You shouldn’t buy Nvidia’s RTX 3080 Ti in your next gaming laptop.
Alright cool see you in the next video!
Ok but seriously I’m going to show you why by comparing the cheaper RTX 3070 Ti
against the 3080 Ti 14 games at 2 resolutions.
These are the differences in specs between these two laptop GPUs. The higher tier RTX
3080 Ti has 26% more CUDA cores, double the VRAM, and more memory bandwidth. The 3080 Ti
also has a higher maximum boost clock speed, which would be due to the higher
maximum power limit, though this will of course vary depending on the specific laptop it’s in.
To do this testing I’m using the Neo 15 from XMG in Europe for both laptops,
also known as the Mech-15 G3 from Eluktronics in the US.
Both laptops have the same Intel Core i7-12700H processor inside, so 14 cores and 20 threads.
Both laptops also have a MUX switch, so testing was done with optimus disabled for best results.
The exact same physical kit of memory was used in both machines too,
so 32 gigs of DDR5-4800 CL40 single rank x8 memory.
Pretty much the only difference here is the GPU, which is perfect for an apples comparison.
Both of these laptops also allow us to set the maximum possible GPU
power limit instead of relying on dynamic boost.
This means that the RTX 3070 Ti should always run
at 150 watts and the RTX 3080 Ti should always run at 175 watts,
however I found my 3080 Ti was closer to 170 watts with a combined CPU plus GPU stress test running.
Of course expect different results with lower wattage GPUs,
as both of these can go as low as 80 watts. Those lower levels are generally found in
thinner laptop designs. I’ve tested both of these at the maximum possible power limit so
we can see what the differences are between a best case 3070 Ti and a best case 3080 Ti.
With that in mind, in order to actually sustain these high levels of performance,
both laptops were tested with XMG’s Oasis liquid cooler attached.
Now you could argue that this isn’t fair because most laptops don’t have
liquid cooling support. But I actually think this makes it a fairer comparison,
because it means both laptops won’t be subject to any thermal limitations.
It’s just one less factor that we can completely rule out to do a fair comparison.
The liquid cooler really allows us to compare both GPUs fairly at their maximum power levels.
Don’t worry though, we’ve also compared both laptops on both air cooling and liquid cooling,
so make sure you’re subscribed for that upcoming comparison video!
On liquid cooling, the GPU temperatures were essentially the same, despite the
3080 Ti system running about 20 watts higher as we saw earlier.
Right now the price of the exact laptop I’ve tested with RTX 3070 Ti
is 2484 Euro from XMG, while the 3080 Ti is a 793 Euro upgrade, or 32% more money.
That’s around $900 USD more for my international viewers in order to get the RTX 3080 Ti. But check
out current prices with the links below the video as this will of course change over time.
Alright so let’s find out if it’s worth paying more for
the 3080 Ti by comparing both laptops in 14 different games at 2 different resolutions.
I’ve recently added God of War to our testing suite, though the differences in this game weren’t
looking too big between these two GPUs. Yeah the RTX 3080 Ti was able to surpass 100 FPS at
high settings, but the 3070 Ti was only 10 FPS behind, absolutely still playable even at this
higher setting level, not to mention both could see further gains with DLSS or FSR enabled too.
Dying Light 2 also doesn’t appear to have big performance differences either,
yet the differences we’re seeing here are above average out of the 14 games we’re looking at.
Again, still absolutely playable at high settings on the 3070 Ti, where even the 1% lows were above
60 FPS at 1440p. We’ve also tested this game with ray tracing enabled and DLSS set to balanced mode.
The performance from both GPUs lowers a little with only the 3080 Ti hitting 60 FPS at 1440p
now, but it’s only like 6 FPS ahead of the 3070 Ti, and remember the pride difference.
Cyberpunk 2077 was also tested with ray tracing and DLSS, but
let’s check the default stock results first. The 3070 Ti was close to 60 FPS even at high
settings 1440p with the 3080 Ti offering less than a 5 FPS gain, which equates to about a 9%
boost. The frame rates don’t lower too much at 1440p when we step up to the ultra ray
tracing preset but also enable DLSS to help compensate for this heavier GPU workload.
