At this point, one must start to wonder which of these options is better for their build. If you are spending a fortune on your GPU, you must make a wise choice and choose the one that offers the best performance and maintains a balance of budget and power requirements, which are extremely crucial when building such a powerful system. So, we are going to compare the 2 options in our guide today to give you a comprehensive review of both graphics cards. We will also compare both options in terms of gaming performance, cooling technology, power requirements, and other important aspects, so make sure you don’t miss that.
What is RTX 4090?
The RTX 4090 graphics card from Nvidia is its latest GPU model on the market and the most powerful option ever developed by Nvidia. It offers support for all updated technologies from Nvidia that are largely helpful for its consumers, whether they are installing the GPU on a gaming build or a workstation. Technologies like RTX voice, Nvidia DLSS 3.0, ray tracing, etc. are completely supported with this graphics card, along with promised support for the upcoming versions of the same since this GPU will be the industry standard for high-performance cards for quite some time. More importantly, Nvidia did not limit this graphics card’s abilities for desktop users. Instead, you can also find a handful of premium gaming laptops on the market powered by the RTX 4090 graphics card. It is astonishing to get such a powerful performance on a compact form factor that you can easily compare with a complete desktop build. Moreover, the RTX 4090 cards are also pretty easily available on the market, unlike before, making it the best choice for a lot of buyers.
What is the Nvidia RTX 3080Ti?
The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti, on the other hand is one of the best options from the RTX 30 series of graphics cards from the brand, second only to the all-mighty Nvidia RTX 3090 from the same series. Released slightly later than the Nvidia RTX 3080 graphics card, the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti simply provided its consumers with a lot more horsepower and speed by offering some powerful upgrades in its architecture. This card is also a great option for various applications such as video rendering, workstation installation, gaming, content streaming, and much more. Like many other graphics card models from Nvidia, the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is also readily available on a laptop of laptop models from well-known manufacturers such as Asus, Lenovo, MSI, and many others. As for its performance, the RTX 3080 Ti offers very good results with support for RTX technologies and makes it possible to play games at 4K or even 8K resolution at an enjoyable FPS.
Specifications and Features of RTX 4090 and Nvidia RTX 3080Ti
If you truly want to compare the 2 graphics cards and analyze their performance, you will have to consider checking out some of the technical specifications that you find listed alongside all GPUs. And before that, you should know the meaning and importance of aspects like card architecture, naming conventions, processor design, etc. To give you a quick insight into these features, we will compare the 2 options based on such aspects so that you can easily understand which of these options is the better choice for you.
1. Architecture
The architecture is a very important aspect of any graphics card as it determines the car’s production quality and performance under heavy load. Almost all Nvidia graphics cards use parallel processing to offer high-speed and highly efficient computation results on their cards, and the RTX 4090 and RTX 3080 Ti are no exception. The architecture of Nvidia cards also affects its hardware, such as CUDA cores, texture mapping units, raster operation pipelines, etc. The Nvidia RTX 4090 card is developed with its brand new Ada Lovelace architecture, whereas the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti uses the trusted and reliable Ampere architecture. Nvidia also uses GPU codes to distinguish between different models of graphics card and to quickly refer to the specifications of the cards denoted by a certain code. The Ada Lovelace architecture developed by Nvidia is denoted by the AD102, whereas the GA102 GPU code refers to graphics cards developed with the Ampere architecture.
2. Ada Lovelace (AD102)
Following its tradition of upgrading their chip architecture every 2 years, Nvidia released the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture in the year 2022 with the release of the RTX 40-series graphics card, named after a world-famous mathematician from the 19th century from the United Kingdom. There are some very important upgrades bright with this architecture from Nvidia, most importantly the all-new process node. This architecture design is based on the 4 nm N4 technology, which makes it possible to reduce the chip’s size up to half compared to 8 nm processors. Thus, these cards can deliver even more efficient performance regarding power consumption and heat generation. Some other important upgrades in the architecture include shader execution reordering, support for 3rd Gen DLSS, increased tensor cores, etc.
