-05-31. Both are marked as end-of-life production status in the database.

Q: What memory configurations do these cards use?

A: The RTX 3080 12 GB has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 384-bit bus with 912.4 GB/s bandwidth. The Quadro K3000M has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 89.60 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What is the RTX 3080 12 GB's launch MSRP?

A: The launch MSRP for the RTX 3080 12 GB is 799 USD.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different eras of NVIDIA design. The RTX 3080 12 GB uses the GA102 chip built on Ampere architecture, fabricated by Samsung on an 8 nm process. It integrates 28,300 million transistors across a 628 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 45.1M per mm². The Quadro K3000M uses the GK104 chip on the older Kepler architecture, built by TSMC on a 28 nm process. It contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a density of 12.0M per mm². The density gap is stark: the newer chip packs nearly four times more transistors per square millimeter.

The shading resources differ enormously. The RTX 3080 12 GB carries 8,960 shading units, 280 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. It also includes 70 dedicated ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores. The Quadro K3000M has 576 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, with no ray tracing or tensor core hardware at all. That absence is a defining architectural difference: the K3000M predates the ray tracing era entirely.

Clock behavior also separates them. The RTX 3080 12 GB runs at a 1260 MHz base clock and boosts to 1710 MHz. The Quadro K3000M operates at a flat 654 MHz for both base and boost, reflecting its mobile-oriented, thermally constrained design. Memory clocks diverge as well: the RTX card uses 1188 MHz memory with 19 Gbps effective speed, while the K3000M runs at 700 MHz with 2.8 Gbps effective.

The API support shows the generational gap. The RTX 3080 12 GB supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Quadro K3000M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.175. Both share OpenGL 4.6, but the DirectX feature level difference is substantial.

Physical design differs as well. The RTX 3080 12 GB is a dual-slot card measuring 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, requiring a 350 W TDP and a 750 W suggested power supply, with a single 12-pin connector. The Quadro K3000M is an MXM module with no power connectors, a 75 W TDP, and dimensions that are not recorded in the database, since it is portable-device dependent for both power and display output.

The Verdict

The data points to two completely different use cases. The RTX 3080 12 GB is a desktop-class GPU with 12 GB of GDDR6X memory, 912.4 GB/s of bandwidth, and hardware ray tracing support. It belongs in a desktop tower with a 750 W power supply and a PCIe 4.0 x16 slot. The Quadro K3000M is a mobile workstation module with 2 GB of GDDR5, 89.60 GB/s bandwidth, and no ray tracing capability, designed to fit into a laptop via an MXM-B interface.

From the benchmark percentile data alone, the RTX 3080 12 GB ranks only 3 percentile points higher than the Quadro K3000M, and its nearest rivals include low-power mobile chips like the GeForce 940MX. That suggests the recorded benchmark score for the RTX card may not reflect its theoretical compute advantage. The raw specifications tell a different story: the RTX card has 30.64 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput versus 753.4 GFLOPS for the Quadro, a 40x difference. The pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s versus 7.848 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 478.8 GTexel/s versus 31.39 GTexel/s.

For a buyer choosing between these two today, the decision hinges on the system form factor. If the requirement is a modern desktop GPU with ray tracing, tensor cores, and high-bandwidth memory, the RTX 3080 12 GB is the only viable option. If the requirement is a legacy mobile workstation module for a specific laptop chassis, the Quadro K3000M exists for that narrow purpose. The RTX card is also the only one with a recorded launch MSRP, listed at 799 USD.

