RTX 2080 vs RTX 3060
The complete head-to-head: full specs, real per-game FPS with 1% lows, ray tracing, a live CPU-bottleneck check, thermals, power and value, with a straight verdict.
GeForce RTX 2080
GeForce RTX 3060
avg, 1080p
The short answer
The RTX 2080 is clearly the faster card, about 20% ahead of the RTX 3060 on average, the biggest gap on this page. That checks out: it launched in 2018 as a $699 flagship-adjacent card, more than double the 3060's $329 mainstream price. Three generations later it is now the cheaper card on the used market, but it carries only 8 GB of VRAM against the 3060's 12 GB, draws 45 W more, and needs an extra power connector. This is a genuine speed-versus-modern-features trade, not a close race either way.
These two started at very different prices, $699 for the 2080 in 2018 against $329 for the 3060 in 2021, and that price gap still shows up in raw performance today. What has changed is which card is cheaper to buy: three generations of price decline mean a used RTX 2080 now typically costs less than a used RTX 3060, making this a genuinely interesting old-flagship-versus-new-mainstream comparison.
This page lines up the 2018 Turing near-flagship against a 2021 Ampere mainstream card, with full specs, ten-game frame rates, ray tracing and DLSS, a CPU-pairing check, thermals, power, pricing, and a clear verdict.
At a glance
Seven dimensions, two cards. Bigger area is not automatically better, each card owns different corners.
Strengths radar
Each axis scored 0-100 relative to the pair
Performance vs price
Up and to the left is better value
Grey dots are neighbouring cards for context.
Which should you buy?
Pick your use case, the winner changes with what you actually do.
20% more frames on average, the clearest speed win on this page.
8 GB starts to bite at 1440p Ultra in newer AAA titles, where the 3060's 12 GB has real headroom.
12 GB fits larger models and batches than the 2080's 8 GB, capacity wins for AI work.
AV1 decode plus a fresher NVENC block smooths timeline imports and final exports.
170 W and one 8-pin connector against 215 W and two connectors, the 3060 fits smaller builds far more easily.
Its 448 GB/s on a 256-bit bus beats the 3060's 360 GB/s on 192-bit once internal resolution climbs.
Already own an RTX 2080? Don't 'upgrade' to a 3060.
Short answer: probably not
It would cost you 20% of your frame rate, the single biggest gap on this page. Despite three years and three generations of separation, the RTX 3060's smaller die and lower clocks never fully catch up to the 2080's larger, hungrier one. The only real reasons to switch are the extra 4 GB of VRAM, AV1 decode, or 45 W lower power draw.
If you want a true upgrade from a 2080, look at a used RTX 3060 Ti or RTX 4070, both a genuine step up in speed, VRAM, and efficiency rather than a sideways move.
Full specification comparison
Every spec side by side. The highlighted figure wins each row.
| Specification | RTX 2080 | RTX 3060 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| GPU / architecture | TU104 · Turing | GA106 · Ampere |
| Process node | TSMC 12 nm | Samsung 8 nm ▲ |
| Release date | Sep 20, 2018 | Feb 25, 2021 |
| Launch MSRP | $699 | $329 ▲ |
| Compute | ||
| CUDA cores | 2,944 | 3,584 ▲ |
| RT cores | 46 · 1st gen | 28 · 2nd gen |
| Tensor cores | 368 · 1st gen | 112 · 3rd gen ▲ |
| Base / boost clock | 1515 / 1800 MHz ▲ | 1320 / 1777 MHz |
| L2 cache | 4 MB ▲ | 3 MB |
| Memory | ||
| VRAM | 8 GB GDDR6 | 12 GB GDDR6 ▲ |
| Memory bus | 256-bit ▲ | 192-bit |
| Bandwidth | 448 GB/s ▲ | 360 GB/s |
| Power & form factor | ||
| TDP | 215 W | 170 W ▲ |
| Power connector | 1× 8-pin + 1× 6-pin | 1× 8-pin ▲ |
| Suggested PSU | 650 W | 550 W ▲ |
| PCIe interface | 3.0 ×16 | 4.0 ×16 ▲ |
| Features | ||
| Upscaling | DLSS 2 / Super Res | DLSS 2 / Super Res |
| AV1 decode | No | Yes ▲ |
| Display outputs | 3×DP1.4 · HDMI 2.0b | 3×DP1.4a · HDMI 2.1 ▲ |
Average FPS by game
Switch resolution, metric, ray tracing and upscaling, the bars update live. Hover a bar for the avg / 1% / 0.1% breakdown.
Average FPS · 1080p · Rasterization. Representative data, hover a bar for avg / 1% / 0.1%. Note the RTX 3060's 1% lows fall off at 1440p and up from its 8 GB VRAM.
