Time Spy Benchmarks Suggest RTX 4080 Is Faster Than RTX 3090 Ti

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RTX 40-series will purportedly be one of the biggest generational improvements we've ever seen.

RTX 3090
(Image credit: Nvidia)

According to a Tweet posted by leaker @kopite7kimi earlier this morning, the "estimated" performance of Nvidia’s upcoming RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 GPUs in 3DMark’s TimeSpy Extreme benchmark looks incredibly promising. Projections say the RTX 4080 will be faster than the RTX 3090 Ti, and the RTX 4070 will be just as fast as the RTX 3080 10GB — one of the Best Graphics Cards on the market.

As usual, take these results with a grain of salt. In fact, Kopite says they aren’t fully confident in the data points shared, but the leaker has a stellar record for accuracy. We've been making similar estimates for a while now, based on rumored specs, but it's not clear if Kopite actually saw some real performance data and merely obfuscated it to protect the (not so) innocent, or if these are purely guesses.

For reference, Kopite already shared RTX 4090 Time Spy Extreme data a week ago, which indicates GPU performance to be around 30% quicker than the fastest performing RTX 3090 Ti’s — overclocked and with liquid cooling. With that data as a starting point, Kopite’s RTX 4080 and 4070 figures aren’t all that shocking.

Kopite believes the RTX 4080 will hit a very impressive Time Spy Extreme graphics score of 15,000 points, a touch faster than the RTX 3090 Ti at normal frequencies. In Time Spy Extreme specifically, this data would make the RTX 4080 40% to 50% faster than its predecessor, the RTX 3080 10GB, which would be a massive generational improvement. If GPU prices for the 4080 are remotely similar to the 3080, customers will be getting a very powerful graphics card for the money.

The RTX 4070 estimates aren’t as impressive, but it is still a healthy gen-on-gen improvement nonetheless (if true). Kopite believes the RTX 4070 will hit 10,000 points in Time Spy Extreme, which coincides perfectly with most of the RTX 3080 10GB results in 3DMark’s results browser. Compared to the 3070, this translates into a 25% performance improvement and performance equal to that of the RTX 3080.

We've long suspected that Nvidia's RTX 40-series architecture will be a monster — for the RTX 4090 and 4080 in particular, it will almost certainly bring record-shattering generational performance improvements. Still, it will come at the cost of power consumption. The biggest unknown now is GPU pricing, which could swing in any direction depending on shortage issues and the 40-series release date. Performance only goes so far, unless you can get it at a good value.

For a deeper dive into all that we know about the RTX 40-series 'Ada' architecture, check our existing article. Also note that 3DMark only represents one synthetic graphics benchmark, and what we really want to see are real-world gaming benchmarks. All indications are that we should have hardware in hand by October, possibly sooner.

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Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • BILL1957
    Even if the 4070 is only 25% faster than the current 3070 and it is matching 3080 level performance if it receives the same 2 times faster Ray Tracing performance over the 30 series as being leaked for other 40 series cards then you are looking at a very good upgrade even when compared to the vanilla 3080 if the pricing is in line.
    Reply
  • AgentBirdnest
    Hm... I've been eyeing the 4070 for my personal rig, but wondering lately if I should just grab the 3070 while I can, because I worry about being able to get my hands on either once the former launches. If I wait for actual reviews of the 4070, it may be too late for me to get one in the near/mid future.
    If this leak is accurate, and the improvement is "only" 25%, roughly matching a 3080, I'm leaning significantly more toward the 3070... The only thing I'd be sad to miss out on is improved RT performance, and possibly unannounced features. (Is it known if 40-series will support AV1 encoding? Will there be an updated version of Nvenc?)

    The wattage numbers that have been leaked are actually a big deal to me. My room already gets unbearably hot within 30 minutes of gaming with a 2060. If a 4070 is double that? My next gaming session might be my last. : -P ... a 3070 won't produce too much more heat than my 2060, plus I've heard that 30-series are good undervolters (or at least the 3080 was if I remember right?)

