GeForce RTX 3090 vs Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q

Place in the ranking	170	24
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	14.90
Power efficiency	28.03	13.80
Architecture	Turing (2018−2022)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	TU104	GA102
Market segment	Mobile workstation	Desktop
Release date	27 May 2019 (5 years ago)	1 September 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$1,499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	2560	10496
Core clock speed	780 MHz	1395 MHz
Boost clock speed	1380 MHz	1695 MHz
Number of transistors	13,600 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	12 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	350 Watt
Texture fill rate	220.8	556.0
Floating-point processing power	7.066 TFLOPS	35.58 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	112
TMUs	160	328
Tensor Cores	320	328
Ray Tracing Cores	40	82

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 size	large	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	336 mm
Width	no data	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	1x 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 type	GDDR6	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	24 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	1625 MHz	1219 MHz
Memory bandwidth	416.0 GB/s	936.2 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 Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	-	+
G-SYNC support	+	-

Supported technologies

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

VR Ready

no data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	12 Ultimate (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.5	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.2.131	1.2
CUDA	7.5	8.5

Synthetic benchmark performance

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

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark 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.

RTX 4000 Max-Q 32.17

RTX 3090 69.30
+115%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

RTX 4000 Max-Q 12410

RTX 3090 26732
+115%

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.

RTX 4000 Max-Q 23574

RTX 3090 61518
+161%

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.

RTX 4000 Max-Q 17049

RTX 3090 47241
+177%

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.

RTX 4000 Max-Q 35167

RTX 3090 231612
+559%

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 HD	95 −114%	203 +114%
1440p	46 −185%	131 +185%
4K	48 −87.5%	90 +87.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	7.38
1440p	no data	11.44
4K	no data	16.66

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

55−60

−276%

207
+276%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 −127%	159 +127%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55−60 −104%	114 +104%
Battlefield 5	100−110 −109%	220−230 +109%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 −80.3%	110−120 +80.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −220%	176 +220%
Far Cry 5	70−75 −60.3%	110−120 +60.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	80−85 −106%	160−170 +106%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 −37.6%	230−240 +37.6%
Hitman 3	65−70 −72.1%	117 +72.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 −78.2%	250−260 +78.2%
Metro Exodus	100−110 −32.1%	144 +32.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	80−85 −62.5%	130 +62.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 −154%	290−300 +154%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 −69.5%	200 +69.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 −253%	247 +253%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55−60 −87.5%	105 +87.5%
Battlefield 5	100−110 −109%	220−230 +109%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 −80.3%	110−120 +80.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −175%	151 +175%
Far Cry 5	70−75 −60.3%	110−120 +60.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	80−85 −106%	160−170 +106%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 −37.6%	230−240 +37.6%
Hitman 3	65−70 −72.1%	117 +72.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 −78.2%	250−260 +78.2%
Metro Exodus	100−110 −32.1%	144 +32.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2	80−85 −52.5%	120−130 +52.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 −250%	402 +250%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 −119%	140−150 +119%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 −68.6%	199 +68.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70−75 −54.3%	108 +54.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	55−60 −62.5%	91 +62.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	65−70 −80.3%	110−120 +80.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −144%	134 +144%
Far Cry 5	70−75 −60.3%	110−120 +60.3%
Forza Horizon 4	170−180 −25.4%	217 +25.4%
Hitman 3	65−70 −70.6%	116 +70.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150 −108%	295 +108%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	110−120 −205%	351 +205%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	63 −187%	181 +187%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 +10.3%	107 −10.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

80−85

−61.3%

129
+61.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 −166%	160−170 +166%
Far Cry New Dawn	50−55 −120%	110−120 +120%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 −166%	93 +166%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 −132%	79 +132%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 −113%	80−85 +113%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 −304%	93 +304%
Far Cry 5	35−40 −113%	80−85 +113%
Forza Horizon 4	180−190 −44.9%	270−280 +44.9%
Hitman 3	40−45 −180%	115 +180%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 −238%	233 +238%
Metro Exodus	60−65 −124%	139 +124%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	75−80 −250%	266 +250%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	40−45 −245%	152 +245%
Watch Dogs: Legion	170−180 −18.7%	203 +18.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

55−60

−131%

127
+131%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−35 −172%	85−90 +172%
Far Cry New Dawn	24−27 −165%	65−70 +165%
Hitman 3	24−27 −219%	83 +219%
Horizon Zero Dawn	160−170 −41.3%	220−230 +41.3%
Metro Exodus	40−45 −253%	141 +253%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	36 −325%	153 +325%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −233%	70 +233%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	18−20 −200%	57 +200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20−22 −155%	50−55 +155%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 −360%	46 +360%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −178%	50−55 +178%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 −240%	153 +240%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40−45 −270%	159 +270%
Watch Dogs: Legion	16−18 −275%	60 +275%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

27−30

−296%

111
+296%

This is how RTX 4000 Max-Q and RTX 3090 compete in popular games:

RTX 3090 is 114% faster in 1080p
RTX 3090 is 185% faster in 1440p
RTX 3090 is 88% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4000 Max-Q is 10% faster.
in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3090 is 360% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 4000 Max-Q is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RTX 3090 is ahead in 71 test (99%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	32.17	69.30
Recency	27 May 2019	1 September 2020
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	24 GB
Chip lithography	12 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	80 Watt	350 Watt

RTX 4000 Max-Q has 337.5% lower power consumption.

RTX 3090, on the other hand, has a 115.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 50% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro RTX 4000 Max-Q is a mobile workstation card while GeForce RTX 3090 is a desktop one.

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