NVIDIA unveiled the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs at its GTC 2022 event in September, but which is better to buy? The RTX 40 series is an upgraded version of the RTX 30 series launching in 2020. Only two cards in the 40 series have been released so far, with the rest expected to be released in the coming months. The new cards are supposed to perform much better than their predecessors, but are they worth it?
Severe chip shortages combined with huge demand from crypto miners means that graphics cards have been in short supply for the past two years. So gamers and do-it-yourselfers have been struggling to get to a mainstream GPU for most of this time, and things have yet to completely change for the better. However, there are signs that things are finally getting back to normal to some extent after the crypto crash, once again allowing gamers and DIY enthusiasts to spend no money on graphics card.
The RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are based on the same Ada Lovelace architecture, but the former is more powerful than the latter. The 4090 has 16,384 CUDA cores, while the 4080 uses 7,680 CUDA cores in the 12GB model and 9,728 CUDA cores in the 16GB SKU. With more CUDA cores, the card can process more data at once, which means that the higher the number of CUDA cores, the faster the performance.
RTX 4090 and RTX 4080: Specs and Price
Another difference between the RTX 4090 and the two RTX 4080 SKUs is the amount of memory available. The RTX 4090 comes with 24GB of GDDR6X memory, while the RTX 4080 comes in 12GB and 16GB variants. The 12GB model has 639 Tensor-TFLOPs and 92 RT-TFLOPs, while the 15GB model offers 780 Tensor-TFLOPs and 113 RT-TFLOPs. For the RTX 4090, there are 1,321 Tensor-TFLOPs, 191 RT-TFLOPs, and 83 Shaders-TFLOPs. In terms of power consumption, the RTX 4090 has a rated default TDP of 450W, while the RTX 4080 has a lower TDP of 285W. The RTX 4080 12GB starts at $899, while the 16GB model has an asking price of $1,199. As for the RTX 4090, it goes up to $1,599.
As for which card to buy, the 4090 is of course significantly faster than either 4080 variant. However, unless one wants to max out every game at the highest settings, the RTX 4080 should be more than enough. to provide smooth gameplay at 1080p for any game. In most cases, even the 12GB model is good enough, meaning users can easily save hundreds of dollars without much impact on performance. The RTX 4080 12GB offers the best performance/price of all three options and should be the choice of most entry-level gamers. However, those who want the best of the best and are willing to shell out big bucks for the experience can opt for the RTX 4090.
Source: NVIDIA 1, 2