100 W GeForce RTX 3080 vs. 130 W GeForce RTX 3070: Which is the better choice?

It's relatively easy to know which model is faster when purchasing desktop graphics cards. A GeForce RTX 3080, for example, will perform faster than the RTX 3070. For laptops, however, the TGP ranges are so much tighter and with more overlap that lesser GPUs like the RTX 3070 can sometimes be more power demanding than the RTX 3080. The most recent example is the 2021 Razer Blade 17 and its 130 W GeForce RTX 3070 graphics versus the 2021 Blade Pro 17 with 100 W RTX 3080 graphics. Is the lower-power RTX 3080 the faster option than the higher-power RTX 3070?

According to our benchmarks below comparing the Blade Pro 17 and Blade 17, graphics performance is essentially on par between the two models with differences of just a few percentage points. The differences shrink even further when at higher resolutions and settings where performance becomes more GPU bound.

Unfortunately, not all laptop makers make it very clear what TGP values their gaming laptops are targeting. If you're in the market for one, then we recommend researching first to find out more about the GPUs in question. Gamers can potentially save a few hundred dollars by opting for a "slower" RTX 3070 model versus a pricier RTX 3080 one in this manner.