Architect's technical teardown: VRAM capacity, memory bandwidth, TDP, and AI throughput — compared head-to-head for local LLM workloads.
The legendary used-market GOAT. 24GB VRAM at a fraction of the cost of 4090/5090. Still handles 70B models with ease.
The Blackwell prosumer sweet spot. GDDR7 bandwidth delivers exceptional tokens-per-second for 30B+ parameter models in a single-GPU configuration.
| Metric | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 16GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 936 GB/s | 960 GB/s |
| AI Throughput (TOPS) | 285 | 1801 |
| TDP (Power Draw) | 350W | 360W |
| Est. Price | $749.99 | $1,349.99 |