The mobile GeForce RTX 3080 is 40 percent slower than the desktop GeForce RTX 3080. What the hell happened?

[Redaktion]

Back in the Nvidia Pascal days, the chipmaker boasted that its mobile GPUs have caught up to their desktop counterparts in terms of performance. Fast-forward to 2021 and that claim has all been thrown out the window.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-mobile-GeForce-RTX-3080-is-40-percent-slower-than-the-desktop-GeForce-RTX-3080-What-the-hell-happened.519743.0.html

[Brimmy]

You forgot to mention that the mobile 3080 is also a completely different GPU from the desktop 3080, it uses the same die as the 3070. As a result it has significantly less CUDA cores (and the everything else SM/RT/etc) as well as a smaller memory interface (256-bit) than the desktop 3080.

[xpclient]

There is where eGPU and Thunderbolt become more important than ever if you want a laptop but the power of desktop gaming. AMD should prioritize on implementing USB 4.

[Viko6efa]

Who cares about this 40%??It doesn't matter if the desktop RTX 3080 has 40% more speed than the mobile RTX 3080. There are amazing GPU's from new generation. If that  the desktop version has 40% more speed than the mobile has really matter, compared with the newest video games that REALLY IT DOESN'T MATTER.

[Santiago]

now I understand why Nvidia is telling laptops manufacturers to list his laptops TDP...
Just hope that in the next gen the power consumption of the graphics cards get lower.

[Ray8]

Who cares about this 40%??It doesn't matter if the desktop RTX 3080 has 40% more speed than the mobile RTX 3080. There are amazing GPU's from new generation. If that  the desktop version has 40% more speed than the mobile has really matter, compared with the newest video games that REALLY IT DOESN'T MATTER.

Well, personally, it matters to me (and maybe it matters to people with deep pockets as well). I have a laptop with an RTX 2080 mobile @150-watts TDP and planning to upgrade to the latest 3080. And seeing all the recent benchmarks of the 3080 laptop versions, with minimal 5 to 12% game performance increase over the 2080 version, it's not worth the upgrade. Definitely.

[t4n0n]

There is where eGPU and Thunderbolt become more important than ever if you want a laptop but the power of desktop gaming. AMD should prioritize on implementing USB 4.

I don't understand why graphics AIB OEMs haven't come out with a portable external GPU with it's own dedicated battery.

Putting powerful dedicated graphics into laptops brings lots of drawbacks, including extra weight and thickness, additional cost, additional power consumption => lower battery life, throttled CPU clocks, higher thermal emissions => louder noise emissions, more expensive cooling solutions => additional weight/thickness etc. with most drawbacks reinforcing each other.

It seems like such an obvious solution to offload these problems from the core platform of the laptop itself, almost the same way that computers do with AIBs... ::)

[ThinkPad X1E Ryzen9]

You cannot defy physics: power supply, cooling and space is limited on laptops, so it's ok.

What's more important: is the RTX 3080 (150W, 16GB) worth getting over the RTX 3070 (140W, 8GB) e.g. in the Tongfang Schenker XMG Neo 15 (AMD Ryzen 5800H)?

[AngelPhoenix]

The primary reason the 30 Series made the jump that it did is because of the jacked up wattage. Take that away (like you have to in laptops) and it's obvious that there hasn't been some kind of massive leap in the technology. They're just feeding the desktop cards a lot of juice.

Happy with my 2070 Super. Especially since it, you know, exists.

[JurgenRoth]

Is that really so unexpected? Ampere's main performance advantages over Turing were massively increased power draw and faster RAM. The rest (like "doubling the CUDA cores") is mostly smart (or misleading, depending on your take) marketing. Architectural improvements are around 20% all things considered, which is not bad at all, but far from what Nvidia marketing department suggests.

[VEGGIM]

There is where eGPU and Thunderbolt become more important than ever if you want a laptop but the power of desktop gaming. AMD should prioritize on implementing USB 4.

I don't understand why graphics AIB OEMs haven't come out with a portable external GPU with it's own dedicated battery.

Putting powerful dedicated graphics into laptops brings lots of drawbacks, including extra weight and thickness, additional cost, additional power consumption => lower battery life, throttled CPU clocks, higher thermal emissions => louder noise emissions, more expensive cooling solutions => additional weight/thickness etc. with most drawbacks reinforcing each other.

It seems like such an obvious solution to offload these problems from the core platform of the laptop itself, almost the same way that computers do with AIBs... ::)

Well, can you put an egpu into a bag. And if your in an area where you can't take a egpu with you, your stuck with shitty hardware.

[Dood]

Who cares about this 40%??It doesn't matter if the desktop RTX 3080 has 40% more speed than the mobile RTX 3080. There are amazing GPU's from new generation. If that  the desktop version has 40% more speed than the mobile has really matter, compared with the newest video games that REALLY IT DOESN'T MATTER.

Sure, let's just base our choices on the bigger number in the name. Hail corporate!

[Kalev63tgdf]

Well, i for one have 2080 rtx in laptop (max-p) i always travel with my laptop
from one country to another (back and forth workrelated). Having
egpus would defeat the purpose. Upgrading to 3080 mobile doesnt make
much sense too. Good article.

[Spunjji]

Who cares about this 40%??It doesn't matter if the desktop RTX 3080 has 40% more speed than the mobile RTX 3080. There are amazing GPU's from new generation. If that  the desktop version has 40% more speed than the mobile has really matter, compared with the newest video games that REALLY IT DOESN'T MATTER.

It does if it has the same name and *costs you more money*. It also matters a lot if it's not an "amazing GPU" in comparison to its predecessor. But hey, I guess we know who Nvidia's target audience is 🙄

[bob@bob]

Why is everyone on notebook check a rocket scientist or overly qualified engineer? Have you guys not anybody from an IT and computer background?