GeForce RTX 3080 vs Radeon RX Vega 56

Place in performance ranking	145	23
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	26.82	23.50
Architecture	Vega (2017−2021)	Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code name	Vega	Ampere GA102
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	14 August 2017 (6 years ago)	16 September 2020 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$399	$699
Current price	$224 (0.6x MSRP)	$823 (1.2x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX Vega 56 has 14% better value for money than RTX 3080.

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 cores	3584	8704
Core clock speed	1138 MHz	1450 MHz
Boost clock speed	1474 MHz	1710 MHz
Number of transistors	12,500 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	14 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	210 Watt	320 Watt
Texture fill rate	329.5	465.1
Floating-point performance	10,566 gflops	no data

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).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	267 mm	285 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 8-pin	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	HBM2	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	10 GB
Memory bus width	409.6 Bit	320 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	19000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	409.6 GB/s	760.3 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	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	+	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.6	4.6
OpenCL	2.0	2.0
Vulkan	1.1.125	1.2
CUDA	no data	8.5

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.

RX Vega 56 34.31

RTX 3080 65.40
+90.6%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 91% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

RX Vega 56 13277

RTX 3080 25308
+90.6%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 91% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RX Vega 56 54586

RTX 3080 91747
+68.1%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 68% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

RX Vega 56 29086

RTX 3080 53713
+84.7%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 85% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX Vega 56 20759

RTX 3080 39257
+89.1%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 89% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

RX Vega 56 125359

RTX 3080 188064
+50%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 50% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

RX Vega 56 412820

RTX 3080 529548
+28.3%

GeForce RTX 3080 outperforms Radeon RX Vega 56 by 28% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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	116 −41.4%	164 +41.4%
1440p	77 −58.4%	122 +58.4%
4K	48 −77.1%	85 +77.1%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

55−60

−115%

120−130
+115%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	77 −31.2%	100−110 +31.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 −85%	111 +85%
Battlefield 5	151 −13.9%	172 +13.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	90−95 −79.6%	160−170 +79.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −134%	138 +134%
Far Cry 5	98 −60.2%	157 +60.2%
Far Cry New Dawn	96 −34.4%	129 +34.4%
Forza Horizon 4	141 −29.8%	180−190 +29.8%
Hitman 3	100−110 −59.3%	172 +59.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 −124%	166 +124%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 −176%	152 +176%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	105 −84.8%	194 +84.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −109%	134 +109%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	70 −44.3%	100−110 +44.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 −60%	96 +60%
Battlefield 5	140 −11.4%	156 +11.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	90−95 −79.6%	160−170 +79.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −127%	134 +127%
Far Cry 5	93 −61.3%	150 +61.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	93 −33.3%	124 +33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	134 −36.6%	180−190 +36.6%
Hitman 3	100−110 −54.6%	167 +54.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 −101%	149 +101%
Metro Exodus	70 −82.9%	128 +82.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 −116%	119 +116%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	91 −105%	187 +105%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	124 −144%	303 +144%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −85.9%	119 +85.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	52 −94.2%	100−110 +94.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 −46.7%	88 +46.7%
Battlefield 5	131 −10.7%	145 +10.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	55−60 −122%	131 +122%
Far Cry 5	89 −57.3%	140 +57.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	84 −33.3%	112 +33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	109 −67.9%	180−190 +67.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	74 −101%	149 +101%
Watch Dogs: Legion	60−65 −57.8%	101 +57.8%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	55−60 −111%	110−120 +111%
Hitman 3	60−65 −165%	164 +165%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −179%	131 +179%
Metro Exodus	42 −126%	95 +126%
Red Dead Redemption 2	27−30 −211%	84 +211%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	58 −159%	150 +159%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	44 −63.6%	70−75 +63.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 −105%	76 +105%
Battlefield 5	99 −25.3%	124 +25.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	24−27 −231%	86 +231%
Far Cry 5	74 −82.4%	135 +82.4%
Far Cry New Dawn	74 −44.6%	107 +44.6%
Forza Horizon 4	88 −70.5%	150−160 +70.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45−50 −157%	110−120 +157%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 −179%	81 +179%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−33 −140%	70−75 +140%
Hitman 3	30−35 −221%	109 +221%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −76%	44 +76%
Metro Exodus	27 −141%	65 +141%
Red Dead Redemption 2	18−20 −211%	56 +211%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	31 −177%	86 +177%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	44 −161%	115 +161%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	27 −88.9%	50−55 +88.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 −148%	52 +148%
Battlefield 5	55 −65.5%	91 +65.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −291%	43 +291%
Far Cry 5	39 −141%	94 +141%
Far Cry New Dawn	42 −112%	89 +112%
Forza Horizon 4	59 −79.7%	100−110 +79.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	16−18 −218%	54 +218%

This is how RX Vega 56 and RTX 3080 compete in popular games:

RTX 3080 is 41% faster in 1080p
RTX 3080 is 58% faster in 1440p
RTX 3080 is 77% 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 is 291% faster than the RX Vega 56.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RTX 3080 surpassed RX Vega 56 in all 68 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	34.31	65.40
Recency	14 August 2017	16 September 2020
Cost	$399	$699
Maximum RAM amount	8 GB	10 GB
Chip lithography	14 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	210 Watt	320 Watt