The release of RTX 3080 Ti in the Nvidia RTX 30 series has made the high-end graphics card market quite interesting. It is now the second most powerful graphics card in the GeForce RTX 30 series, pushing RTX 3080 to the third spot. The major competitors of the RTX 3080 Ti are the RTX 3090 and AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT. RTX 3080 Ti comes with lots of features and offers great 1440p and 4K gaming performance but when it comes to pricing then RTX 3080 Ti is way more expensive than RTX 3080 and RX 6900 XT but is somewhat cheaper than RTX 3090. The card is facing a lot of criticism from the gaming and tech community because of its very aggressive pricing compared to the performance it offers to its major competitors. So, if you want to know how RTX 3080 Ti stands against the RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RX 6900 XT in major departments then here I am going to compare them taking into account all the important parameters so that you can decide whether you should go for it or not.
RTX 3080 Ti vs RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 vs RX 6900 XT Comparison
Here is the comparison between RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, RTX 3080, and RX 6900 XT graphics cards based on their specifications, performance, pricing, power consumption, and features.
GPU Architecture
RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 belong to the GeForce RTX 30 series and use Ampere GPU architecture built on the 8nm fabrication process. All these graphics cards use GA102 GPU chip where the RTX 3090 comes with a fully unlocked GA102 chip while RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3080 use a cut-down version of the GA102 chip. The card with the highest number of Cores is the RTX 3090 and it comes with 10496 CUDA Cores, 82 RT Cores, and 328 Tensor Cores. RTX 3080 Ti uses slightly lesser Cores than RTX 3090 and has got 10240 CUDA Cores, 80 RT Cores, and 320 Tensor Cores. On the other hand, RTX 3080 has the lowest Core count as it comes with 8704 CUDA Cores, 68 RT Cores, and 72 Tensor Cores. RT Cores are used for Real-Time Ray Tracing and Tensor Cores are used for DLSS and AI processing in supported games and applications.
Radeon RX 6900 XT is an AMD graphics card that uses the RDNA 2 GPU architecture which is way different from Ampere architecture. It uses Navi 21 GPU which is built on the 7nm fabrication process. The card comes with 5120 Stream Processors, and 80 Ray Accelerators / RT Cores but it does not have any Tensor Cores or its equivalent cores. You must note that you cannot compare CUDA Cores and Stream Processors based on their numbers as it would be like comparing apples to oranges. However, due to the smaller 7nm fabrication process, RX 6900 XT is quite a power-efficient card given the performance it offers.
Must Read: CUDA Cores vs Stream Processors Difference Explained
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RX 6900 XT | |
| GPU Chip | GA102 | GA102 | GA102 | Navi 21 |
| GPU Architecture | Ampere | Ampere | Ampere | RDNA 2 |
| Fabrication Process | 8nm | 8nm | 8nm | 7nm |
| CUDA Cores/Stream Processors | 10240 CUDA Cores | 10496 CUDA Cores | 8704 CUDA Cores | 5120 Stream Processors |
| RT Cores | 80 | 82 | 68 | 80 |
| Tensor Cores | 320 | 328 | 272 | NA |
Video RAM [VRAM]
RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, and RTX 3080 all come with GDDR6X memory but in different capacities and configurations. Here, RTX 3090 has the highest and fastest memory which is 24GB GDDR6X running at 19.5 Gbps and delivering a bandwidth of 936 GB/s. The card with the second-highest memory is the Radeon RX 6900 XT. It comes with 16GB GDDR6 memory that runs at 16Gbps and delivers effective memory bandwidth of 512 GB/s. However, RX 6900 XT comes with a 128MB ultra-high-speed memory cache called Infinity Cache that helps the card in achieving peak memory bandwidth of up to 1664 GB/s (3.25x effective bandwidth). RTX 3080 Ti has got 12GB GDDR6X memory which is half of what is present in the RTX 3090 and it runs at a slightly slower speed of 19GB/s and delivers a memory bandwidth of 912 GB/s. RTX 3080 has the lowest amount of memory here which is 10GB GDDR6X and its runs at 19Gbps delivering a memory bandwidth of 760 GB/s.
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RX 6900 XT | |
| Memory Size | 12 GB GDDR6X | 24 GB GDDR6X | 10 GB GDDR6X | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Speed | 19 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 16 Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912 GB/s | 936 GB/s | 760 GB/s | 512 GB/s |
| Infinity Cache | NA | NA | NA | 128MB |
Features
All these cards are loaded with the latest features and support the latest graphics APIs that include DirectX 12 Ultimate, and OpenGL 4.6. The cards also support variable refresh rate technologies (G-Sync/FreeSync) to reduce stuttering in games for a smoother gaming experience. Other salient features include PCI Express 4.0, Real-Time Ray Tracing, HDMI 2.1, AV1 decode, and Microsoft DirectStorage API. RTX 3090 is the only card here that includes SLI multi-GPU support using the NVIDIA RTX NVLink Bridge. The Nvidia cards here also support DLSS 2.0 (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and Nvidia Reflex.
