NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The data separates these two Ampere GPUs clearly by intent. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is the desktop performance play, winning 8 of 9 head-to-head benchmarks with an average benchmark score of 23172 against the RTX A4000 Mobile's 21379. The RTX 3080 sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX A4000 Mobile sits at the 66th percentile — a narrow overall gap, but the per-test deltas tell a more dramatic story. Choose the RTX 3080 for raw compute, DirectX performance, and memory bandwidth. Choose the RTX A4000 Mobile only if you need Vulkan performance in a mobile form factor, as it wins the Geekbench Vulkan test decisively. The RTX A4000 Mobile is end-of-life and was released in April 2021, roughly eight months after the RTX 3080's August 2020 launch. There is no launch MSRP for the mobile part, while the RTX 3080 has a launch MSRP of 699 USD.

For a desktop builder prioritizing gaming or GPU compute, the RTX 3080 is the obvious pick from the data. For a laptop buyer who values Vulkan workloads, the RTX A4000 Mobile's single benchmark victory carries weight. The RTX 3080's nearest rivals are within 0.4% of its average score, meaning it competes in a tight pack. The RTX A4000 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 at 1.2% behind, and it leads the AMD Radeon HD 8970M by 0.7%. Neither GPU is dominant in its class; the RTX 3080 is the stronger of the two.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins more head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 wins 8 of 9 head-to-head tests. The RTX A4000 Mobile wins only the Geekbench Vulkan test.

Q: How large is the RTX 3080's lead in GPU compute?

A: In Passmark GPU Compute, the RTX 3080 scores 14397 versus 6394 for the RTX A4000 Mobile, a delta of 125.2% — the largest margin in either direction across all tests.

Q: Is the RTX A4000 Mobile competitive in any API?

A: Yes. In Geekbench Vulkan, the RTX A4000 Mobile scores 73002 against the RTX 3080's 33620, a 53.9% advantage. This is the only test where the mobile part leads.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The RTX 3080 has an average benchmark score of 23172. The RTX A4000 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 21379.

Q: How do their percentiles compare?

A: The RTX 3080 sits at the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The RTX A4000 Mobile sits at the 66th percentile.

Q: Which GPU has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The RTX 3080 has 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus with 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A4000 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 384.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Architecture Differences

Both GPUs use NVIDIA's Ampere architecture, but they are built on different chips. The RTX 3080 uses the GA102 chip, while the RTX A4000 Mobile uses the GA104 chip. Both are fabricated on an 8 nm process at Samsung. The RTX 3080 packs 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.1 million per mm². The RTX A4000 Mobile has 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, with a density of 44.4 million per mm². The density difference is small, but the RTX 3080's die is roughly 60% larger in area.

The RTX 3080 carries 68 RT cores and 272 tensor cores, while the RTX A4000 Mobile has 40 RT cores and 160 tensor cores. The RTX 3080 also has more shading units (8704 vs 5120), more texture mapping units (272 vs 160), and more raster operation units (96 vs 80). The RTX 3080's pixel rate is 164.2 GPixel/s versus 134.4 GPixel/s for the mobile part, and its texture rate is 465.1 GTexel/s versus 268.8 GTexel/s. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 3080 is part of the GeForce 30-series with a successor in GeForce 40, while the RTX A4000 Mobile's generation is Ampere-MW (Ax000), with a predecessor of Quadro Turing-M and a successor of Ada-MW.

Specification Differences

The clocks differ notably. The RTX 3080 has a base clock of 1440 MHz and a boost clock of 1710 MHz. The RTX A4000 Mobile has a base clock of 1140 MHz and a boost clock of 1680 MHz. The memory clocks are also different: the RTX 3080 runs at 1188 MHz with 19 Gbps effective speed, while the RTX A4000 Mobile runs at 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed. The RTX 3080's memory configuration is 10 GB of GDDR6X on a 320-bit bus, yielding 760.3 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX A4000 Mobile uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s — less than half the bandwidth.

The FP32 compute figures are 29.77 TFLOPS for the RTX 3080 and 17.20 TFLOPS for the RTX A4000 Mobile, with FP16 at a 1:1 ratio for both. The RTX 3080 has a TDP of 320 W and requires a 700 W suggested PSU, with a dual-slot design and a 1x 12-pin power connector. The RTX A4000 Mobile has a TDP of 115 W, no power connectors listed, and no slot width data. The RTX 3080 measures 285 mm in length, 112 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, with display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The RTX A4000 Mobile's display outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent," and its dimensions are not specified. Both use a PCIe 4.0 x16 bus interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 3080 dominates most tests, but the margins vary widely. In Passmark GPU Compute, the RTX 3080 scores 14397 against 6394, a 125.2% lead — the largest delta in the entire comparison. Passmark G3D shows a 69.5% gap, with scores of 25086 versus 14796. DirectX tests all favor the RTX 3080: DirectX 9 shows a 64.3% lead (258 vs 157), DirectX 11 shows 63% (207 vs 127), DirectX 10 shows 61.9% (170 vs 105), and DirectX 12 shows 51.5% (100 vs 66). The Passmark G2D test gives the RTX 3080 an 80.2% advantage (1054 vs 585).

Geekbench OpenCL also goes to the RTX 3080, with a score of 152423 versus 97178, a 56.8% lead. The lone exception is Geekbench Vulkan, where the RTX A4000 Mobile scores 73002 against the RTX 3080's 33620, a 53.9% victory. This is not a marginal win; the mobile part nearly doubles the desktop GPU's Vulkan score. The RTX 3080's average benchmark score of 23172 is 8.4% higher than the RTX A4000 Mobile's 21379, but the per-test deltas show the RTX 3080's wins are often massive while its single loss is also substantial.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3080 wins in every compute and rasterization category represented in the data. For GPU compute workloads, the 125.2% lead in Passmark GPU Compute makes it the clear choice for tasks like rendering, simulation, or any OpenCL-based compute. Its DirectX performance across all versions (9 through 12) is consistently 51.5% to 64.3% ahead, which covers most modern gaming and DirectX-based applications. The 80.2% lead in G2D suggests faster 2D operations, and the 69.5% lead in G3D indicates stronger overall 3D rendering. For OpenCL workloads, the 56.8% advantage reinforces the RTX 3080's compute strength.

The RTX A4000 Mobile wins exactly one category: Vulkan. Its 53.9% lead in Geekbench Vulkan is significant and suggests that software optimized for Vulkan will run noticeably better on this mobile GPU. This matters for Vulkan-based game engines or compute frameworks. The RTX A4000 Mobile also has a much lower TDP at 115 W versus 320 W, which is relevant for mobile deployments, though the data does not include battery or thermal performance. The RTX 3080's nearest rivals are all within 0.4% of its average score, indicating a tight competitive field, while the RTX A4000 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 at 1.2% behind. If a workload is Vulkan-centric, the RTX A4000 Mobile is the data-backed pick; for everything else in this comparison, the RTX 3080 is the stronger performer.