Smoothness & frametimes
Average FPS hides stutter. This is one run plotted as frametime, a flat line is smooth, spikes are hitches. Watch what the RTX 3060's 8 GB VRAM does in a texture-heavy game.
Frametime: Red Dead Redemption 2, 1440p Ultra
Lower and flatter is better · 16.7 ms = 60 fps
Counterintuitive but real: the slower RTX 2080 delivers a smoother line here because 12 GB holds the texture pool the 8 GB RTX 3060 keeps evicting, those spikes are VRAM stutter, not raw speed.
Lab scores
Clean apples-to-apples tests, useful, but weaker at predicting real games than the FPS above.
Ray tracing & upscaling
Ray tracing tanks both cards at native resolution. What makes it playable is upscaling, and here the RTX 3060 has a real edge.
Is frame generation "real" performance?
Neither card supports frame generation. DLSS 3 Frame Generation is exclusive to the RTX 40 series and newer, so both the RTX 2080 and RTX 3060 are limited to DLSS 2's Super Resolution upscaling, which raises frame rate by rendering at a lower internal resolution rather than inserting AI-made frames.
Image quality is essentially identical between the two since both run the same DLSS 2 pipeline. The RTX 2080 upscales from a noticeably higher base frame rate thanks to its 20% raster lead, the biggest practical gap on this page.
Will your CPU bottleneck these cards?
A faster GPU only helps if your CPU keeps up. Pick your CPU and resolution to see expected FPS and bottleneck for each card.
CPU + GPU pairing check
The willitbottleneck engine, built right into the comparison.
Estimated from a 43-CPU model across 1440p. A weak CPU mostly bites at 1080p; at higher resolutions the GPU becomes the limiter and the bottleneck shrinks.
Thermals & noise
The efficiency gap shows up here: the newer card runs cooler and quieter, day in and day out.
Real draw, efficiency & PSU
TDP is the rated figure; what matters is real gaming draw and how many frames you get per watt.
Both use a single 8-pin connector. If your PSU already ran the RTX 2080, it will run the RTX 3060 easily. Leave about 30% headroom for spikes.
Will it fit, and what to pair it with?
Size to scale
Card length matters for small cases
What monitor to pair
RTX 2080: 1080p at 144 Hz and up, 1440p at 90-120 Hz, and even the occasional lighter 4K title with DLSS. RTX 3060: 1080p at 144 Hz, or 1440p at 60-100 Hz. The 2080 is the only card of the two with any real 4K legs, and even then only with DLSS carrying the load.
Running an older PCIe 3.0 board?
The RTX 2080 runs a full PCIe 3.0 ×16 link, so it loses nothing on an older motherboard. The RTX 3060 runs PCIe 4.0 ×16, more bandwidth headroom than either card actually needs today.
Price history & dollars-per-frame
Raw price is only half the story. Cost per frame is the number that decides it, and it keeps moving as prices fall.
New price over time
Street price of new cards (USD)
The 8 GB vs 12 GB question
RTX 2080 · 8 GB
- At 1080p, where the 2080's speed advantage is largest, 8 GB is comfortable in the large majority of current games.
- A 256-bit bus and 448 GB/s let its 8 GB shuttle data quicker than the 3060's memory does.
- 8 GB is the real limiting factor at 1440p Ultra in newer AAA titles, where the 3060's 12 GB has genuine headroom.
- Local AI and large Blender or Resolve scenes hit the 8 GB ceiling well before they hit the 3060's 12 GB one.
RTX 3060 · 12 GB
- 12 GB avoids the texture-quality drop the 8 GB 2080 can hit at 1440p in newer AAA titles.
- A clear step up for local Stable Diffusion, small LLMs, and heavy creator projects.
- The narrower 192-bit bus and lower 360 GB/s bandwidth mean the extra capacity moves a bit slower than the 2080's memory.
- The core speed is 20% behind, the biggest gap on this page, so the extra VRAM does not close that distance in lighter games.
Emulation & memory bandwidth
The narrower bus is a real downgrade for emulation
Emulation cares about memory bandwidth as much as raw shader power. The RTX 2080's 448 GB/s over a 256-bit bus beats the RTX 3060's 360 GB/s over 192-bit, and its extra CUDA cores widen the gap further, so it stays the clearly stronger emulation card for high-resolution Switch and PS3 titles despite its age.
Creator, AI & streaming
The newer card is quicker per task, but the older card's extra VRAM unlocks larger jobs it can't fit at all.
Streaming: the AV1 encoder is the differentiator
The 3060 can decode AV1 in hardware, handy for pulling in and scrubbing AV1 clips, but AV1 encoding is absent on both cards since it debuted on the RTX 40 series. Both record and stream through NVENC's H.264 and HEVC paths at near-identical quality, with the 3060's later encoder revision marginally ahead.
Overclocking & undervolting
The 215 W RTX 2080 has the most to gain from undervolting, the 170 W RTX 3060 is already efficient with less room left to improve.