Specification Differences

The specification table shows differences in nearly every measurable field:

• Process node: 8 nm (Samsung) versus 28 nm (TSMC)
• Transistors: 28,300 million versus 3,540 million
• Die size: 628 mm² versus 294 mm²
• Transistor density: 45.1M / mm² versus 12.0M / mm²
• Base clock: 1260 MHz versus 654 MHz
• Boost clock: 1710 MHz versus 654 MHz
• Memory clock: 1188 MHz (19 Gbps effective) versus 700 MHz (2.8 Gbps effective)
• Memory size: 12 GB versus 2 GB
• Memory type: GDDR6X versus GDDR5
• Memory bus width: 384 bit versus 256 bit
• Memory bandwidth: 912.4 GB/s versus 89.60 GB/s
• Shading units: 8,960 versus 576
• TMUs: 280 versus 48
• ROPs: 96 versus 32
• RT cores: 70 versus none
• Tensor cores: 280 versus none
• Pixel rate: 164.2 GPixel/s versus 7.848 GPixel/s
• Texture rate: 478.8 GTexel/s versus 31.39 GTexel/s
• FP32: 30.64 TFLOPS versus 753.4 GFLOPS
• FP16: 30.64 TFLOPS (1:1) versus not available
• TDP: 350 W versus 75 W
• Slot width: Dual-slot versus MXM Module
• Power connectors: 1x 12-pin versus none
• Suggested PSU: 750 W versus not available
• Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus MXM-B (3.0)
• Display outputs: 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a versus portable device dependent
• DirectX support: 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus 12 (11_0)
• Vulkan support: 1.4 versus 1.2.175
• Release date: 2022-01-10 versus 2012-05-31
• Predecessor: GeForce 20 versus Quadro Fermi-M
• Successor: GeForce 40 versus Quadro Maxwell-M

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head benchmark list is empty, meaning no direct comparison test exists in the database. The two GPUs were never measured against each other in a shared workload. What the database does provide is each card's average benchmark score and its nearest rival comparisons.

The RTX 3080 12 GB's single recorded benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, where it scored 4791. Its average benchmark score is also 4791. The Quadro K3000M's recorded benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, where it scored 4241, matching its average benchmark score of 4241. These are different tests measuring different workloads, so a direct mathematical comparison is not meaningful.

The nearest rival data offers context. The RTX card's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon R5 M255 at 4788, a 0.1% difference. The Quadro's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Vega 3 at 4268, a 0.6% difference. Both cards sit in a narrow band of similarly-scoring GPUs. The RTX 3080 12 GB's rivals are all mobile or older desktop parts, and the Quadro K3000M's rivals are similarly low-power or older parts. The percentile ranking difference of 28 versus 25 is consistent with the small score gap.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 12 GB wins decisively in raw compute and memory capability. Its FP32 throughput of 30.64 TFLOPS dwarfs the Quadro's 753.4 GFLOPS. Its 912.4 GB/s memory bandwidth is over ten times the Quadro's 89.60 GB/s. The 12 GB frame buffer versus 2 GB means the RTX card can handle far larger textures and datasets. The 70 ray tracing cores and 280 tensor cores provide hardware acceleration for workloads that the Quadro cannot accelerate at all. The dual-slot desktop form factor with PCIe 4.0 x16 connectivity and multiple display outputs makes it suitable for high-end desktop rendering, gaming, and compute tasks.

The Quadro K3000M wins in the mobile workstation segment. Its MXM module form factor and 75 W TDP allow it to fit in laptops where the RTX card cannot physically install. It requires no external power connectors, making it self-contained within a portable chassis. The 28 nm process and 654 MHz flat clock suggest a design optimized for sustained operation within tight thermal budgets. Its 2 GB GDDR5 memory, while small by modern standards, was appropriate for its 2012 release era. The absence of dimensions in the database reflects its role as a component whose physical footprint depends on the host laptop design.

For legacy compatibility, the Quadro K3000M has no successor in the RTX line; the database lists its successor as Quadro Maxwell-M, indicating a separate mobile workstation lineage. The RTX 3080 12 GB belongs to the GeForce 30-series consumer line, with the GeForce 20 as its predecessor and GeForce 40 as its successor. The two cards were never meant to compete directly. The RTX card targets desktop performance, the Quadro targets mobile workstations, and the benchmark data confirms they occupy similar percentile positions only because the database's recorded tests for each card measure very different things.