The Nvidia RTX 4080 laptop is already quite powerful, and when compared to the previous generation 30 series, it offers significant performance improvements. So, should you go for an RTX 4090 laptop, or is the RTX 4080 more than enough? In this post, I have compared 10 games on both the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 laptops across three resolutions: 1080p, 1440p, and 4K.
GPU Specs Difference
| GPU | AD104 | AD103 |
| CUDA/TENSOR/RT | 7424/232/58 | 9728/304/76 |
| BOOST CLOCK | 1350-2280 MHz | 1455-2040 MHz |
| TGP | 60-150 W | 80-150 W |
| MEMORY | 12GB GDDR6 | 16GB GDDR6 |
| MEMORY SPEED | 18 GBPS | 18 GBPS |
| MEM INTERFACE | 192-BIT | 256-BIT |
| MEM BANDWIDTH | 432 GB/S | 576 GB/S |
| LAUNCH DATE | FEB 2023 | FEB 2023 |
The RTX 4090 laptop GPU, being a higher-tier option, offers a significant boost in performance compared to the RTX 4080. It features 30% more CUDA, tensor, and ray tracing cores. Additionally, the RTX 4090 has an additional 4GB of VRAM, a larger memory bus, and higher memory bandwidth.
Both GPUs have a maximum power consumption of 150 watts, but the RTX 4080 is also capable of running on lower power in thinner and lighter laptop designs. Moreover, the RTX 4080 can achieve higher boost clock speeds due to having fewer cores to power within the same power limit.
Laptops Tested
| Dell Alienware M16 | Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 |
 |  |
| CPU: Intel i9-13900HX | CPU: Intel i9-13900HX |
| RAM: 32GB DDR5-5600 | RAM: 32GB DDR5-5600 |
| GPU: RTX 4080 | GPU: RTX 4090 |
| Buy Here | Buy Here |
Gaming Performance
Starting with Cyberpunk 2077. There’s not that big of a performance difference in this game, with the 4090 laptop just 7% faster at 1080p, 10% faster at 1440p, and 15% faster at 4K, though with these FPS results you’d definitely want to turn on DLSS or FSR.
Apex Legends on the other hand had some of the biggest differences between the two GPUs, with the 4090 reaching a 29% higher average FPS at 1440p, and 35% higher at 1080p. The 4090 laptop was hitting the 300 FPS frame cap in this game at 1080p too.
It’s not all gains for the 4090 laptop though. In Microsoft Flight Simulator it was actually a little worse at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions.
It’s a similar deal in Far Cry 6, though not quite as big of a difference. This is generally a more CPU heavy game, and the 4080 machine was a little faster at 1080p, but then the 4090 takes over at higher resolutions.
Dying Light 2 had nice improvements with the 4090. At 1080p the 4090 was 25% faster than the 4080, though the gap was lower at 1440p and 4K, with the 4090 20% ahead.
God of War hit higher average frame rates with the 4090, but for whatever reason the dips in performance, as measured by the 1% lows, were better on the 4080. I’m not sure if this is because the 4080 was able to reach higher clock speeds, or if there really is some problem between my CPUs.
Hogwarts Legacy was almost always better with the 4090, but the differences were small. At 1080p the 4090 was just a couple of FPS faster, such a small change that you likely wouldn’t be able to tell the difference when playing. The higher 4K resolution was 10% faster with the 4090 though, which in this case is just 5 FPS.
The Witcher 3 was tested with the next gen update and the ray tracing preset enabled. This was another where the 1% lows were actually better on the 4080 at 1080p and 1440p, though the 4090 had the win in average FPS, but again, not by a massive margin. 4K wasn’t particularly playable on either, but you could of course use features like DLSS and frame generation to improve that.
A Plague Tale Requiem was yet another game where the 4080 had fewer dips as per the 1% lows at 1080p and 1440p, but the 4090 was otherwise in the lead.
Control is a GPU heavy game, but yet again the 4080’s 1% lows were ahead at 1080p and 1440p. The 4090 had one of its best leads at 1440p in terms of average FPS though, coming in at 27% ahead of the 4080.
1080p Games Average
On average over all 10 games tested, at 1080p the higher tier RTX 4090 laptop GPU was 13.5% faster compared to the lower tier RTX 4080 laptop GPU. This graph shows how much faster each game was on the 4090. A couple of the CPU heavier games were actually slightly better on the 4080, while only three titles were more than 20% faster with the 4090.
1440p Games Average
If we step up to the higher 1440p resolution where we’re more GPU bound, the RTX 4090 now has a slightly higher 14% lead over the 4080. 6 of the 10 games had at least a 10% gain and on the 4090, because more pixels need more GPU power to run, so the 4090 starts stretching its legs.
4K Games Average
This continues at the higher 4K resolution, which is why the 4090 was now 15% faster on average, now all 10 games are 10% faster on RTX 4090.
Should you Buy RTX 4080 or RTX 4090?
Should you pay more for an RTX 4090 laptop, or should you save money and get the RTX 4080?
At the time of writing, the exact Dell Alienware M16 that I’ve tested here with RTX 4080 graphics will set you back $2650, while the Legion Pro 7i Gen 8 with RTX 4090 is an extra $550, or almost 20% more money.
Generally, when you buy the top model of a laptop, you end up paying more money for smaller performance gains. But in this case, the RTX 4090 is not significantly more expensive considering the performance gains. So, in my opinion, it’s not unreasonable to spend an extra $500 if you truly want the best laptop gaming experience.
