AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT vs GeForce RTX 3080: Which Is Better?

Both the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 and AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT were released in 2020. With the GeForce 40 series and Radeon RX 7000 series now well on their way, these older graphics cards have become excellent options for those looking to save money on high-end, albeit slightly dated, cards.

In this article, we’ll explain the differences between the 6800 XT vs 3080 and which is better for your specific needs.

Features

The GeForce 30 series and Radeon RX 6000 series both introduced new features and technology to the market.

1. Ray tracing performance. Both the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT support raytracing, offering vast improvements in image quality. However, it seems that even the RTX 3070 performs better than the RX 6800 XT when it comes to ray tracing.
2. Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Nvidia’s RTX and GTX video cards support DLSS, a feature that increases resolution without decreasing image quality.
3. FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR). AMD’s card supports FSR, a feature similar to DLSS which enables high-resolution gameplay with boosted frame rates. Interestingly, Nvidia 30 and 40 series cards also support this technology.
4. Refresh rate synchronization. The RTX 3080 offers G-Sync, while the RX 6800 XT offers Freesync. Both of these technologies require a compatible display monitor. However, G-Sync is generally regarded as slightly superior to Freesync.
5. Nvidia Reflex, Nvidia Ultra-Low Latency (NULL), and AMD Anti-Lag. Nvidia and AMD both offer anti-latency features. However, Nvidia provides everything AMD does and more. Reflex is the most powerful anti-latency option, while NULL and Anti-Lag provide similar results when reducing the game’s render queue.

6. VRAM. The RTX 3080 comes with 10GB of GDDR6X memory, while the RX 6800 XT offers 16GB of GDDR6. The GDDR6X memory of the RTX 3080 has a higher memory clock speed (19GT/s vs 16GT/s) and memory bandwidth (750GB/s vs 512 GB/s). However, AMD’s 128MB Infinity Cache helps improve effective bandwidth.
7. Clock speed. The RTX 3080 is 1.44 GHz with a maximum clock speed of 1.71 GHz. In comparison, the RX 6800 XT is 1.83 GHz as stock and a 2.25 GHz boost clock.
8. Architecture. The RTX 3080 utilizes the Ampere architecture while the RX 6800 XT uses AMD’s slightly newer RDNA2 cache system, which performs better in benchmarks.

Winner: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080

Gaming Performance

If you’re a gamer, your main concern will be the GPU’s gaming specs.

The RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT perform very closely according to benchmark analysis, with the RX 6800 XT taking a slight lead. At all resolutions, they are able to achieve satisfactory frame rates on newer games set to ultra settings.

When gaming at 1080p, both the RTX 3080 and RX 6800 XT are more than powerful enough to play at over 144 FPS on most new games. At 1440p, the RX 6800 XT performs slightly better, but both cards will be able to manage 100 FPS on new games.

However, at 4K resolution, both cards will see you playing at around the 60 FPS mark. And while this is suitable for many players, if you’re looking to cap 100 FPS, you’ll need a more powerful card, like the RTX 3090, RX 6900 XT, or next-gen cards.

The Nvidia GPU also takes the lead when playing games that utilize DirectX Ray Tracing (DXR) and Nvidia’s DLSS.

Note: AMD offers Smart Access Memory which increases GPU performance when paired with an AMD Ryzen 5000 CPU or higher.

Winner: Tie

Price

When launched, the RTX 3080 hit the market at the price of $699. In comparison, the RX 6800 XT was launched with an MSRP of $649 — $50 cheaper. With supply issues over the last few years, prices have been massively over-inflated. And they are both still surprisingly hard to find in-store.

Third-party GPU manufacturers like Asus, MSI, and EVGA have also increased MSRPs over the last two years.

On eBay and Amazon, brand-new RTX 3080s are currently selling for around $1,000 to 1,500 while the RX 6800 XT sits at around the $500 to 1,000 mark. The increased price of the NVIDIA card is likely because of its usefulness for cryptocurrency miners. This makes the Radeon card a much better deal overall.

Winner: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

Power Consumption

With the price of electricity going up, the power efficiency of your GPU is an important consideration. And unfortunately, the GPU is usually the most energy-intensive part of your gaming PC.

Tests show that Radeon’s RX 6800 XT uses less power than the RTX 3080, but not by much. The RX 6800 XT has a Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 300W, while the RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition is 320W. Both require a 750W power supply.

Winner: AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT

RX 6800 XT vs RTX 3080 Compared

	AMD RX 6800 XT	Nvidia RTX 3080
Generation	AMD 6000 Series (NAVI 21)	Nvidia 30 Series (GA102)
CUDA Cores	4,608	8,704
Tensor Cores	0	272
RT Cores / Ray Accelerators	72	68
Memory	16GB GDDR6	10GB GDDR6X
Memory clock speed	16GT/s	19GT/s
Memory bandwidth	512GB/s	760GB/s
Memory bus	256 bit	320 bit
Clock speed (base/boost)	1825 MHz / 2250 MHz	1440 MHz / 1710 MHz
TDP	300W	320W
Motherboard power connectors	2x 8-pin	1x 12-pin
Outputs	HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a, USB Type-C	HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4a
PCI Express (PCIe) Version	4	4
Lithography	TSMC 7nm N7 lithography	Samsung’s 8N tech

RX 6800 XT vs. RTX 3080: The Bottom Line

Choosing the right graphics card can be hard, but they usually aren’t as close as this. When it comes to achieving the best gaming experience, either card will perform exceedingly well on current and last-generation games (like Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2) — especially when playing games designed for either card.

Despite the 3080 having more features, gaming performance benchmarks tend to favor the AMD card. And when it comes to cost, there’s a clear winner. So, if you’re on a budget, the RX 6800 XT might be the choice for you.