GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs GTX 1060 Mobile

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile with GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB, including specs and performance data.

GTX 1060 Mobile
2016
6 GB GDDR5, 80 Watt
19.70

RTX 3080 12 GB outperforms GTX 1060 Mobile by a whopping 251% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in performance ranking27825
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation24.1846.72
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameN17E-G1Ampere GA102
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date18 August 2016 (8 years ago)11 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$237.11 $799

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3080 12 GB has 93% better value for money than GTX 1060 Mobile.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores12808960
CUDA cores1280no data
Core clock speed1506 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1708 MHz1260 MHz
Number of transistors4,400 million28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)80 Watt350 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature94 °Cno data
Texture fill rate133.6478.8
Floating-point performance4.275 gflops30.64 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizelargeno data
Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data285 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data1x 12-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount6 GB12 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed8000 MHz1710 MHz
Memory bandwidth192 GB/s912.4 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsDP 1.43, HDMI 2.0b, Dual Link-DVI1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support+no data
HDMI-+
HDCP2.2-
G-SYNC support+-

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStream+-
GPU Boost3.0no data
VR Ready+no data
Ansel+no data

API compatibility

List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.6
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.2.1311.3
CUDA+8.6

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 1060 Mobile 19.70
RTX 3080 12 GB 69.09
+251%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 1060 Mobile 34127
RTX 3080 12 GB 44533
+30.5%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 1060 Mobile 14693
RTX 3080 12 GB 217116
+1378%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 1060 Mobile 11558
RTX 3080 12 GB 35922
+211%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1060 Mobile 74605
RTX 3080 12 GB 549644
+637%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1060 Mobile 298378
+574809%
RTX 3080 12 GB 52

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD69
−167%
184
+167%
1440p45
−176%
124
+176%
4K30
−177%
83
+177%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 37
−262%
130−140
+262%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 62
−129%
140−150
+129%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 53
−134%
120−130
+134%
Battlefield 5 78
−183%
220−230
+183%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 61
−95.1%
110−120
+95.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 30
−347%
130−140
+347%
Far Cry 5 75
−56%
110−120
+56%
Far Cry New Dawn 76
−122%
160−170
+122%
Forza Horizon 4 229
−3.5%
230−240
+3.5%
Hitman 3 54
−139%
120−130
+139%
Horizon Zero Dawn 136
−85.3%
250−260
+85.3%
Metro Exodus 81
−91.4%
150−160
+91.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2 74
−63.5%
120−130
+63.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 119
−144%
290−300
+144%
Watch Dogs: Legion 137
−10.9%
150−160
+10.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 91
−56%
140−150
+56%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 45
−176%
120−130
+176%
Battlefield 5 69
−220%
220−230
+220%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 55
−116%
110−120
+116%
Cyberpunk 2077 25
−436%
130−140
+436%
Far Cry 5 59
−98.3%
110−120
+98.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 58
−191%
160−170
+191%
Forza Horizon 4 210
−12.9%
230−240
+12.9%
Hitman 3 51
−153%
120−130
+153%
Horizon Zero Dawn 134
−88.1%
250−260
+88.1%
Metro Exodus 70
−121%
150−160
+121%
Red Dead Redemption 2 62
−95.2%
120−130
+95.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 80
−345%
356
+345%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 122
−21.3%
140−150
+21.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 133
−14.3%
150−160
+14.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 37
−284%
140−150
+284%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 38
−226%
120−130
+226%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 40
−198%
110−120
+198%
Cyberpunk 2077 23
−483%
130−140
+483%
Far Cry 5 43
−172%
110−120
+172%
Forza Horizon 4 71
−234%
230−240
+234%
Hitman 3 45
−187%
120−130
+187%
Horizon Zero Dawn 66
−298%
263
+298%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 68
−362%
314
+362%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 39
−323%
165
+323%
Watch Dogs: Legion 28
−239%
95
+239%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 59
−105%
120−130
+105%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 41
−302%
160−170
+302%
Far Cry New Dawn 40
−175%
110−120
+175%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 27
−200%
80−85
+200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 27
−226%
85−90
+226%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27
−200%
80−85
+200%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−462%
70−75
+462%
Far Cry 5 28
−189%
80−85
+189%
Forza Horizon 4 173
−56.6%
270−280
+56.6%
Hitman 3 24−27
−304%
100−110
+304%
Horizon Zero Dawn 48
−329%
206
+329%
Metro Exodus 45
−158%
116
+158%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40−45
−436%
236
+436%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−396%
120−130
+396%
Watch Dogs: Legion 129
−85.3%
230−240
+85.3%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40
−185%
110−120
+185%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 22
−295%
85−90
+295%
Far Cry New Dawn 21
−229%
65−70
+229%
Hitman 3 16−18
−388%
78
+388%
Horizon Zero Dawn 59
−283%
220−230
+283%
Metro Exodus 22
−395%
100−110
+395%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 26
−408%
132
+408%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18
−217%
55−60
+217%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10
−440%
50−55
+440%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 13
−292%
50−55
+292%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
−750%
30−35
+750%
Far Cry 5 14
−257%
50−55
+257%
Forza Horizon 4 35
−240%
110−120
+240%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−492%
142
+492%
Watch Dogs: Legion 9−10
−511%
55
+511%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20
−270%
70−75
+270%

This is how GTX 1060 Mobile and RTX 3080 12 GB compete in popular games:

  • RTX 3080 12 GB is 167% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 3080 12 GB is 176% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 3080 12 GB is 177% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3080 12 GB is 750% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 3080 12 GB surpassed GTX 1060 Mobile in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 19.70 69.09
Recency 18 August 2016 11 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 16 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 80 Watt 350 Watt

GTX 1060 Mobile has 337.5% lower power consumption.

RTX 3080 12 GB, on the other hand, has a 250.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 100% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
GeForce GTX 1060 Mobile
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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