NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in overall average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile leads with an average benchmark score of 25,740, while the RTX 4060 Mobile scores 22,729. That places the 3080 Ti Mobile in the 71st percentile of all GPUs, versus the 67th percentile for the 4060 Mobile.

Q: How large is the performance gap in compute workloads?

A: In the Passmark GPU compute test, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 8,471, which is 24.3% ahead of the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 6,816. The Geekbench OpenCL result shows an even bigger 31.8% advantage for the 3080 Ti Mobile (117,866 vs. 89,420).

Q: Does the RTX 4060 Mobile win any benchmark at all?

A: Yes, the RTX 4060 Mobile wins the Passmark DirectX 9 test, scoring 216 versus the 3080 Ti Mobile’s 201. That is a 6.9% advantage for the newer card in that legacy API test.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each GPU?

A: The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 4060 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. Both run memory at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective.

Q: Which GPU is built on a smaller manufacturing process?

A: The RTX 4060 Mobile uses a 5 nm process from TSMC, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile uses an 8 nm process from Samsung. The 4060 Mobile’s die is 159 mm² with 18,900 million transistors, while the 3080 Ti Mobile’s die is 496 mm² with 22,000 million transistors.

Q: Are both GPUs currently in production?

A: No. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is end-of-life with a release date of January 24, 2022, while the RTX 4060 Mobile is active, released January 2, 2023, and has a successor in the GeForce 50 Mobile series.

Where Each One Wins

The data splits clearly across generations. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile wins 8 of the 9 head-to-head benchmark comparisons, dominating in compute, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, DirectX 12, and general 3D performance. Its wins are not marginal: the Geekbench OpenCL margin is 31.8%, the Passmark GPU compute margin is 24.3%, and the DirectX 10 margin is 22.4%. The RTX 4060 Mobile’s single win comes in DirectX 9, where it scores 216 against 201, a 6.9% edge.

For users running modern workloads, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the stronger choice in nearly every measurable category. The RTX 4060 Mobile holds a narrow legacy API advantage, but that does not translate into broader superiority. In terms of percentile placement, the 3080 Ti Mobile sits at the 71st percentile, while the 4060 Mobile sits at the 67th, reinforcing the older card’s overall lead.

The RTX 4060 Mobile’s appeal is not in raw benchmark wins but in its architectural efficiency and active production status. It delivers competitive DirectX 9 performance and a much smaller die footprint, which may matter for laptop design flexibility. However, if the question is which GPU produces higher recorded scores, the answer is consistently the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent entirely different NVIDIA architectures. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile uses the GA103 chip based on Ampere, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process. The RTX 4060 Mobile uses the AD107 chip based on Ada Lovelace, built on TSMC’s 5 nm process. The process difference is stark: 8 nm versus 5 nm, and the transistor density reflects that, with the Ada chip packing 118.9M transistors per mm² against Ampere’s 44.4M per mm².

Die size and transistor counts tell a complementary story. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile’s GA103 die is 496 mm² and contains 22,000 million transistors. The RTX 4060 Mobile’s AD107 die is just 159 mm² but still contains 18,900 million transistors. That means the newer chip achieves nearly the same transistor count in less than a third of the silicon area, a direct result of the denser 5 nm process.

Core configurations differ substantially. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has 7,424 shading units, 232 texture mapping units, 96 ROPs, 58 RT cores, and 232 tensor cores. The RTX 4060 Mobile has 3,072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 24 RT cores, and 96 tensor cores. The older card has more than double the shading units, TMUs, and ROPs, plus more than double the RT and tensor cores.

Clock speeds run in the opposite direction. The RTX 4060 Mobile has a base clock of 1545 MHz and a boost clock of 1890 MHz, while the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile has a base clock of 810 MHz and a boost clock of 1260 MHz. The newer card’s higher clocks partially compensate for its lower core counts, but not enough to overcome the older card’s raw throughput.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The bus interface differs: the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RTX 4060 Mobile uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Neither card has external power connectors listed, and both use portable-device-dependent display outputs. The RTX 4060 Mobile is classified as an IGP slot width, while the 3080 Ti Mobile has no slot width listed.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in every major specification category. Memory capacity is double on the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile: 16 GB versus 8 GB. Memory bus width is also double: 256-bit versus 128-bit, which leads to a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s versus 256.0 GB/s. Both use GDDR6 with the same memory clock of 2000 MHz and 16 Gbps effective.