The features that are exclusive to RX 6900 XT include USB Type-C connector support, Radeon Image Sharpening, and Smart Memory Access (SAM) which enables the CPU to access all graphics card memory for improved performance in select games. For SAM to work, a Ryzen 5000 series CPU and a 500 series motherboard are needed.
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RX 6900 XT | |
| Bus Interface | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 |
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Vulkan | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| SLI / CrossFire | No | Yes – With NVIDIA RTX NVLink Bridge | No | No |
| VR Ready | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| G-Sync/FreeSync | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (FreeSync) |
| HDMI 2.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| USB Type-C | No | No | No | Yes |
| Real-Time Ray Tracing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deep Learning Super Sampling | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Resizable Bar | No | No | No | Yes |
Gaming Performance
Here are the benchmarks of these cards at 1440p and 4K resolution in the latest AAA games.
1440p Gaming Benchmarks
4K Gaming Benchmarks
From the above benchmarks, we can see the performance difference between RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 Ti is almost negligible and there is only a 1% to 2% difference on average. Also, Radeon RX 6900 XT performance is almost similar to RTX 3080 Ti and on average, the RX 6900 XT is only 2% slower at best. Regarding RTX 3080, it also performs quite well and is 8% to 9% slower than RTX 3080 Ti on average.
Power Consumption
RTX 3090 and RTX 3080 Ti have a similar power consumption of 350W while the card with the lowest power consumption is the RX 6900 XT at 300W. The power consumption of RTX 3080 is in the midway which is 320W.
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RX 6900 XT | |
| Power Consumption | 350W | 350W | 320W | 300W |
| Recommended PSU | 750W | 750W | 750W | 850W |
Pricing & Availability
When it comes to base MSRP pricing then RTX 3090 is the costliest card here at $1499, followed by RTX 3080 Ti at $1199. The Radeon RX 6900 XT has a base MSRP of $999 and the cheapest card here is the RTX 3080 having a price tag of $799. The custom AIB models of these cards cost more and you can check the latest prices of the various models of these cards from the links given below.
Check RTX 3080 Ti Price on Amazon
Check RTX 3090 Price on Amazon
Check RTX 3080 Price on Amazon
Check RX 6900 XT Price on Amazon
RTX 3080 Ti vs RTX 3090 vs RTX 3080 vs RX 6900 XT Specifications
| RTX 3080 Ti | RTX 3090 | RTX 3080 | RX 6900 XT | |
| GPU Chip | GA102 | GA102 | GA102 | Navi 21 |
| GPU Architecture | Ampere | Ampere | Ampere | RDNA 2 |
| Fabrication Process | 8nm | 8nm | 8nm | 7nm |
| CUDA Cores/Stream Processors | 10240 CUDA Cores | 10496 CUDA Cores | 8704 CUDA Cores | 5120 Stream Processors |
| RT Cores | 80 | 82 | 68 | 80 |
| Tensor Cores | 320 | 328 | 272 | NA |
| Memory Size | 12 GB GDDR6X | 24 GB GDDR6X | 10 GB GDDR6X | 16 GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Speed | 19 Gbps | 19.5 Gbps | 19 Gbps | 16 Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 912 GB/s | 936 GB/s | 760 GB/s | 512 GB/s |
| Bus Interface | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 | PCI Express 4.0 |
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Vulkan | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| SLI / CrossFire | NA | Yes – With NVIDIA RTX NVLink Bridge | NA | NA |
| VR Ready | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| G-Sync/FreeSync | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (FreeSync) |
| Power Consumption | 350W | 350W | 320W | 300W |
| Recommended PSU | 750W | 750W | 750W | 850W |
See also:
Final Thoughts
Well, RTX 3080 Ti is basically an RTX 3090 with slightly fewer cores and half the amount of memory that RTX 3090 has. RTX 3080 Ti does beat RX 6900 XT in some games while in others it lags behind a little bit and on average it is only 2% faster than RX 6900 XT. RTX 3080 also performs very well and delivers great performance for the price. I think RTX 3080 Ti is a quite forgettable card as it costs as much as the RTX 3090 and comes with a lesser core count and most importantly, it has half of the VRAM that RTX 3090 has. So, if I have to choose here then I think RTX 3080 or even the RX 6900 XT are the most sensible options for 1440p and 4K gaming. If you have any queries then do ask me in the comment section below.
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