3. Ampere (GA102)
The Ampere architecture was unveiled by Nvidia back in 2020 with the release of RTX 30 series graphics cards which also brought a lot of upgrades under the hood over its predecessors working on the Turing architecture. Right now, Ampere architecture is pretty much the core of the modern data center because of its benefits in AI and HPC applications. The Ampere architecture from Nvidia consists of more than 54 billion transistors working in harmony to deliver the power you desire on your system. This GPU architecture is based on the 8 nm microchip technology developed by Samsung which is also not too bad when it comes to offering power-efficient performance. It also makes it possible for the mid-range RTX 30 series cards to be easily available for consumers and offer a ground-breaking gaming performance on their PC builds. And with the addition of the 3rd generation Tensor core, Nvidia really made a difference in AI development, bringing down the learning scale of AI models from weeks to mere hours.
4. Processor Size (nm)
Just like your CPU, there is also a microprocessor chip present on every single GPU which performs all the complex calculations on the card to provide the output. Here, the size of the GPU is a very important factor. This size is usually referred to as the “die size”, indicating the production technology used to develop the microprocessor, or the size of the die to be more precise. This factor affects the GPU’s performance in many ways. First of all, the processor size affects the computation power of the GPU. More transistors on a CPU usually mean more power, offering a faster processing speed. Another factor where the processor size makes a difference is thermal management. A larger processor means more heat generation, which can be bad in the case of a graphics card, even if the difference is in bare nanometers. Last but not the least, it affects the memory bandwidth of the graphics card, impacting the data transfer rate between your chip’s CPU and the GPU’s memory. In any case, a smaller processor is always a better choice as it minimizes the drawbacks and ensures the best performance.
5. RT & CUDA Cores
The CUDA is the most basic processing element of a graphics card that has been the most important aspect of a graphics card when it comes to comparison. Even if any 2 options appear to be almost identical in terms of specifications, you can easily tell which card is faster by taking a look at its CUDA core count. CUDA stands for Compute Unified Device Architecture which are simple parallel processing cores implemented by Nvidia on their cards to perform various tasks. Apart from computing tasks, these cores are important for machine learning, simulations, and video rendering. RT cores on the other hand are special types of processing units introduced by Nvidia with the launch of the RTX series of graphics cards. These special hardware units or Ray Tracing cores and specifically designed to calculate and accelerate ray tracing performance in games. This technology basically simulates the realistic effects of a light ray inside a game, which is a major upgrade over the ambient occlusion technology which was simply creating the illusion of the same in video games before that. These cores are significantly faster compared to the traditional shader units, offering much better releasing lighting effects in video games. In any case, you will need the count of both CUDA cores as well as RT cores as high as you can get on a graphics card. On an Nvidia RTX 4090 graphics card, there are 128 RT cores and 16384 CUDA cores whereas the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti features 10240 CUDA cores paired with 80 RT cores for ray tracing applications. In comparison, you can easily tell that an RTX 4090 graphics card will offer better performance in both aspects due to the higher CUDA core and RT core count.
6. Core Clock and Boost Clock Speed (MHz)
Just like a CPU, a GPU also has a certain clock speed which pretty much refers to the same working aspect of the chip as a CPU, its overall performance speed, and time to finish the calculation. Here, you need to understand both the core clock and boost clock speed of the card in order to understand their importance according to your requirements. The core clock speed of a graphics card is the frequency at which its GPU core operates. A higher core clock speed generally means that the GPU can perform more operations per second, which can result in improved performance in graphics-intensive applications such as gaming and video rendering. However, a higher core clock speed can also result in increased power consumption and heat output, which can negatively impact the card’s thermal management and overall lifespan. The boost clock speed of a graphics card is the maximum frequency that the GPU can reach under a heavy load. This frequency is typically higher than the core clock speed, and it is achieved through a combination of increased voltage and temperature. Boost clock speeds can provide a significant performance boost in applications that can take advantage of the increased clock speed, such as gaming or other graphics-intensive applications. However, it is important to note that the boost clock speed is not sustained and may only be achievable optimally under specific conditions, such as when the card is adequately cooled.
7. Memory
Just like the RAM that you have on your system, the GPU also has a dedicated memory that performs similarly to the RAM of your computer. This is referred to as Video Memory or VRAM which stores graphical processing data coming from the GPU processor. The capacity and speed of GPU memory can have a significant impact on the performance and capabilities of the graphics card.
8. Type
The memory type used in a graphics card can impact its performance and capabilities. GDDR6X, for example, is the latest and fastest memory type available for graphics cards, providing high-bandwidth and low-latency access to memory. Other memory types, such as GDDR6 and GDDR5, are also commonly used in graphics cards and provide varying levels of performance and capabilities.