Compute throughput favors the older card. The RTX 3080 Ti Mobile delivers 18.71 TFLOPS FP32 and FP16 (1:1), while the RTX 4060 Mobile delivers 11.61 TFLOPS in both. Pixel rate is 121.0 GPixel/s for the 3080 Ti Mobile versus 90.72 GPixel/s for the 4060 Mobile. Texture rate is 292.3 GTexel/s versus 181.4 GTexel/s.

Power draw is identical at 115 W TDP for both, which is notable given the 3080 Ti Mobile’s much larger die and higher throughput. The production status differs: the 3080 Ti Mobile is end-of-life, while the 4060 Mobile is active. Release dates are January 24, 2022, for the older card and January 2, 2023, for the newer one. The 4060 Mobile lists a predecessor of GeForce 30 Mobile and a successor of GeForce 50 Mobile; the 3080 Ti Mobile lists its predecessor as GeForce 20 Mobile and no successor.

Transistor density is the most dramatic difference: 118.9M per mm² for the 4060 Mobile against 44.4M per mm² for the 3080 Ti Mobile. The 4060 Mobile’s die is 159 mm², while the 3080 Ti Mobile’s is 496 mm². Neither GPU has a listed launch MSRP, so no pricing comparison is possible from the database.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The largest win for the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile comes in Geekbench OpenCL, where it scores 117,866 against the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 89,420, a 31.8% advantage. That is the single biggest delta in the entire comparison. The second largest is Passmark GPU compute: 8,471 versus 6,816, a 24.3% lead. These two results show that the older card’s massive core count and memory bandwidth translate directly into compute-heavy workload superiority.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile scores 107,502 against 89,569, a 20% lead. Passmark DirectX 10 shows a 22.4% lead (131 versus 107), and Passmark DirectX 12 shows a 20.5% lead (88 versus 73). The DirectX 11 gap narrows to just 4.5% (164 versus 157), indicating that the newer architecture’s higher clocks help in that API but do not close the gap entirely.

Passmark G3D, which represents general 3D rendering, gives the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile a 10.4% lead (19,288 versus 17,469). Passmark G2D shows a 12.1% lead (818 versus 730), suggesting the older card also handles 2D composition tasks better. The only reversal is DirectX 9, where the RTX 4060 Mobile scores 216 versus 201, a 6.9% win for the newer GPU.

The overall average benchmark score confirms the pattern: 25,740 for the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile against 22,729 for the RTX 4060 Mobile. The nearest rivals for the 3080 Ti Mobile include the AMD Radeon RX 6700M at 25,633 (0.4% behind) and the AMD Radeon Pro W5700 at 25,726 (0.1% behind). The nearest rivals for the 4060 Mobile include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 22,895 (0.7% ahead) and the Intel Arc B580 at 23,021 (1.3% ahead). These rival placements show that the 3080 Ti Mobile competes in a higher performance tier, while the 4060 Mobile sits closer to desktop-class midrange parts.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the faster GPU in nearly every benchmark the database records. It wins 8 of 9 head-to-head comparisons, with margins ranging from 4.5% in DirectX 11 to 31.8% in Geekbench OpenCL. Its 71st percentile placement versus the 4060 Mobile’s 67th percentile confirms that the older card occupies a higher performance tier overall.

Buyers who prioritize raw compute, DirectX 12 performance, and memory bandwidth should choose the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile. It offers double the memory capacity (16 GB versus 8 GB), double the memory bus width, and more than double the shading units, RT cores, and tensor cores. Its 18.71 TFLOPS FP32 output is a clear step above the 4060 Mobile’s 11.61 TFLOPS.

Buyers who value the newer Ada Lovelace architecture and active production status should consider the RTX 4060 Mobile. It wins DirectX 9, runs at higher clocks (1545 MHz base, 1890 MHz boost), and does so on a 5 nm process that allows a much smaller die (159 mm² versus 496 mm²). Its 67th percentile still places it above the majority of GPUs, and its nearest rivals include the RTX 2080 and Intel Arc B580, showing it remains competitive.

However, for anyone comparing these two directly on recorded benchmark performance, the RTX 3080 Ti Mobile is the decisive winner. It leads in average score by 13.2% (25,740 versus 22,729), leads in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 (2,869 versus no score), and leads in every modern API test except DirectX 9. The RTX 4060 Mobile’s sole victory is narrow and confined to a legacy API. The verdict is straightforward: the older flagship outperforms the newer midrange part across the board, while the newer part offers architectural efficiency and continued availability.