NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (130W) vs RTX 3070 (130W) – the RTX 3080 wins but the RTX 3070 is the smart buy
When it comes to high-end mobile GPUs, the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 are at the top of the food chain. Most laptops that are equipped with these chips come with a good cooling solution and in most cases, these machines aren’t too good in terms of portability due to the fact the internals need significant cooling that includes a lot of heat pipes and cooling plates for the GPU memory and VRMs.
Now, it’s clear that the GeForce RTX 3080 is faster compared to the RTX 3070 if their TGPs are equal. That’s why for today’s comparison we picked the 130W versions of the GPUs and they are both fitted in MSI GP66 Leopard 10 UH/UG machines. This will show us how faster the GeForce RTX 3080 (130W) is when it’s compared to the GeForce RTX 3070 (130W).
Contents
GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3070 variants
GeForce RTX 3080 [130W] | GeForce RTX 3070 [130W] | |
---|---|---|
Architecture | Ampere | Ampere |
GPU chip | GA104 | GA104 |
Shader units | 6144 (+20%) | 5120 |
ROPs | 96 | 96 |
Base Clock (MHz) | up to 1185 (+7%) | 1110 |
Boost clock (MHz) | up to 1605 | 1620 (+1%) |
Memory clock (MHz) | 1750 | 1750 |
Memory size (MB) | 8192 | 8192 |
Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR6 |
Memory bus width (bit) | 256 | 256 |
TGP (Total Graphics Power) | 130W | 130W |
DirectX version | 12.1 | 12.1 |
Technology | 8nm | 8nm |
RTX capabilities | Yes | Yes |
Release date | 01.2021 | 01.2021 |
Detailed specs | Link | Link |
Synthetic benchmarks
Results are from the 3DMark: Fire Strike (Graphics) benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Results are from the Unigine Superposition benchmark (higher the score, the better)
Gaming tests and gameplay videos (ext. monitor)

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
MIN
|
MED
|
MAX
|
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300 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 299 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 248 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 299 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 277 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 206 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
LOW
|
MED
|
HIGH
|
EPIC
|
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
182 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 150 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 118 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 80 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 149 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 129 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 109 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 66 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
NORMAL
|
HIGH
|
VERY HIGH
|
MAX
|
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
184 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 157 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 102 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 86 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 178 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 147 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 92 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 77 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
MIN
|
MED
|
ULTRA
|
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
694 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 379 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 253 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 662 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 354 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 223 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
MIN
|
MED
|
HIGH
|
ULTRA
|
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
141 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 118 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 75 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 41 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 120 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 102 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 65 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 35 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
LOW
|
MED
|
HIGH
|
ULTRA
|
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
162 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 136 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 120 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 98 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 136 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 116 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 94 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 82 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
VERY LOW
|
MED
|
MAX
|
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
482 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 356 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 340 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 369 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 353 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 326 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
MIN
|
MAX
|
---|---|---|
![]() |
2156 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 108 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 1871 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 89 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
LOW
|
MED
|
MAX
|
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
467 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 438 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 414 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 437 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 408 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 389 FPS PLAY VIDEO |

Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
|
VERY LOW
|
NORMAL
|
ULTRA
|
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
214 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 197 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 166 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (Laptop, 130W) | 190 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 176 FPS PLAY VIDEO | 135 FPS PLAY VIDEO |
Verdict
The GeForce RTX 3070 (130W) is 14% slower overall when compared to the GeForce RTX 3080 (130W) and it sounds like a normal difference. The bigger GPU has more firepower under the hood represented by more CUDAs and ROPs which leads to higher performance. On the other hand, the GeForce RTX 3070 (130W) is still a great mobile GPU that is fast enough even for games like Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra quality. In addition, this GPU can save you some bucks if you pick it instead of its bigger and more expensive sibling.
All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 [130W]
All laptops equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 [130W]