    /thinking out loud
    Reply
  • BILL1957
    AgentBirdnest said:
    Hm... I've been eyeing the 4070 for my personal rig, but wondering lately if I should just grab the 3070 while I can, because I worry about being able to get my hands on either once the former launches. If I wait for actual reviews of the 4070, it may be too late for me to get one in the near/mid future.
    If this leak is accurate, and the improvement is "only" 25%, roughly matching a 3080, I'm leaning significantly more toward the 3070... The only thing I'd be sad to miss out on is improved RT performance, and possibly unannounced features. (Is it known if 40-series will support AV1 encoding? Will there be an updated version of Nvenc?)

    The wattage numbers that have been leaked are actually a big deal to me. My room already gets unbearably hot within 30 minutes of gaming with a 2060. If a 4070 is double that? My next gaming session might be my last. : -P ... a 3070 won't produce too much more heat than my 2060, plus I've heard that 30-series are good undervolters (or at least the 3080 was if I remember right?)

    /thinking out loud
    I really look for the 4070 and below cards to be the ones that see the delay in their launch date due to the excess 30 series overstock.
    The 3090 and the 3080 cards can for a bit fill the performance level that would be missing from the 4070 being delayed.

    If it were me and I was going to stick with the 30 series card I would at least bump up to a vanilla 3080 at its performance level and get the 10gb vram over the 8g of the 3070.
    Probably try to wait a few more weeks and see if the prices fall a bit more though.
    Reply
  • AgentBirdnest
    BILL1957 said:
    I really look for the 4070 and below cards to be the ones that see the delay in their launch date due to the excess 30 series overstock.
    The 3090 and the 3080 cards can for a bit fill the performance level that would be missing from the 4070 being delayed.

    If it were me and I was going to stick with the 30 series card I would at least bump up to a vanilla 3080 at its performance level and get the 10gb vram over the 8g of the 3070.
    Probably try to wait a few more weeks and see if the prices fall a bit more though.
    Good point... thanks a lot for your input. :-)
    I would like to have that extra/faster VRAM. I'll keep the 3080 in mind as I shop.
    Either way, I wouldn't be able to afford anything until late August, so that'll give me time to see more deals and think everything over.
    Reply
  • thisisaname
    Yet another leak, but this time it is an estimated benchmark, how great.
    I wonder what the next level of leak could be hope and dreams benchmarks?

    Next generation is faster colour me surprised!!
    The 390Ti was not that much faster than a 3080 in timespy.

    3090 Ti scored around 24,000 and a 3080 scored around 18,000.
    If the big improvement is not more than 30% while using more power then maybe they should try again.
    Reply
  • samopa
    "In Time Spy Extreme specifically, this data would make the RTX 4080 40% to 50% faster than its predecessor, the RTX 3080 10GB, which would be a massive generational improvement. "
    But, in what cost ? I'm not talking about price here.
    If RTX4080 is 50% faster than RTX3080, but consume double the power of its predecessor that's not improvement, that's setback.
    Reply
  • oofdragon
    What a bunch of c. Rumours initially had the 4070 up to 30% faster than a 3090Ti, now it's just a 3080 *supposedly better at ray tracing. That's what Nvidia has been doing over the past decades, instead the only eye catching boost here is TDP.
    Reply
  • AgentBirdnest
    oofdragon said:
    What a bunch of c. Rumours initially had the 4070 up to 30% faster than a 3090Ti, now it's just a 3080 *supposedly better at ray tracing. That's what Nvidia has been doing over the past decades, instead the only eye catching boost here is TDP.
    With Nvidia leaks and promotional benchmarks, I always assume the numbers are for RTX: ON. Which still makes me pretty excited, because I actually really love running RTX anytime it's available.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    Performance wise, I am expecting a decent bump just by virtue of Nvidia moving from Samsung 10nm to TSMC 5nm even if the advertised nm is not accurate. But I will take whatever estimation/ leaks with loads of salt. The hardware specs are firmed by now, but the results are all “guesstimates”. And to be frank, I am not excited about it simply because if the high power requirement rumour. The new generation of GPUs may be more power efficient, i.e. offering higher performance than increase in power consumption, but to me, a 300 To 340 W GPU is as far as I will go for now. I have no wish to turn my computer room into a sauna.
    Reply