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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB on all 6 shared benchmarks on file, by 8% to 136%, including 77% in 3DMark Time Spy (15,477 vs 8,747). On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 generates 79.2 tokens/s (per LocalScore.ai) against 64.5 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB (per TYO Lab blog), best community run on file for each.

Side-by-side GPU comparison of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080. Released 2021 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB), 2020 (NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080). MSRP range: $329 · $699. Specs, synthetic benchmarks, AI inference tok/s, and Amazon availability below; each column header links to that part's benchmark page.

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*Price sourced from Amazon.com. Price and availability subject to change.

Where to buy

A listing for each part; the current price and stock are on the retailer's page.

Specs side-by-side

SpecNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
vram gb 1210
vram type GDDR6GDDR6X
tdp w 170320
cuda cores 35848704

Synthetic benchmarks

Each row says whether a higher or a lower number is better (ranks and times are lower-is-better). Scores come from 3DMark, Wccftech, Moor Insights & Strategy, Legit Reviews and HWBOT; each row links its sources, and where they differ the cell shows their median. Empty cells mean we don't yet have that benchmark on file for the SKU.

BenchmarkNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GBNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
3DMark Fire Strike (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 21,653 points—
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme (graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: Wccftech		 —21,100 points
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra (graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: Wccftech		 —10,100 points
3DMark Port Royal (higher is better)
Source: Moor Insights & Strategy, 3DMark, Legit Reviews, Wccftech		 5,074 points11,960 points
3DMark Pure Ray Tracing Feature Test (average fps) (higher is better)
Source: Wccftech		 —48 fps
3DMark Speed Way (higher is better)
Source: HWBOT, 3DMark		 2,192 points4,969 points
3DMark Speed Way (graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: Wccftech		 —4,500 points
3DMark Steel Nomad (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 1,976 points4,443 points
3DMark Steel Nomad (DX12 graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: 3DMark		 —4,442 points
3DMark Time Spy (higher is better)
Source: Moor Insights & Strategy, 3DMark		 8,747 points15,477 points
3DMark Time Spy (graphics score) (higher is better)
Source: Wccftech		 —17,800 points
3DMark Time Spy (overall score) (higher is better)
Source: Legit Reviews		 9,755 points—

AI inference (tokens/sec)

Top community-reported tokens-per-second results for popular LLMs whose weights fit the card's memory, each linked to its source. See the per-SKU benchmark page for the full set including quantization and prompt length.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB AI benchmarks →

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080

All NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 AI benchmarks →

Quick answers

Which is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB or the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 is ahead of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB on all 6 shared benchmarks on file, by 8% to 136%, including 77% in 3DMark Time Spy (15,477 vs 8,747).

Which is better for running local LLMs?

On llama3.1:8b, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 generates 79.2 tokens/s (per LocalScore.ai) against 64.5 for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB (per TYO Lab blog), best community run on file for each.

What did the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 cost at launch?

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12 GB launched at a $329 MSRP and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at $699. Street prices drift from launch pricing; the Where to buy section links current listings.

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