Pros & cons
RTX 2080
- 20% faster on average, the biggest gap on this page
- Wider 256-bit bus and higher 448 GB/s bandwidth, ahead in emulation
- Cheaper new and used than the RTX 3060, despite launching at $699
- Only 8 GB VRAM against the 3060's 12 GB
- 215 W draw needs an 8-pin plus 6-pin connector and a bigger, louder cooler
RTX 3060
- 12 GB VRAM, real headroom at 1440p and for AI or creator work
- 170 W and a single 8-pin connector, easier on the PSU and case
- Hardware AV1 decode and full PCIe 4.0 ×16
- About 20% slower on average despite being the newer, cheaper-to-launch card
- Narrower 192-bit bus and lower bandwidth, a step back in emulation
Buying pitfalls
Two different RTX 3060 memory configs exist
Nearly all RTX 3060s use 12 GB on a 192-bit bus; a later cut 8 GB, 128-bit model is notably slower and a weaker buy. Check the box for 12 GB / 192-bit, the variant analysed here.
Check the power connector and cooler size before you buy
The RTX 2080 needs an 8-pin plus 6-pin connector and, on Founders Edition and many AIB cards, a case that fits a roughly 267 mm dual-fan or blower cooler. Confirm both before assuming a straight swap into a compact build.
RTX 2080 vs RTX 3060: your questions answered
It's true in every game tested here, not just on paper. The margin runs from about 19% in Alan Wake 2 up to nearly 21% in Hogwarts Legacy and Elden Ring, the widest gap on this whole site, despite the 3060 launching three years later.
Grab a used RTX 2080 if raw frame rate is what you want, it's usually the cheaper card too. Pick the RTX 3060 instead if you play 1440p with heavy texture packs, do AI or creator work, or want lower power draw and simpler cabling.
Yes, for 1080p and light 1440p it's still genuinely quick, close to an RTX 3060 Ti in raw speed. What limits it first is the 8 GB of VRAM and the 215 W power draw, not core speed.
For that kind of work, yes, the RTX 3060's 12 GB fits bigger models and batch sizes than the RTX 2080's 8 GB allows. Memory capacity matters more here than the 2080's 20% raw speed lead.
The RTX 3060 has the edge, mainly from hardware AV1 decode and a newer NVENC generation the 2080 doesn't have. For raw export and render speed though, the 2080's bigger die claws some of that gap back.
Yes, both carry dedicated RT cores, 46 first-gen cores on the 2080 against 28 second-gen cores on the 3060, and the 2080 actually comes out ahead in ray-traced frame rate here. Pair either one with DLSS if you want RT to stay comfortably playable.
Not really, both are stuck on DLSS 2 Super Resolution upscaling with essentially identical image quality. DLSS 3 Frame Generation didn't arrive until the RTX 40 series, so neither of these cards gets it.
A Ryzen 5 5600X or Core i5-12400F and up keeps both fed comfortably at 1080p and 1440p, the faster RTX 2080 is the one more likely to feel a weak CPU. Run the pairing checker above for a number matched to your exact setup.
The RTX 3060, clearly, 170 W against the 2080's 215 W translates into lower temperatures and noticeably less fan noise under load. The 2080 also needs an extra 6-pin connector the 3060 doesn't.
Budget a quality 650 W unit for the RTX 2080, since it needs both an 8-pin and a 6-pin connector, and 550 W is plenty for the single-8-pin RTX 3060. A 650 W supply covers either card comfortably if you'd rather buy one PSU for both scenarios.
Check your case's max GPU length either way, the RTX 2080 runs closer to 267 mm and the RTX 3060 around 242 mm. On the interface side, the 2080's PCIe 3.0 ×16 loses nothing on an older board, and the 3060's PCIe 4.0 ×16 is more bandwidth than either card actually needs.
No, mobile RTX 2080 and mobile RTX 3060 parts run at lower clocks and tighter power limits than the desktop cards benchmarked on this page, so treat laptop performance as its own separate comparison.
The RTX 2080 can handle lighter or older titles at 4K if you lean on DLSS, while the RTX 3060 is better thought of as a 1080p-to-1440p card. Neither one is a comfortable pick for native 4K in current AAA games.
A used RTX 2080 around $125 is the strongest frame-rate value on this page, just buy from a seller offering a return window and skip untested ex-mining cards. If you want a warranty, extra VRAM, and lower power draw, a new RTX 3060 is worth paying more for.
Both, Turing on the 2080 and Ampere on the 3060, still have years left in NVIDIA's Game Ready driver cycle. Neither is at any real risk of losing driver support before 2030.
No, it would cost you about 20% of your frame rate, the biggest gap tracked on this page, just to gain 4 GB more VRAM and lower power draw. Keep the 2080 for speed unless the extra memory or efficiency specifically solves a problem you have.