Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU vs GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB

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Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking25not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation40.95no data
Power efficiency13.54no data
ArchitectureAmpere (2020−2024)no data
GPU code nameGA102no data
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date11 January 2022 (2 years ago)31 October 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$799 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores896018
Core clock speed1260 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1710 MHzno data
Number of transistors28,300 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology8 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)350 Wattno data
Texture fill rate478.8no data
Floating-point processing power30.64 TFLOPSno data
ROPs96no data
TMUs280no data
Tensor Cores280no data
Ray Tracing Cores70no data

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizeno datamedium sized
InterfacePCIe 4.0 x16no data
Length285 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 12-pinno data

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR6XLPDDR5-6400
Maximum RAM amount12 GBno data
Memory bus width384 Bitno data
Memory clock speed1188 MHzno data
Memory bandwidth912.4 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectors1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4ano data
HDMI+-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)no data
Shader Model6.6no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL3.0no data
Vulkan1.3-
CUDA8.6-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 11 January 2022 31 October 2023
Chip lithography 8 nm 5 nm

Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU has an age advantage of 1 year, and a 60% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB and Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB is a desktop card while Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU is a notebook one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB
Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU
M3 Pro 18-Core GPU

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.3 957 votes

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3.1 171 vote

Rate Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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