We benchmark the mobile RTX 2060, 2070, and 2080 Max-Q and compare them to the desktop RTX 2080 and GTX 1080

Mobile Turing laptops are finally here after waiting more than two years since the launch of mobile Pascal. The mobile RTX 2060, RTX 2070, RTX 2080, RTX 2070 Max-Q, and RTX 2080 Max-Q are all now available across a range of laptops starting at $1500 USD all the way up to $3000+.

So, what kind of raw performance benefits will users see over Pascal and how do they compare to a desktop GeForce RTX 2080?

In short, the mobile RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Max-Q are about 15 percent and 30 percent slower than the desktop RTX 2080 according to 3DMark benchmarks. The deltas are somewhat similar to - if not just slightly wider than - the deltas between mobile GTX 1080 and GTX 1080 Max-Q to the desktop GTX 1080 by about 5 percentage points each.

Meanwhile, users can expect the mobile RTX 2080 to perform about the same as a desktop GTX 1080 or anywhere between 15 to 35 percent over the mobile GTX 1080 depending on the resolution. The biggest reasons to own a laptop with RTX 2080 graphics are subsequently for its ray-tracing capabilities and for gaming at higher resolutions where the GTX 1080 begins to struggle sooner.

It's important to keep in mind that the TDP of the RTX 2080 Max-Q is actually lower than the base TDP of the GTX 1080 Max-Q (80 W vs. 90 W). Thus, it's perhaps not surprising that the performance deltas between RTX Max-Q and regular RTX non-Max-Q GPUs are ever-so-slightly larger. Furthermore, these benchmarks were performed on the first batch of sample RTX laptops to hit the market. More mature RTX laptops set to appear later this year with potentially updated drivers will likely show different results. In fact, we fully expect certain models from Alienware and Asus to run the same GPU at higher clock rates and thermal envelopes for faster performance.

See our overview on the mobile RTX Turing GPUs series here for more gaming benchmark comparisons. As our database of RTX gaming laptops continues to grow, we'll be able to compare more characteristics outside of just raw GPU performance including power consumption and fan noise.

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