Should choose the Nvidia RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 GPU?

Nvidia's new 30xx series GPUs represent the first major performance leap in graphics technology, at least in the past half-decade.

According to Nvidia's own statements, the top RTX 3080 nearly doubled the performance of the previous RTX 2080. Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 is arguably better than the currently dominating 2080 Ti for a much more pleasant price tag.

However, most PC owners don't upgrade their hardware too often so these comparisons are a bit difficult to envision. But if you are in need of a new GPU, you may be wondering if you should choose an Nvidia RTX 3080 or RTX 3070. The following article will give you the satisfactory answer.

Technical specifications

Although the spec sheet never gives us the full picture, in this case we can use it to make some preliminary observations.

First, the RTX 30xx series of GPUs are built on a new 7nm manufacturing process, allowing Nvidia to bring more transistors into the GPU. As a result, the RTX 3080 has twice as many processing cores as its predecessor.

One significant drawback of the RTX 3080, however, is the significantly increased power consumption. This is especially important when comparing it to the RTX 2080, which has 30% lower Thermal Design Power (TDP). If you are upgrading an older system, this increased power consumption means your current power supply may not be good enough for the RTX 3080.

The performance of RTX 3080 and RTX 3070

By far the best way to demonstrate the viability of a GPU was to see how well it performed while gaming. The following benchmarks come from Tom's Hardware comparison of two cards at 1080p and 1440p resolutions. These numbers should please anyone looking for a new GPU.

The RTX 3080 is 8 to 21% faster on average than the RTX 3070. However, when looking at individual games, this gap could be further increased. At 2560 x 1440 resolution in The Division 2, the RTX 3080 returns an average of 111 FPS - a 35 percent jump from the 82 FPS the 3070 can pass.

If you're willing to sacrifice some graphics fidelity, the RTX 3070 might not be a bad choice either.

However, there are more nuances to making a choice between the 3080 and 3070 - mainly revolving around the rest of the system hardware.

Should I buy the RTX 3080 or the RTX 3070?

If you're one of the 67% who still use a 1080p monitor, there's only one word to describe the RTX 3080: Overkill. As you can see in the chart above, the performance difference between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 3080 is tiny.

This is because, at a resolution as low as 1080p, this GPU is simply too powerful for other components in your build, such as the CPU. Even if AMD's Ryzen line of processors delivered impressive gains year over year, they still weren't fast enough to keep up with the RTX 3080 at 1080p.

If you choose to run the RTX 3080 at a lower resolution, then it will most likely be used only to a fraction of its full potential. While the remaining performance margin will be useful for future games, it probably isn't worth the extra money, especially given the existence of the RTX 3070.

However, that statement quickly changes when you get to have a higher resolution monitor and play virtual reality games. Over the past few years, 1440p and 4K resolution displays have become increasingly affordable and accessible for casual gamers. Many of the options are even capable of high-speed refresh, up to 165Hz.

If you have a 144Hz 1440p monitor or are looking to buy one for future use, the RTX 3080 is probably the best choice for you. Although priced significantly higher than the RTX 3070, it will offer an incredible performance upgrade and will outlast its brother.

The same applies to demanding applications like virtual reality gaming and video editing. In the case of virtual reality gaming, Valve and Oculus's latest virtual reality glasses have a much higher internal screen resolution than most monitors.

This means your GPU is sure to see huge usage metrics when playing new VR games like Half-Life: Alyx and Star Wars: Squadrons.

Kareem Winters

Update 29 March 2021