NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti vs NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe wins 10 of 11 benchmarks, averaging 7% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe leads by 13% (78.31 vs 88.36 tok/s); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (4% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe runs 12 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 3, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 206.45 | 198.27 | +4% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 144.11 | 161.75 | -11% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 78.31 | 88.36 | -11% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 43.77 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 22.89 | n/a |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 9.3 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 3.964 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 1.843 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 1.54 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 0 | 8.51 | n/a |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0 | 0.61 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is faster on 0 of 1; NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe on 1.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 12.8 min | 11.3 min | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe 1.13x faster | $0.038 vs $0.224 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | $0.180 |
| NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | $1.190 |
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is 6.61x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 12GB | 80GB |
| Architecture | Ampere (GA102) | Ampere |
| Memory bandwidth | 912.4 GB/s | 1935 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,665 MHz | 1,410 MHz |
| TDP | 350 W | 300 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,199 | $15,000 |
| Release | 2021-06-03 | 2021-06-28 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti or NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 10 of 11 benchmarks in our suite with an average 7% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti has 12GB VRAM and a 350W TDP, while NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe has 80GB VRAM and a 300W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe fits 8 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. A model that exceeds VRAM doesn't run slower, it doesn't run at all, so the card that fits the model wins that workload outright.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe leads by roughly 13% (78.31 vs 88.36 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti full review · NVIDIA A100 80GB PCIe full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings