NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER vs NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single shared benchmark between these two cards, the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER scores 3075, while the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation scores 1767. That is a 74% advantage for the RTX 5080 SUPER, a decisive margin in a modern DirectX 12 workload.

The RTX 5080 SUPER sits in the 19th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the RTX 2000 Ada Generation sits in the 63rd percentile. This percentile difference is counterintuitive at first glance, but it reflects the composition of the database and the nature of the benchmark sets. The RTX 2000 Ada has ten recorded benchmark entries spanning multiple test suites, including OpenCL, Vulkan, and several Passmark DirectX versions, while the RTX 5080 SUPER has just a single Steel Nomad score. The average score for the RTX 2000 Ada across all its benchmarks is 18954, which is far higher than its Steel Nomad result, pulling its percentile upward. The RTX 5080 SUPER's average benchmark score equals its Steel Nomad score at 3075, and the database places it lower in percentile because its one result is compared against the full field of multi-test averages.

Looking at the nearest rivals for each card clarifies the competitive positioning. The RTX 5080 SUPER's closest competitor is the NVIDIA Quadro P1000, which averages 3163, a 2.8% lead over the 5080 SUPER. The Intel Arc Pro B60 averages 3182, 3.4% ahead. The NVIDIA GeForce 820A scores 2983, 3.1% behind, and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M scores 2967, 3.6% behind. So in the Steel Nomad metric, the RTX 5080 SUPER lands in a tight cluster where the four nearest rivals span a range of only about 7% total.

The RTX 2000 Ada Generation's nearest rivals are much closer in aggregate. The NVIDIA Quadro K6000 averages 19030, just 0.4% ahead. The AMD Radeon RX 6600 averages 19036, also 0.4% ahead. The NVIDIA Tesla K80 averages 18866, 0.5% behind. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile averages 19049, 0.5% ahead. This grouping shows the RTX 2000 Ada's average benchmark score sits in a very tight band, within half a percent of three different competitors across very different architectures and generations.

The head-to-head data shows only one winner: the RTX 5080 SUPER takes the single shared test, winning 1-0 in the win count. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation has no wins in the head-to-head comparison.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 5080 SUPER wins the only test both cards ran, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, by 74%. This is a pure rendering workload that stresses the GPU's rasterization pipeline, geometry throughput, and memory bandwidth. The RTX 5080 SUPER's specifications align with this result: 10752 shading units, 336 texture mapping units, 112 render output units, and 84 ray tracing cores. Its memory subsystem delivers 1.02 TB/s of bandwidth across a 256-bit bus using GDDR7. The boost clock reaches 2617 MHz. These figures feed directly into the type of performance measured by Steel Nomad.

The RTX 2000 Ada Generation, by contrast, has 2816 shading units, 88 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and 22 ray tracing cores. Its memory bandwidth is 256.0 GB/s across a 128-bit bus using GDDR6. The boost clock is 2130 MHz. The gap in raw compute resources is enormous: the RTX 5080 SUPER delivers 56.28 TFLOPS of FP32 throughput, while the RTX 2000 Ada delivers 12.00 TFLOPS. That is a 4.69x difference in raw shader math, and the 74% Steel Nomad delta reflects the combined effect of all these differences.

However, the RTX 2000 Ada Generation has strengths outside the shared benchmark. Its recorded data includes a Geekbench OpenCL score of 78074, a Geekbench Vulkan score of 83360, and a Passmark GPU Compute score of 7834. These results show the card can handle compute-oriented tasks and API-specific workloads. The Passmark DirectX 9 score of 216 and DirectX 11 score of 138 indicate reasonable performance in older API paths, while the DirectX 10 score of 82 and DirectX 12 score of 71 are lower. The Passmark G2D score of 1072 reflects 2D desktop and windowing performance, and the Passmark G3D score of 16927 provides a general 3D metric across multiple tests.

The RTX 2000 Ada Generation also has a much lower power profile in the data: 70 W TDP with no power connectors required, and a suggested power supply of 250 W. The RTX 5080 SUPER has a 415 W TDP and requires a 16-pin connector. This makes the RTX 2000 Ada suitable for systems with limited power delivery, but the benchmark data does not include any power efficiency metrics, so the analysis cannot quantify the tradeoff.

The Verdict

The data points clearly in one direction for raw performance. The RTX 5080 SUPER is 74% ahead of the RTX 2000 Ada Generation in the only shared benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RTX 5080 SUPER also has a higher base clock (2295 MHz vs 1620 MHz), higher boost clock (2617 MHz vs 2130 MHz), more memory (24 GB vs 16 GB), faster memory type (GDDR7 vs GDDR6), wider bus (256-bit vs 128-bit), and nearly five times the FP32 throughput (56.28 TFLOPS vs 12.00 TFLOPS). The RTX 5080 SUPER has no recorded losses in the head-to-head data.

