by In the battle between RTX 4080 laptop vs. RTX 4090 laptop GPUs, which one is making the most of your hard-earned money?
Updated March 17, 2023 1:16 am
Below is everything you need to know RTX 4090 laptop vs. RTX 4080 laptop Performance, price and specification data to help you choose between these massively powerful 40-series laptop graphics cards from Nvidia.
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RTX 4080 laptop vs RTX 4090 laptop specs
| RTX 4080 laptop graphics card | RTX 4090 laptop graphics card | |
| graphic card | AD103 | AD103 |
| CUDA cores | 7,424 | 9,728 |
| clock frequency | 1350-2280GHz | 1.455-2.280GHz |
| VRAM | 12GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 |
| memory bus | 192-bit | 256-bit |
| memory bandwidth | 432GB/s | 576GB/s |
| TGP | 50-150W (175W with boost) | 80-150W (175W with boost) |
GPU and CUDA cores
Nvidia’s GPU naming convention means that bigger/better GPUs actually have a smaller number. As a result, the AD103 GPU in the RTX 4090 laptop graphics card is the more powerful of the two (in case you’re wondering, the AD prefix is ​​the shortened version of “Ada Lovelace” – the name the 40-series architecture GPUs are based on) .
The RTX 4090 laptop has the clear advantage with 31% more CUDA cores, which should result in significantly more processing power.
Clock speed & TGP
Clock speed is one of the most important determinants when looking at performance, although in this case the two graphics cards have an equal top boost clock count (although the RTX 4090 has more cores operating at the same speed).
TGP (Total Graphics Power) is the usual determinant of how much power the graphics card consumes, which directly affects the performance of its output (roughly in FPS) and a laptop’s battery life. Both cards have the same TGP upper limit, although the bottom is lower for the RTX 4080.
VRAM, memory bus and memory bandwidth
VRAM, also known as Video Random Access Memory, is essentially the graphics card’s short-term memory that acts as a frame buffer and as pixel storage. The memory bus and bandwidth allow for the transfer of this information. More VRAM and a larger memory bus/bandwidth allow for a smoother experience with better framerate and latency. It is especially useful for larger resolutions as they have higher pixel count to fill many gigabytes.
As you can see, the RTX 4090’s bus size and bandwidth are both larger, which means it should have an advantage at higher resolutions.
RTX 4090 laptop vs RTX 4080 laptop price
It’s hard to pinpoint the price difference between RTX 4090 laptops and RTX 4080 laptops as it varies from brand to brand, model to model, but generally, all else being equal, that’s what you’re talking about an additional roughly $600 to $800 for the RTX 4090 model.
Often, however, “everything else” isn’t equal: RTX 4090 laptops typically ship with more RAM and SSD storage than their RTX 4080 counterparts at most online retailers, further increasing the relative price point.
Take a look at our Where to Buy RTX 4080 Laptops and Where to Buy RTX 4090 Laptops pages for the different models available in your region.
RTX 4090 laptop vs. RTX 4080 laptop performance
Jarrod’sTech, the number one true blues gaming laptop geezer, has done its usual excellent job of benchmarking RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 laptops in a few different videos (click the links if you want to see them ). While he didn’t directly compare the two, he did compare the performance of both to last year’s most powerful gaming laptop GPU: the RTX 3080 Ti, across 25 games, and we can use that to compare the performance of both for ourselves.
As you can see in the third set of results where we measured the difference between the tests, the difference in performance increases as the resolution increases, which is unsurprising given the additional VRAM and CUDA cores in the RTX 4090. In virtually all cases, the RTX 4090 outperforms to some extent, although there are a couple of the 25 games tested where there’s hardly any performance boost between the two GPUs, and one game (Microsoft Flight Simulator – a well-known CPU-dependent title) where the RTX 4080 actually outperformed at 1080p resolution, although that may just be due to anomalies in this particular test.
