RTX 5090 vs RTX 3080
Short answer: which is best?
RTX 5090 is 216.5 % stronger than RTX 3080. RTX 5090 ranks #1 of 74 measured graphics cards at WhatFPS (28,389 GPU score over 6 verified runs). RTX 3080 ranks #17 of 74 measured graphics cards at WhatFPS (8,969 GPU score over 2 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 8 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | RTX 5090 | RTX 3080 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU score (the card's own performance) | 28,389 | 8,969 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 21,848 | 10,171 |
| Earth II (Vulkan) | 134.1 FPS | 37.5 FPS |
| Mission to Earth II (DX12) | 174.4 FPS | 47.9 FPS |
| Earth II Landing (DX12 Ultimate) | 113.8 FPS | 42.8 FPS |
| Supernova (DX11) | 115.2 FPS | 114.6 FPS |
| Memory bandwidth | 698 GB/s | 226 GB/s |
| VRAM | 31 GB | 10 GB |
| Ray tracing | Yes | Yes |
Fragz' verdict
The RTX 5090 takes a commanding victory, leading the RTX 3080 by an incredible 213.1% in overall GPU score. This massive lead is reflected in gaming performance, with the RTX 5090 hitting 132.8 FPS in Earth II (Vulkan) and 171.4 FPS in Mission to Earth II (DX12), far surpassing the RTX 3080's 37.5 FPS and 47.9 FPS respectively. The RTX 5090 also boasts superior raw compute with an ALU index of 1020560 and 31 GB of VRAM, compared to the RTX 3080's 443967 ALU index and 10 GB of VRAM. For gamers, this translates to a significantly smoother and higher-fidelity experience with the RTX 5090. While the RTX 3080 holds a respectable 15th rank out of 65 GPUs, its performance data is based on a thin sample of only 2 verified runs, meaning the RTX 5090 is the undisputed king if peak performance is your goal.
Generated October 28, 2026 from the 8 verified runs available then. The verdict is never silently rewritten — new numbers get a new verdict.
What the numbers mean
The GPU score is the graphics card's own performance — that is what we rank on. GAMING is the whole rig's score in the best PC we measured the card in, and depends on processor, memory and storage. We show both and never mix them.
All numbers come from our benchmark suite: four hand-built 3D scenes written directly against the graphics APIs in Rust, the same load on every PC. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik
All measurements for RTX 5090 · All measurements for RTX 3080