NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Max-Q is a mobile GPU from the GeForce 30-series, built on the Ampere architecture with the GA104 chip. Samsung's 8 nm process hosts 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die, for a transistor density of 44.4M per mm². The part runs at a 780 MHz base clock and 1245 MHz boost clock, with an 80 W TDP and no external power connectors, reflecting the Max-Q design philosophy of fitting high-end silicon into power-constrained laptops. Released on 2021-01-11, it is now marked end-of-life in the database, and its predecessor generation is GeForce 20 Mobile. In the global ranking of all GPUs tracked by the database, this part holds the 50th percentile position.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals field for this part is empty, meaning the database does not provide direct rival names or deltaPct values. Consequently, the comparison must be framed through the percentile ranking and the specification sheet. The 50th percentile placement is a precise statement: exactly half of all GPUs in the database rank above this part, and half rank below. That median standing is notable for a product carrying the "3080" name, which in desktop terms would suggest top-tier performance; in the mobile Max-Q context, the data shows a part that is solidly mid-pack rather than class-leading.

The 80 W TDP is the defining constraint. With no external power connectors, the power budget is tightly limited, and the boost clock of 1245 MHz is modest as a result. The 15.30 TFLOPS FP32 throughput is the ceiling imposed by that power envelope. Compared to the broader GeForce 30-series lineup, this Max-Q variant prioritizes thermal efficiency over raw clock speed; the data does not include a non-Max-Q counterpart for direct delta comparison, but the clock figures alone indicate a significant power-limiting strategy.

Relative to the predecessor generation, GeForce 20 Mobile, the architectural step to Ampere brings a different feature set: 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores are present, along with DirectX 12 Ultimate support. No benchmark deltas are recorded against any specific predecessor, so the generational comparison rests on the architectural capabilities rather than measured scores. The 50th percentile position, however, suggests that in aggregate database terms, this part does not dramatically outpace the median of the entire GPU population, which includes both mobile and desktop parts across multiple generations.

The memory configuration also informs the comparison. With 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus and 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth, the part is aligned with the mid-range memory subsystems of its era. The 119.5 GPixel/s pixel rate and 239.0 GTexel/s texture rate are direct functions of the 96 ROPs, 192 TMUs, and the clock speeds; these figures place it in a consistent band with its FP32 throughput. In short, the data paints a picture of a balanced, power-limited mobile GPU that sits at the exact median of the database's GPU population.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The RTX 3080 Max-Q includes 48 dedicated RT cores and 192 tensor cores. The RT cores handle ray-traced workloads such as reflections, shadows, and global illumination, while the tensor cores accelerate machine-learning-based operations. The presence of these units is a defining feature of the Ampere generation, and the counts are substantial for a mobile part at this power level.

API support is comprehensive for the era. DirectX 12 Ultimate at feature level 12_2 is supported, which is the API tier that standardizes ray tracing and other advanced rendering features. OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4 round out the API set, ensuring broad compatibility across modern game engines and compute frameworks. The 1:1 FP16 ratio, with FP16 throughput matching FP32 at 15.30 TFLOPS, means half-precision compute runs at full rate, which is beneficial for AI inference and certain graphics workloads that leverage FP16 math.

The memory subsystem is sized at 8 GB GDDR6 with a 256-bit interface. The memory clock of 1500 MHz, running at 12 Gbps effective, produces 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth. For ray tracing, which tends to be bandwidth-intensive, this figure is a practical ceiling; the 8 GB capacity is adequate for current game assets at the resolutions this part is likely to drive, though it is not expansive. The pixel rate of 119.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 239.0 GTexel/s complete the rasterization feature set, and the 96 ROPs are well matched to the 192 TMUs for balanced output.

Who Should Consider It

The 50th percentile ranking and the 8 GB GDDR6 frame buffer indicate a part aimed at Full HD gaming with high detail settings, and Quad HD gaming with adjusted quality levels. The 384.0 GB/s bandwidth is sufficient to feed the 15.30 TFLOPS FP32 throughput without severe starvation at these resolutions, and the 80 W TDP makes it suitable for laptops where power delivery and cooling are limited. Users who need a discrete GPU in a thin chassis, with modern API support and hardware ray tracing, are the target audience.

The end-of-life production status means this part is no longer manufactured; prospective buyers will only find it in existing laptops or on the second-hand market. The lack of external power connectors simplifies system integration. For compute workloads that can use FP16, the 1:1 FP32/FP16 ratio is a meaningful advantage, allowing full-rate half-precision processing. However, the 8 GB memory capacity and the 50th percentile performance mean it is not suited for extreme settings or very high-resolution texture workloads; those use cases would require a higher-ranking part.

The 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores provide hardware support for ray tracing and AI-accelerated features, but the modest clock speeds mean ray-traced effects will come with a performance cost. The data does not include specific game benchmarks, so settings recommendations are derived from the raw specification figures: the 15.30 TFLOPS FP32 rate, the 119.5 GPixel/s fill rate, and the 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. These figures suggest a capable mid-range mobile GPU that can handle modern titles at mainstream settings, with the 80 W power budget keeping thermals in check for thin-and-light designs.

FAQ

Q: What chip and architecture does the RTX 3080 Max-Q use?

A: It uses the GA104 chip with the Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process, with 17,400 million transistors on a 392 mm² die.

Q: How much memory and what bandwidth does it have?

A: It has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, with a memory clock of 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective), yielding 384.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What are the RT core and tensor core counts?

A: It has 48 RT cores and 192 tensor cores, with 6144 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs.

Q: What is the TDP and power connector requirement?

A: The TDP is 80 W, and there are no external power connectors.

Q: What APIs are supported?

A: It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: Where does it rank among all GPUs in the database?

A: It holds the 50th percentile position among all GPUs tracked by the database.

Benchmark Performance

The benchmark fields for this part are empty: avgBenchmarkScore is 0 and there are no recorded benchmark entries, and the nearestRivals array contains no entries with scores or deltaPct values. As a result, there are no measured performance deltas to report against any specific competitor. The performance analysis must therefore be constructed from the specification-derived figures and the percentile placement.

The FP32 throughput of 15.30 TFLOPS is the headline compute figure. This is the product of 6144 shading units operating at the boost clock of 1245 MHz. The FP16 rate is identical at 15.30 TFLOPS, confirming a 1:1 ratio. The pixel rate of 119.5 GPixel/s and texture rate of 239.0 GTexel/s are consistent with the 96 ROPs and 192 TMUs at the same clock. These numbers define the raw rasterization capacity: the part can fill 119.5 million pixels per second and texture 239.0 million texels per second.

The memory bandwidth of 384.0 GB/s is the data delivery limit. With 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, the bandwidth-to-compute ratio is reasonable for the 15.30 TFLOPS FP32 rate. In the aggregate database ranking, the 50th percentile position means this part is exactly median; it outperforms half of all GPUs in the database and underperforms the other half. That includes desktop and mobile parts from multiple generations, so the median placement is a meaningful indicator of its overall standing.

The 80 W TDP is a critical performance limiter. The boost clock of 1245 MHz is the sustained maximum under that power envelope, and the absence of external power connectors means there is no supplemental power path to exceed it. The end-of-life status and the release date of 2021-01-11 place it in the early wave of GeForce 30 mobile parts. With no benchmark scores recorded, the specification analysis is the only available lens, and it shows a power-efficient, mid-pack mobile GPU whose 50th percentile rank is consistent with its 8 GB memory capacity, 384.0 GB/s bandwidth, and 15.30 TFLOPS compute rate.