RTX 4080 Laptop vs. RTX 3080 Ti Laptop FPS Benchmarks
- 1080p: 28.79% average FPS increase for the RTX 4080 (between 12 and 43%)
- 1440p: 30.57% average FPS increase for the RTX 4080 (between 18 and 39%)
- 4K: 26.59% average FPS increase for the RTX 4080 (between 0.5 and 37%)
RTX 4090 laptop vs. RTX 3080 Ti laptop FPS benchmarks
- 1080p: 43.94% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between 4 and 72%)
- 1440p: 52.76% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between 18 and 72%)
- 4K: 53.38% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between 18 and 65%)
- 1080p: 15.15% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between -8 and 29%)
- 1440p: 22.19% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between 0 and 33%)
- 4K: 26.79% average FPS increase for the RTX 4090 (between 17 and 28%)
RTX 4090 Laptop vs RTX 4080 Laptop: Which Should You Buy?
As mentioned, the price difference for an RTX 4090 laptop GPU can add up to an additional $600 to $800, which can result in a price increase of between 15% and 27% of the laptop’s MSRP, depending on the value of the laptop: for the It’s closer to 15% for the expensive Razer Blade 18, but it’s closer to 27% for the (relatively) affordable MSI Stealth.
Regardless of the percentage, $600-$800 is still a lot of money, and we can definitely say that you shouldn’t bother with an RTX 4090 machine if all you want to do is play at 1080p. At 1440p/1600p resolution, the choice is a bit more uncertain, although we would lean towards the RTX 4080 laptop unless you use your laptop for heavy rendering/workstation tasks alongside gaming. However, at 4K resolution, we would choose the RTX 4090 laptop over the RTX 4080.
If you just want to play a few different games on your laptop, be sure to check how they perform on both GPUs. If you’re buying a gaming laptop primarily to play Microsoft Flight Simulator, we definitely don’t recommend buying an RTX 4090 laptop.
Below are our current top picks for both devices, or check out our best RTX 4080 laptop guide and best RTX 4090 laptop guide for more info.
Our RTX 4090 laptop picks
01
Best All-Around Gaming Laptop RTX 4090
MSI Raider GE78HX 17.3″ (i9-13980HX, RTX 4090)
02
RTX 4090 gaming laptop with the best value for money
GIGABYTE AORUS 17.3″ (i9-13950HX, RTX 4090)
03
RTX 4090 gaming laptop with variable 4K/FHD resolution
Razer Blade 16 (4K/FHD, i9-13950HX, RTX 4090)
Our RTX 4080 laptop pick
01
Best RTX 4080 Gaming Laptop Overall (Great Value!)
ASUS ROG Strix G18 (i9-13980HX)
02
An affordable RTX 4080 gaming laptop with a 360Hz screen
GIGABYTE AORUS 17H (i7-13700H, RTX 4080)
03
An RTX 4080 laptop with a high TGP and an optional Cherry MX keyboard
XMG Neo 16 E23 / Eluktronics MECH16 GP2 (i9-13900HX)
Frequently asked questions about RTX 4080 laptops and RTX 4090 laptops
What is the difference between an RTX 4080 laptop graphics card and an RTX 4090 laptop graphics card?
RTX 4090 laptop graphics cards have significantly higher CUDA core counts, VRAM, and memory bandwidth than RTX 4080 laptops (although their boost clock speed is the same).
However, the RTX 4090 costs significantly more.
Is it worth buying an RTX 4090 laptop?
RTX 4090 laptops are definitely worth buying (assuming you can afford the cost) if you’re set on 4K gaming or VR gaming.
For 1440p/1600p gaming, you might want to save your money and go for an RTX 4080, although the RTX 4090 laptop will still show some lift.
RTX 4090 Laptop vs. RTX 4080 Laptop: Final Word
Hopefully you now know everything you need to know about them RTX 4090 laptop vs. RTX 4080 laptop Graphics cards, enough to help you make the purchase that’s right for you. Be sure to check out our tons of other gaming laptop guides in the mega menu above.
