NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 sit within a few percent of each other on our index. Treat them as equivalent in raw performance and decide on price, power draw and — for graphics cards — video memory instead.
| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
| Architecture | Ampere | Pascal |
| Relative performance index | 100 | 100 |
| Video memory | 12 GB (better) | 8 GB |
| Memory type | GDDR6 | GDDR5X |
| Memory bus | 192-bit | 256-bit (better) |
| Release year | 2021 (better) | 2016 |
| Board power | 170 W (better) | 180 W |
| Suggested PSU | 550 W | 500 W (better) |
| Hardware ray tracing | Yes | No |
| Upscaling support | DLSS 2, FSR 3, XeSS | FSR 3, XeSS |
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate | 12 |
Green marks the stronger figure for that row only — for power draw and PSU requirement, lower is treated as better. Performance indexes are CanMyPcPlay estimates; read how they are derived.
Which should you pick?
- Check video memory, not just speed. A faster card with less VRAM can perform worse in recent titles at high texture settings.
- Check power and clearance. Confirm your PSU and case can take the card — the build checker does this.
- Upscaling support differs. DLSS is NVIDIA-only; FSR and XeSS run more broadly.
Other comparisons
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB vs AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT