NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Mobile Comparison

The benchmark data presents a clear split between these two NVIDIA GPUs. The desktop-class RTX 4070 SUPER wins the majority of head-to-head tests, while the RTX 5080 Mobile takes the lead in the newest DirectX 12 and 3DMark workloads. This is not a simple generational victory; it is a tale of two very different hardware designs optimized for different environments.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The RTX 4070 SUPER dominates the aggregate performance picture, winning 7 of 10 direct comparisons. Its largest margin of victory comes in the Passmark GPU Compute test, where it scores 17,108 against the RTX 5080 Mobile's 12,134, a massive 41% advantage. This indicates a substantial lead in raw, non-gaming compute throughput. The desktop card also shows a strong 21.1% edge in Geekbench Vulkan, scoring 205,624 versus 169,754, suggesting better performance in modern graphics APIs outside of DirectX 12.

The desktop card's wins are consistent across several legacy and general-purpose benchmarks. In Passmark DirectX 9, it scores 344 to the mobile chip's 314, a 9.6% lead. The Passmark G3D test shows an 8.2% advantage (29,995 vs 27,711), and the G2D test shows an 8.1% lead (1,184 vs 1,095). The RTX 4070 SUPER also wins Passmark DirectX 11 with a 7.9% margin (273 vs 253) and Geekbench OpenCL with a 3.5% edge (172,795 vs 166,986). These results paint a picture of a card that is simply faster in most established workloads.

The RTX 5080 Mobile, however, counters in the most forward-looking tests. Its biggest win is in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, where it scores 4,952 against the RTX 4070 SUPER's 4,627, a 6.6% lead. It also edges out the desktop card in Passmark DirectX 12 (116 vs 110, a 5.2% margin) and Passmark DirectX 10 (171 vs 167, a 2.3% margin). This suggests that while the desktop card is faster in compute and older APIs, the mobile chip's architecture is more efficient in the latest DirectX 12 rendering paths.

The average benchmark scores reflect these mixed results. The RTX 4070 SUPER has an average score of 43,223, placing it in the 83rd percentile of all GPUs. The RTX 5080 Mobile's average is lower at 38,349, placing it in the 81st percentile. Interestingly, the nearest rival data shows the RTX 4070 SUPER is virtually tied with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile (deltaPct of -0.1) and the RTX 4090 Mobile (deltaPct of -1). The RTX 5080 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce MX570 (deltaPct of 0.1), and it sits just ahead of the RTX 4080 Mobile (deltaPct of 0.6).

The Verdict

The data indicates that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the superior overall performer. Its 12.7% higher average benchmark score and 7-3 win record in head-to-head tests make it the clear choice for users who prioritize maximum raw performance across a wide range of applications. The 41% lead in GPU compute and 21.1% lead in Vulkan are particularly decisive, showing a significant advantage in both professional compute tasks and cross-platform gaming.

The RTX 5080 Mobile, however, is not without its merits. Its wins in 3DMark Steel Nomad and Passmark DirectX 12 show that it is the more capable GPU for the very latest DirectX 12 games. This is a notable achievement for a mobile part with an 80W TDP, especially when compared to the 220W TDP of the desktop card. Users who exclusively play the newest DX12 titles and need a portable solution should consider the mobile chip, but they must accept lower performance in almost every other metric.

For a desktop user building a system today, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the verdict. Its higher scores in the majority of tests, particularly in compute and legacy APIs, make it a more versatile and powerful component. For a laptop buyer who values the latest 3DMark performance over all else, the RTX 5080 Mobile is the answer, but the data shows it is a specialized choice rather than a general-purpose winner.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 4070 SUPER wins in scenarios that demand raw compute power and broad API compatibility. The 41% lead in Passmark GPU Compute makes it the definitive choice for tasks like rendering, scientific calculations, and any workflow that leverages GPGPU acceleration. Its 21.1% lead in Vulkan performance is crucial for Linux gamers and users of Vulkan-based applications. The wins in DirectX 9, DirectX 11, and G2D also make it the better option for older game libraries and general 2D desktop workloads.

