1080 vs 2060 benchmark: Nvidia GTX 1080 vs RTX 2060

7 марта, 2023

RTX 2060 Vs GTX 1080Ti Deep Learning Benchmarks: Cheapest RTX card Vs Most Expensive GTX card | by Eric Perbos-Brinck

Training time comparison for 2060 and 1080Ti using the CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 datasets with fast.ai and PyTorch libraries.

TLDR #1: despite half its VRAM, and half its retail price, the RTX 2060 can blast past the 1080Ti in Computer Vision, once its Tensor Cores are activated with ‘FP16’ code in PyTorch + Fastai.

Less than a year ago, with its GP102 chip + 3584 CUDA Cores + 11GB of VRAM, the GTX 1080Ti was the apex GPU of last-gen Nvidia Pascal range (bar the Titan editions).
The demand was so high that retail prices often exceeded $900, way above the official $699 MSRP.

In Fall 2018, Nvidia launched its newest Turing line-up, named “RTX”, with Raytracing Cores and Tensor Cores. Prices as a whole jumped significantly: for example, the RTX 2080Ti retails for $1,150 and more.

One key feature for Machine Learning in the Turing / RTX range is the Tensor Core: according to Nvidia, this enables computation running in “Floating Point 16”, instead of the regular “Floating Point 32″, and cut down the time for training a Deep Learning model by up to 50%.

About a month ago (Jan 7, 2019), Nvidia released the cheapest GPU of the Turing line-up: the RTX 2060.

Using Jupyter notebooks, I trained ResNet models 18 to 152 on each Cifar dataset with FP32 then FP16, to compare the time required for 30 epochs.

With Fastai, switching from FP32 to FP16 training is as simple as adding `.to_fp16()`at the end of your regular code.

  • The regular FP32 version, with a pre-trained Resnet 18 model:

learn = create_cnn(data, models.resnet18, metrics = accuracy)

  • The FP16 version:

learn = create_cnn(data, models.resnet18, metrics = accuracy). to_fp16()

That’s it and you now have access to the RTX Tensor Cores !

Note: for more information on training with “FP16”, also known as “Mixed-Precision-Training (MPT), check those excellent posts.

  • Mixed-Precision-Training by Sylvain Gugger (Fastai)
  • Mixed-Precision-Training benchmarks with RTX 2080Ti & 1080Ti by Sanyam Bhutani (aka @init_27)

Note: ‘bs * 2’ indicates a batch_size twice larger, as in 256 vs. 128.

Hardware: I use a “real-life” high-end gaming PC with the following specs

  • AMD Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-cores
  • MSI X370 Krait Gaming motherboard
  • 32 GB DDR4–2400 RAM
  • 1 TB Nvme Samsung 960 EVO
  • Asus GTX 1080Ti-11GB Turbo ($800)
  • Palit RTX 2060–6GB ($350)

These parts are from my personal usage, and are not paid nor sponsored by any company, publisher or vendor.

Software: I use Ubuntu and Windows 10 in dual-boot.

  • Ubuntu 18.04 + Anaconda/Python 3.7
  • CUDA 10
  • PyTorch 1.0 + fastai 1.0
  • Nvidia drivers 415.xx

Note: before each training session, the cards were switched to a secondary PCie slot (x8) not handling the PC dual-monitors, thus assuring their computing power was 100% focused on the training.
I mention this as I’m using two monitors on a 2007 Ergotron LX Dual-Stand (my best long-term PC purchase ever !): one 24″ in 1080p (vertical) and one 27″ in 1440p (landscape) both connected to the same GPU, thus one can assume it would steal “some” computing power away from training.

A screenshot of my dual monitors: the 24″ vertical on left, the 27″ landscape on right.

BTW, if you want to check the impact of dual-monitor display on training performance, scroll down the bottom of the article for a comparison using the 1080Ti.

A quick summary of the two GPUs specs.

The 1080 Ti in the GTX 10 line-up (the last one):

The 2060 in the RTX 20 line-up (the first one):

Key points:

  • The RTX 2060 has roughly HALF the number of CUDA cores of the 1080Ti (1920 vs. 3584)
  • Its memory bandwith is about 70% of the 1080Ti (336 vs 484 GB/s)
  • It has 240 Tensor Cores (source) for Deep Learning, the 1080Ti has none.
  • It is rated for 160W of consumption, with a single 8-pin connector, while the 1080Ti is rated for 250W and needs a dual 8+6 pin connector.
  • It costs less than HALF the retail price of the 1080Ti (in Stockholm, Sweden).

Additional information:

  • Methodology: to keep things comparable, I ran every benchmark in three versions.
    — The version “FP32” and version “FP16” used the same batch_size for the 1080Ti and the 2060 (one could argue that the 1080Ti has approx twice the VRAM of the 2060, but I chose that approach. Feel free to run the tests yourself).
    — The version “FP16 bs*2” used a batch_size twice larger, to benefit from the theory behind FP16 training (see the two linked posts above for details).
  • The Jupyter notebooks I used, including all duration for 30 epochs, are available in my GitHub repo.
    You’ll need Fastai V1 to run them.
  • The spreadsheet I used for duration, time-scale and charts, is located the repo as well.
  • Duration for “Time-To-Complete 30 epochs” in seconds:
  • Time-scaled:
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I compared the performance of the 1080Ti as a stand-alone GPU (no display) in red color vs.

a main GPU (handling a dual-monitor, see earlier discussion) in blue color.

Note: I used Cifar-10.