9. Capacity
The capacity of GPU memory refers to the amount of memory available on the graphics card for storing data related to graphics-intensive applications. A higher memory capacity generally means that the card can handle larger and more complex data sets, resulting in improved performance and capabilities in graphics-intensive applications. For example, higher-resolution displays or complex 3D scenes in gaming require more memory to store the necessary data. Therefore, it is important to choose a graphics card with sufficient memory capacity for the intended use case.
10. Bus Width
The bus width of a graphics card refers to the number of data paths between the GPU and the memory, which impacts the amount of data that can be transferred between the two components. A wider bus width generally means that more data can be transferred simultaneously, resulting in improved performance. Bus width is typically measured in bits, and common bus widths for graphics cards range from 128-bit to 384-bit.
11. Bandwidth
The bandwidth of a graphics card refers to the maximum amount of data that can be transferred between the GPU and the memory per second, and it is determined by the memory type, bus width, and memory clock speed. A higher bandwidth generally means that data can be transferred more quickly, resulting in improved performance in graphics-intensive applications. Bandwidth is typically measured in gigabytes per second (GB/s), and the bandwidth of a graphics card can range from several hundred GB/s to even a terabyte per second (TB/s) on some premium options.
12. PCIe 4.0
If you have already purchased a motherboard for your system, you may have noticed a feature on the motherboard called PCIe slots. Here, you will find the available number of slots as well as the generation of the PCIe slot. This is where you are going to connect your graphics card since this is a PCie accessory similar to a capture card or many other PC accessories. Right now, the latest PCIe version available on the motherboards is PCIe 4.0 which offers twice the bandwidth compared to PCIe 3.0. This allows for faster data transfer rates between the graphics card and other components such as the CPU and memory. PCIe 4.0 also allows for higher clock speeds and improved signaling, which can result in faster and more stable communication between the graphics card and other components such as the RAM and the CPU of your system. This can result in improved performance and reduced latency in graphics-intensive applications, making the game runs at a increased FPS without any stutters. Since PCIe 4.0 is the latest option for a PCIe slot, it is better to go with a motherboard offering that as well as GPU that works with a PCIe 4.0 slot to build a future-proof system.
13. Slot Width
Apart from the technical specifications, there are some physical aspects of the GPU which can also make a certain unit incompatible with your system, especially with your cabinet. As you may already know, finding a compatible motherboard or CPU for your GPu is not a big problem. But with the new and enlarged designs of graphics cards, it is getting more and more difficult to install a high-end graphics card such as the RTX 4090 or the RTC 3080 Ti inside a relatively smaller cabinet. All PC cabinets specify the supported slot width of the GPU along with other factors that can create a problem at the time of build such as the PSU size, CPU cooler height, fan setup, etc. The most common slot widths for graphics cards are PCIe x16, PCIe x8, and PCIe x4. PCIe x16 is the most common and provides the most bandwidth, while PCIe x4 is less common and provides less bandwidth. Some motherboards may also have PCIe x1 slots, which are typically used for smaller expansion cards such as sound cards and network adapters.
14. Output Ports
Output ports on a graphics card are important because they determine how the graphics card can be connected to your monitor, or multiple monitors if you are going for an extended setup. The type and count of output ports available on a graphics card can impact the compatibility and its benefits for different types of display setups. The most common types of output ports on modern graphics cards include HDMI, DisplayPort, and DVI. Some older graphics cards may also include VGA or S-Video output ports, although these are less common in modern graphics cards and are slowly getting phased out. When choosing a graphics card, it is important to consider the types of displays that will be used with the card, as well as the number of displays that will be connected. For example, if a user wants to connect a 4K display to their graphics card, they may need to ensure that the card includes an HDMI 2.0 or DisplayPort 1.4 output port, which are capable of supporting 4K resolution at higher refresh rates. Additionally, if a user wants to connect multiple displays, they may need to ensure that the graphics card includes multiple output ports or supports technologies.
15. Thermal Design Power (watt)
The Thermal Design Power (TDP) of a graphics card is the maximum amount of heat that the graphics card is designed to dissipate under normal operating conditions. This value is typically measured in watts (W) and is an important specification to consider when choosing a graphics card, as it can impact the performance and stability as well as the cooling requirements of the card. The TDP of a graphics card is determined by the amount of power consumed by the graphics processing unit (GPU) and other components on the card, as well as the efficiency of the card’s cooling system. Higher-end graphics cards generally have higher TDP values, as they require more power to deliver high-performance graphics processing. When selecting a graphics card, it is important to consider the TDP of the card in relation to the power supply unit (PSU) of the computer system. The PSU should be capable of providing enough power to the graphics card, as well as other components in the system, without running short on available wattage capacity.