The RTX 2000 Ada Generation is not without merit in the database, however. Its average benchmark score of 18954 is much higher than its Steel Nomad score because it has multiple benchmarks that show strong compute and API-specific results. Its percentile ranking of 63 places it well above the RTX 5080 SUPER's 19th percentile, though this is largely an artifact of the different benchmark sets recorded for each card.

The RTX 5080 SUPER is the choice for anyone prioritizing the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 metric, which is a modern, demanding workload. Its memory bandwidth of 1.02 TB/s and 24 GB capacity provide substantial headroom for large datasets and high-resolution rendering. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation, with its 16 GB memory and 256.0 GB/s bandwidth, has a more limited envelope, but its lower power requirements and smaller physical footprint (168 mm length vs 304 mm length) make it a plausible option for compact or power-constrained systems.

The database records no scenario where the RTX 2000 Ada Generation outperforms the RTX 5080 SUPER in a direct comparison. The RTX 5080 SUPER wins the only head-to-head test, wins the win count 1-0, and holds advantages across every core specification listed. Users who need the highest recorded 3D performance should select the RTX 5080 SUPER. Users who need a lower-power card with a broader set of legacy API benchmark results might consider the RTX 2000 Ada Generation, but the direct comparison data does not favor it.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher score in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 SUPER scores 3075, which is 74% higher than the NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Generation's score of 1767.

Q: How many shared benchmarks exist between the two cards?

A: The database records exactly one shared benchmark, 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The RTX 5080 SUPER wins that test, giving it a 1-0 win count over the RTX 2000 Ada Generation.

Q: What are the memory specifications for each card?

A: The RTX 5080 SUPER has 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus with 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The RTX 5080 SUPER has 10752 shading units, compared to 2816 on the RTX 2000 Ada Generation. The RTX 5080 SUPER also has 336 TMUs and 112 ROPs, while the RTX 2000 Ada has 88 TMUs and 48 ROPs.

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

A: The RTX 5080 SUPER has an average benchmark score of 3075, which equals its only recorded benchmark result. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 18954 across its ten recorded benchmarks.

Q: What power connectors does each card require?

A: The RTX 5080 SUPER uses a 1x 16-pin power connector with a 415 W TDP. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation requires no power connectors and has a 70 W TDP, with a suggested power supply of 250 W.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from different NVIDIA architectures and product lines. The RTX 5080 SUPER uses the GB203 chip based on Blackwell 2.0 architecture, part of the GeForce 50-series generation. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation uses the AD107 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, part of the Workstation Ada (x000A) generation. Both are fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC, but the chip sizes differ substantially: the GB203 measures 378 mm² with 45,600 million transistors, while the AD107 measures 159 mm² with 18,900 million transistors. The transistor density is similar, 120.6M per mm² for the GB203 and 118.9M per mm² for the AD107.

The core configurations diverge sharply. The RTX 5080 SUPER has 10752 shading units, 336 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 84 ray tracing cores, and 336 tensor cores. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 2816 shading units, 88 TMUs, 48 ROPs, 22 ray tracing cores, and 88 tensor cores. The RTX 5080 SUPER has exactly four times the shading units, TMUs, and tensor cores of the RTX 2000 Ada, and more than double the ROPs and ray tracing cores.

Clock speeds also differ. The RTX 5080 SUPER has a base clock of 2295 MHz and a boost clock of 2617 MHz. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation has a base clock of 1620 MHz and a boost clock of 2130 MHz. Memory clocks are the same at 2000 MHz, but the effective data rates differ: 32 Gbps for the RTX 5080 SUPER versus 16 Gbps for the RTX 2000 Ada.

The memory subsystem is a major architectural differentiator. The RTX 5080 SUPER uses 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 1.02 TB/s bandwidth. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 256.0 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 5080 SUPER has four times the bandwidth of the RTX 2000 Ada.

Pixel and texture rates reflect the core and clock differences. The RTX 5080 SUPER achieves 293.1 GPixel/s and 879.3 GTexel/s. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation achieves 102.2 GPixel/s and 187.4 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 56.28 TFLOPS for the RTX 5080 SUPER and 12.00 TFLOPS for the RTX 2000 Ada, with FP16 at a 1:1 ratio for both.

The bus interfaces differ: the RTX 5080 SUPER uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the RTX 2000 Ada Generation uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs also differ: the RTX 5080 SUPER has 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, while the RTX 2000 Ada Generation has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Physical dimensions vary considerably. The RTX 5080 SUPER measures 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 40 mm in width, making it a dual-slot card. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation measures 168 mm in length and 69 mm in height, also dual-slot, with no width recorded. The RTX 5080 SUPER requires a 16-pin power connector and has a 415 W TDP. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation requires no power connectors and has a 70 W TDP with a 250 W suggested power supply.

The release dates differ by nearly two years in the database: the RTX 2000 Ada Generation was released in February 2024, while the RTX 5080 SUPER is dated at the end of December 2025. The RTX 2000 Ada Generation lists its predecessor as Workstation Ampere and its successor as Blackwell PRO W. The RTX 5080 SUPER lists no predecessor or successor. Both cards are marked as Active in production status.