Graphics cards/Comparison
13 specifications
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
On paper, the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 has more shading units, and the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 has a wider memory bus. Specifications describe what each card is designed to do; how much of that either one holds under continuous load is a separate question.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080
NVIDIA · GeForce RTX 20 · Desktop
AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
AMD · Radeon RX Vega · Desktop
Compute
Memory
Power and platform
A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.
Reading the table
What the difference means.
Video memory
Both carry 8 GB, so neither has the advantage where memory is the limit: high resolutions, heavy textures and local AI models fill both at the same point.
Memory bus
The RX Vega 56 moves data over a 2048-bit bus of HBM2; the RTX 2080 uses 256-bit GDDR6. The bus width and the memory type together set how fast the chip can reach its own memory, which shows at high resolutions where every frame moves more data. A narrow bus with fast memory can match a wide one with slow memory, so neither figure settles it alone.
Shading units
The counts differ, 3,584 against 2,944, but these are different designs from different makers, and a shading unit on one is not the same amount of work as on the other. The row cannot be used to rank this pair.
Board power
The RTX 2080 draws up to 225 W against 210 W. That is heat the case has to exhaust and current the power supply has to deliver: allow a supply of about 650 W for the RTX 2080 with a typical processor, and check the card's power connectors against the supply's. A card that cannot shed its heat does not fail. It lowers its clocks after a few minutes, which is the frame rate that falls the longer you play.
Which to pick, on paper
- A small case or a modest power supply
- RX Vega 56
- 210 W against 225 W: less heat, fewer power connectors, quieter fans.
What no table says
How much of its speed a graphics card keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.
Questions
- Is the RTX 2080 better than the RX Vega 56?
- By need, on the specifications: a small case or a modest power supply: the RX Vega 56. They are different designs, so the raw counts cannot rank them. Frame rates depend on the game and its settings, and how much speed either card keeps after ten minutes depends on its cooling, which is what a sustained test measures.
- What power supply does the RTX 2080 need?
- Allow about 650 W with a typical processor, and make sure the supply has the power connectors the card uses. The RX Vega 56 at 210 W is easier on both.
More comparisons
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs AMD Radeon RX 6600
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon RX 5700
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 vs AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.
Nothing above describes how a graphics card behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.
We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.