Microsoft Flight Simulator had one of the smallest performance differences at the
lower 1080p resolution, but then the biggest difference at the higher 1440p resolution
out of all games tested. Despite the 3080 Ti having its largest win here, the 3070 Ti
is still delivering excellent performance.
Far Cry 6 on the other hand had one of the smaller differences out of all 14 titles tested. I mean
we’re talking like a 2 FPS difference at 1440p, I doubt anyone’s actually going to notice that in
practice while playing. It’s possible to enable FSR to boost performance with this game though,
and this improves the 3070 Ti by about 18% at 1440p and the 3080 Ti slightly more by 20%,
but yeah both are above 100 FPS and again, it’s not going to be a real noticeable difference.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was also tested with the game’s benchmark. Almost no difference
at all at 1080p in this one, a 4 FPS gain with the 3080 Ti isn’t exactly worth the
32% higher price point. The larger 7% gain at 1440p isn’t either, for that matter.
The differences in Assassin’s creed were even smaller. The 3070 Ti appears slightly ahead,
but at less than a frame difference we’re really talking margin of error stuff here,
so let’s just call the performance identical and move on.
Watch Dogs Legion had a similar difference of basically nothing at 1080p, though this changes a
little at the higher 1440p resolution where we’re looking at an 8% gain. Nothing major here either,
the 3070 Ti is still surpassing 60 FPS at ultra settings 1440p without even using DLSS.
Control was tested with and without ray tracing plus DLSS. Starting with just stock standard
gameplay both GPUs were performing nicely. At 1080p the 3080 Ti was 10 FPS higher,
equating to a 9% gain, and also a 9% gain at 1440p too. These are the results with
ray tracing on but DLSS off to try and get an idea of pure RT performance. At 1440p the
3080 Ti was about 10% ahead of the 3070 Ti, so similar to some of the other games without RT.
Both GPUs are able to get pretty big gains by turning on DLSS, but given this easily makes
the 3070 Ti playable at max settings 1440p it’s feeling kind of hard to justify the 3080 Ti.
We’ll just quickly blast through the results of 5 more older games, feel free to pause the
video if you want a closer look at any of these results. It’s important to test as many games
as possible so that we can get a better rounded and fair average before making a final judgment.
On average over all 14 games tested at the lower 1080p resolution, the RTX 3080 Ti was reaching
just 5 and a half percent higher average FPS compared to the RTX 3070 Ti. The 3080
Ti wasn’t even ahead in all of the games, though the two it was behind in was only a minor amount.
Best case though, we’re looking at almost a 10% performance boost with the more expensive 3080 Ti.
Stepping up to the higher 1440p resolution, which is the native resolution for this laptop,
and the 3080 Ti was now nearly 8% faster than the 3070 Ti on average. Best case now
we’re looking at nearly a 12% higher average FPS with a lot of the titles close to the 10%
mark. Sure it’s a gain, but don’t forget that you’re paying 32% more money to get it.
These are the frame rates with each laptop if we average the results from
all 14 games together. So even at 1440p in these relatively modern
games at higher settings the 3070 Ti was still capable of near 100 FPS at 1440p.
In terms of cost per frame, the 3070 Ti is clearly offering better value.
The FPS differences between them just aren’t anywhere near as big as the price gap. Honestly,
so many of the games I’ve tested have DLSS or FSR support so you could probably get bigger
performance gains simply by using those instead of spending more money for a higher tier GPU.
There’s always going to be diminishing returns at the top of a product stack, but yeah paying
32% more money for a 5 percent performance boost doesn’t really seem worth it unless you’re rich.
Not to mention the performance difference would be even smaller if the GPU power limits between these
two were the same, because don’t forget my 3080 Ti was running at 20 watts higher than the 3070 Ti.
At least for gamers, it’s possible that creators could get more advantage from the
double VRAM and extra CUDA cores with the 3080 Ti.
For most people, honestly the RTX 3060 is an excellent sweet spot today.
It just performs extremely well for the money,
you can check out my comparison with it over here next to get an idea of just how good it is.
I’m also going to compare both of these laptops on both air and liquid
cooling very soon, so make sure you’re subscribed for that upcoming content!
We’re going to check out game performance, thermals and fan noise,
the results are very interesting and you definitely don’t want to miss them!