16. Power Connectors
Older GPUs did not need any additional power connectors since the PCIe slot was offering enough power to the GPU to compensate for its power requirements. But now, things have changed drastically as the power requirement of GPUs has also increased along with their performance. Therefore, almost all GPUs these days require an external power connection directly from the PSU. There are several different types of power connectors that may be used on a graphics card, depending on the specific model and power requirements. The most common types of power connectors used on modern graphics cards are 6-pin, 8-pin, and 12-pin connectors. These connectors can be plugged into the corresponding power cables from the power supply unit (PSU) of the computer. It is important to ensure that the power connectors used for a graphics card are compatible with the PSU of the computer and that the PSU is capable of providing enough power to the graphics card and other components in the system. In addition, it is important to ensure that the power connectors are securely connected to the graphics card, as loose or improperly connected connectors can cause instability or damage to the graphics card. Now that you are aware of all the technical specifications and features present on a GPU, it is time to put both of our competitors against each other so that you can indirectly compare the specifications of the RTX 4090 and the RTX 3080 Ti with each other to understand which option is better for you. Although, keep in mind that having the best specifications does not always mean that a certain card is better for you. If your needs aren’t that high, you may end up buying an overly expensive card compared to other components in your system.
Gaming Comparison RTX 4090 vs Nvidia RTX 3080Ti
Simply comparing the graphics based on their specifications is not enough. For most people, these are just numbers that affect the performance of the card. But, it would be difficult for many people to decide which of these cards is perfect for them just based on the specifications. Therefore, we are going to offer a rational comparison between the RTX 4090 and the RTX 3080 graphics card based on some application-based aspects such as performance, cooling technologies, power consumption, overclocking, etc.
1. 1080p Gaming (Ultra Preset)
2. 1440p Gaming
3. 2160p Gaming
4. Cooling
Another factor that makes a lot of difference in the performance as well as the reliability of a graphics card is the cooling technology introduced to maintain the temperature levels of the card. Although, Nvidia merely designs the chipsets of the graphics card which are then distributed to various different manufacturers such as MSI, Asus, Galax, etc. that introduce their own tuning in terms of clock speed as well as cooling technology to offer a balanced performance. So, the cooling performance of the graphic card really depends upon the model and the manufacturers of the card that you are choosing. Talking about the founder’s edition developed by Nvidia, the RTC 4090 founder’s edition peaks at about 83C at normal room temperature, even under heavy load. This is possible because of the 1600 RPM cooling fan of the GPU which operates under a 42 dB noise level. As for the RTX 3080 Ti, it also comes with a heatsink design that encompasses a 3-slot cooling technology.
DLSS and Ray Tracing Performance
We all know that DLSS and Ray Tracing are some of the few features of Nvidia cards where that really shine and bring up the overall value of the card. Therefore, it is important to compare Nvidia cards in this regard if you want to gauge the performance and efficiency of a graphics card truly. With Ray tracing, almost every new-gen Nvidia graphics card can offer you life-like graphics quality on Ray Tracing supported games. But as it has a lot of impact on the gaming performance, gamers usually pair that with DLSS, a technology that renders the game at a lower resolution for a higher frame rate and then upscales the resolution with the help of Tensor cores. Considering the above factors is also important when comparing high-end Nvidia cards such as the RTX 4090 and the RTX 3080 Ti. As both of these cards are quite high in the Nvidia card hierarchy, you will get pretty good DLSS, and Ray Tracing results from both cards. The Nvidia RTX 4090 is especially more powerful in this case as it features 3rd gen RT cores and supports DLS 3 technology which is better than the RTX 3080 Ti comparison, which has 2nd Gen RT cores and DLSS 2 support. On a heavy game like the battlefield 2042, the RTX 4090 goes as high as 144 FPS with DLSS enabled, whereas the RTX 3080 TI offers up to 85 FPS on average. On Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 4090 offers up to 66 FPS on ultra preset with ray tracing enabled, whereas the RTX 3080 Ti ranges at up to 36 FPS in the same preset.