The RTX 5080 Mobile wins in the narrow but important niche of next-generation DirectX 12 gaming. Its 6.6% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad, which is specifically designed for DX12, indicates a hardware architecture better suited to the modern rendering pipelines. The smaller wins in DirectX 12 and DirectX 10 also suggest that its Blackwell 2.0 architecture handles these workloads more efficiently. This makes it the preferred choice for a user who is building a system exclusively for playing the newest AAA titles that are built around DX12 features.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has a higher average benchmark score of 43,223, compared to the RTX 5080 Mobile's 38,349.

Q: By how much does the RTX 5080 Mobile win in 3DMark Steel Nomad?

A: The RTX 5080 Mobile scores 4,952 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 6.6% higher than the RTX 4070 SUPER's score of 4,627.

Q: What is the biggest performance gap between the two cards?

A: The largest gap is in the Passmark GPU Compute test, where the RTX 4070 SUPER leads by 41%, scoring 17,108 versus the RTX 5080 Mobile's 12,134.

Q: Which GPU has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER has a higher percentile ranking at 83, while the RTX 5080 Mobile ranks at the 81st percentile.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 SUPER perform in Geekbench Vulkan compared to the mobile chip?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER scores 205,624 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 21.1% higher than the RTX 5080 Mobile's score of 169,754.

Q: In how many head-to-head benchmarks does each card win?

A: The RTX 4070 SUPER wins 7 of the 10 head-to-head benchmarks, while the RTX 5080 Mobile wins 3.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures. The RTX 4070 SUPER uses the AD104 chip based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, while the RTX 5080 Mobile uses the GB203 chip based on the newer Blackwell 2.0 architecture. Both are manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC, but the chip designs diverge significantly.

The RTX 5080 Mobile's GB203 chip is larger, with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die, compared to the RTX 4070 SUPER's 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die. Despite having more transistors, the mobile chip's transistor density is lower at 120.6M / mm² versus 121.8M / mm² for the desktop card. The RTX 5080 Mobile also features more shading units (7,680 vs 7,168), more TMUs (240 vs 224), more ROPs (96 vs 80), more RT cores (60 vs 56), and more tensor cores (240 vs 224).

The memory subsystems are also different. The RTX 4070 SUPER uses 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus, while the RTX 5080 Mobile uses 16 GB of faster GDDR7 on a wider 256-bit bus. This gives the mobile chip a significantly higher memory bandwidth of 896.0 GB/s, compared to 504.2 GB/s for the desktop card.

Specification Differences

The most striking difference is in power consumption. The RTX 4070 SUPER has a TDP of 220 W and requires a 1x 16-pin power connector with a suggested PSU of 550 W. The RTX 5080 Mobile has a TDP of just 80 W and uses no external power connectors, as it is an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor) for portable devices.

Clock speeds also differ substantially. The RTX 4070 SUPER has a base clock of 1980 MHz and a boost clock of 2475 MHz, while the RTX 5080 Mobile runs at a much lower base clock of 975 MHz and a boost clock of 1500 MHz. This explains the significant difference in raw throughput metrics: the RTX 4070 SUPER achieves 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 and a pixel rate of 198.0 GPixel/s, while the RTX 5080 Mobile achieves 23.04 TFLOPS FP32 and a pixel rate of 144.0 GPixel/s.

The bus interface differs as well. The RTX 4070 SUPER uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the RTX 5080 Mobile uses the newer PCIe 5.0 x16. The desktop card has specific display outputs (1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a) and physical dimensions (267 mm length, 112 mm height, 42 mm width), while the mobile chip's display outputs are described as "Portable Device Dependent" and it has no listed dimensions.

The production status and release dates also differ. The RTX 4070 SUPER is end-of-life and was released on 2024-01-16, with a launch MSRP of 599 USD. The RTX 5080 Mobile is active and was released on 2025-04-01, with no launch MSRP listed. The desktop card's predecessor is the GeForce 30 series and its successor is the GeForce 50 series, while the mobile chip's predecessor is the GeForce 40 Mobile series.