  • Duration in seconds:
  • Time-scaled:

GeForce RTX 2060 vs GeForce GTX 1080



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  2. VGA Benchmarks
  3. GeForce RTX 2060 vs GeForce GTX 1080

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    100%

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    106%

Relative performance

Reasons to consider GeForce RTX 2060
This is a much newer product, it might have better long term support.
Supports PhysX
Supports G-Sync
Supports ShadowPlay (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
Supports DirectX Raytracing (DXR)
Supports Deep Learning Super-Sampling (DLSS)
Reasons to consider GeForce GTX 1080
6% higher gaming performance.
Supports PhysX
Supports G-Sync
Supports ShadowPlay (allows game streaming/recording with minimum performance penalty)
Supports Direct3D 12 Async Compute
Based on an outdated architecture (Nvidia Pascal), there may be no performance optimizations for current games and applications

HWBench recommends GeForce GTX 1080

The GeForce GTX 1080 is the better performing card based on the game benchmark suite used (75 combinations of games and resolutions).

Core Configuration
GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1080
GPU Name TU106 (TU106-200A-KA-A1) vs GP104 (GP104-400-A1)
Fab Process 12 nm vs 16 nm
Die Size 445 mm² vs 314 mm²
Transistors 10,800 million vs 7,200 million
Shaders 1920 vs 2560
Compute Units 30 vs 20
Core clock 1365 MHz vs 1607 MHz
ROPs 48 vs 64
TMUs 120 vs 160

Memory Configuration
GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1080
Memory Type GDDR6 vs GDDR5X
Bus Width 192 bit vs 256 bit
Memory Speed 1750 MHz
14000 MHz effective		 vs 1251 MHz

10008 MHz effective
Memory Size 6144 Mb vs 8192 Mb
Additional details
GeForce RTX 2060 GeForce GTX 1080
TDP 160 watts vs 180 watts
Release Date 15 Jan 2019 vs 27 May 2016

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    80. 64 GP/s

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    102.80 GP/s

GigaPixels — higher is better

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    201.60 GT/s

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    257.10 GT/s

GigaTexels — higher is better

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    336.00 GB/s

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    320.00 GB/s

GB/s — higher is better

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    6451.00 GFLOPs

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    8228.00 GFLOPs

GFLOPs — higher is better

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    50

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    53

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    107

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    108

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    62

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    72

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality TTA DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    103

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    111

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    121

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    125

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality TAA, Bahrain, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    145

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    129

FPS (higher is better)

Very High Quality TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    117

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    121

FPS (higher is better)

Highest quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    123

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    127

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    96

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    106

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    103

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    110

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    81

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    70

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    106

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    110

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    87

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    92

FPS (higher is better)

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    123

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    159

FPS (higher is better)

Very high quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    89

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    91

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Detail,16:1 AF, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    55

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    58

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    40

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    41

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, HR Textures, DirectX11, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    93

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    99

FPS (higher is better)

UltraTX Max Quality, Vulkan, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    53

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    50

FPS (higher is better)

Max Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    118

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    128

FPS (higher is better)

Highest Details, Pure hair, HBAO+, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    86

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    91

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    131

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    132

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Async Compute ,Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    115

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    127

FPS (higher is better)

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    106

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    105

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    51

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    54

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    39

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    42

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    81

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    84

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    46

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    51

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality TTA DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    79

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    84

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    88

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    95

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality TAA, Bahrain, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    85

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    96

FPS (higher is better)

Very High Quality TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    82

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    86

FPS (higher is better)

Highest quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    90

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    94

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    64

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    69

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    76

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    81

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    57

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    52

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    80

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    84

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    57

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    65

FPS (higher is better)

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    105

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    114

FPS (higher is better)

Very high quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    57

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    58

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Detail,16:1 AF, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    42

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    45

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    31

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    30

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, HR Textures, DirectX11, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    65

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    68

FPS (higher is better)

UltraTX Max Quality, Vulkan, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    42

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    39

FPS (higher is better)

Max Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    77

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    83

FPS (higher is better)

Highest Details, Pure hair, HBAO+, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    57

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    62

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    84

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    95

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Async Compute ,Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    83

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    91

FPS (higher is better)

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    76

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    82

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    37

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    40

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    24

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    25

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    44

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    49

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    19

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    28

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality TTA DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    48

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    51

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    49

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    55

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality TAA, Bahrain, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    51

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    57

FPS (higher is better)

Very High Quality TAA, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    45

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    47

FPS (higher is better)

Highest quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    50

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    54

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    33

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    36

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    39

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    42

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra High Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    34

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    32

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    43

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    45

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    32

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    36

FPS (higher is better)

DX11, Max Details, 16:1 AF, 2xMSAA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    56

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    58

FPS (higher is better)

Very high quality DirectX11 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    28

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    28

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Detail,16:1 AF, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    26

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    28

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX11, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    17

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    17

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, HR Textures, DirectX11, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    39

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    38

FPS (higher is better)

UltraTX Max Quality, Vulkan, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    24

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    24

FPS (higher is better)

Max Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    40

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    41

FPS (higher is better)

Highest Details, Pure hair, HBAO+, DirectX12, Windows 10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    29

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    33

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra quality DirectX12 Windows10 x64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    48

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    57

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Async Compute ,Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    45

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    53

FPS (higher is better)

DX11,Max Details, 16:1 HQ-AF, +AA

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    41

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    48

FPS (higher is better)

Ultra Quality, DirectX12, Windows 10×64

  • GeForce RTX 2060

    22

  • GeForce GTX 1080

    21

FPS (higher is better)

VS
GeForce RTX 2060 Radeon RX 6600
VS
GeForce RTX 2060 Radeon RX 6600 XT
VS
GeForce GTX 1080 Radeon RX 6650 XT
VS
GeForce GTX 1080 GeForce RTX 2060 Super
VS
GeForce RTX 2070 Super Radeon RX 5700 XT
VS
Radeon RX 5700 XT Radeon RX 5700 XT 50th Anniversary

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