1. Cooling
The cooling system is also an important factor on a graphics card. Unlike your CPU, you won’t be cooling your GPU with a water-cooled solution like an AIO. Therefore, you will have to rely on the stock cooling system of the card, unless you want to devise a custom cooling loop through your system. Fortunately, cooling is not much of a problem with either of these cards as Nvidia offers a pretty great cooling solution with its high-end graphics cards. Under the heaviest of loads and ambient room temperatures, the RTX 4090 stays at about 83C peak temperature, even inside an ATX case. This temperature range is more than acceptable and some might even consider it to be lesser than the normal working temperature of a graphics card. It is possible because of the 1600 RPM fan available on the card. It also produces noise below 42 dBA, which is ideal for gaming. On the RTX 3080 Ti, you will also find a pretty innovative cooling solution powered by dual axial flow fans. These fans are also operating at about 1500 RPM out of the box and the card peaks at about 78C at heavy load. The innovative design of the fans also makes it a quieter choice which is what most gamers need.
2. Power Consumption
With an increase in the capabilities of a graphics card, you will also notice an increase in its power requirements as the high-capacity components also need more power to operate. With the new-gen Tensor and RT cores, the RTX 4090 surely offers much better performance compared to its predecessors. But as it sits at the top of the GPU market right now, you will also have to pay a lot to get your hands on a PSU which can compensate for its 450 Watts TDP. So, you will need at least 850 Watts PSU to pair with this ultimate graphics card. The RTX 3080 Ti, on the other hand, has a much lower TDP of 350 Watts, following the footsteps of other RTX 30 series models developed with the Ampere architecture. For the RTX 3080 Ti, you will need a PSU with a wattage rating of about 750 Watts which is still quite high for a budget PC, but possible to find for most PC builds. And with the decrease in TDP, the RTX 3080 Ti also offers the benefit of lower heat generation. To make up for the heating of the RTX 4090, Nvidia has implemented a very large cooler on the card which significantly increases its footprint.
3. Overclocking Results
Sometimes, even the most powerful GPU fails to deliver the performance expected by a true gamer as the frames start to decrease by a few percent during a heavy game scene. To avoid such instances, a lot of buyers try overclocking the already powerful RTX 4090 as well as the 3080 TI. With overclocking, you can push the clock speed of the RTX 4090 up to 2.8 GHz, which is about a 6% boost in its speed and performance. But, it also increases the TDP of the GPU up to 470 Watts, which increases the peak temperature up to 88C. The same results can be observed when you overclock an RTX 3080 Ti graphics card. But, you will only get about a 4% increase in the performance of the graphics card as it can get as high as 1.8 GHz speed and 21 Gbps bandwidth. However, the overclocking performance is quite better on some RTX 3080 Ti cards, such as the one designed by Asus, which offers liquid cooling. This card can get as high as 1.9 GHz, which means about an 8% increase in the GPU speed.
4. Price
Lastly, we will suggest you also take a look at the prices of both GPUS as well as their availability which will be the final deciding factor for a lot of buyers. If the clearly more powerful RTX 4090 graphics is unavailable to you, or just out of your budget, then it certainly is not an ideal voice for you as you will have to wait for the prices to reduce or wait for the restocks to get your hands on one. In such a case, going with an almost 50% cheaper RTX 3080 Ti is not a bad choice. And since this card is about 2 years old now, availability of the RTX 3080 Ti won’t be a problem in most regions.
Conclusion
After going through our comparison of both, the Nvidia RTX 4090 and the RTX 3080 TI, It should be pretty clear to you now which of these cards is the ideal choice for your upcoming PC build. As you may have observed already, both of these cards pack a very powerful set of specifications and are almost identical in some instances. But credit where it’s due, an RTX 4090 is a considerably better choice in all aspects, whether it is gaming or heavy workloads. But, there are also a few shortcomings of the RTX 4090 graphics card which most buyers cannot look past. First of all, this card operated at a much higher power rating of 450 Watts compared to the 350 Watts TDP of RTX 3080 TI, making you choose a more premium and reliable PSU for your system. And, you always have the option to overclock the RTX 3080 TI if you wish to improve its performance and bring it up to the level of the RTX 4090. So, if the RTX 4090 graphics card is a bit too overpriced for your budget, you can still go with the RTX 3080 Ti, and you probably wouldn’t even notice much of a difference, especially if you are gaming at 1080p or 1440p resolution. Comment * Name * Email * Website
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