FP StaffSep 21, 2022 17:13:00 IST
Nvidia announced the next generation of their graphics cards and also launched three new cards based on its next generation of graphics architecture. The new RTX 40 series is officially here, and it starts at $899 or Rs 72,000 converted.
At the top of the stack is the new RTX 4090. This massive new GPU features 16384 CUDA cores with boost clocks that go up to 2.52GHz. The card comes with 24GB of GDDR6X memory and 384-bit memory interface. Nvidia claims it is 2-4x faster than the RTX 3090 Ti. The RTX 4090 has a power rating of 450W and runs on a single 16-pin PCIe Gen 5 or 3x 8-pin PCIe cables. It’s priced at $1599 or Rs 1,28,000 converted and will be available starting October 12.
Next up, we have the RTX 4080, which comes in two variants. The more premium variant features 9728 CUDA cores and a 2.51GHz boost clock. It has 16GB GDDR6X memory with 256-bit interface. Nvidia claims it is 2-4x faster than the RTX 3080 Ti.
Then there’s also a second variant with 12GB GDDR6X memory and a 192-bit memory interface. This version has 7680 CUDA cores and a 2.61GHz boost clock.
The 16GB model has a power rating of 320W and the 12GB of 285W. They are priced at $1199 or Rs 96,000 converted and $899 or Rs 72,000 converted respectively and will be available in November.
At the heart of these new graphics cards is the new GPU. Based on Nvidia’s new TSMC 4nm Ada Lovelace architecture, the new GPU features 3rd generation RT cores, 4th generation Tensor Cores, and support for new features such as DLSS 3 and AV1 encoder.
Compared to the 40 shader-TFLOPs of the RTX 3090 Ti, the RTX 4090 has 83-TFLOPS. Thanks to the new Shader Execution Reordering, shader performance is claimed to improve by 2x and in-game frame rates by 25 per cent. Nvidia also claims that the RT performance on the RTX 4090 is around 191-TFLOPS while the RTX 3090 Ti was capable of 78-TFLOPS. The new 4th generation Tensor cores are said to have 5x throughput on the RTX 4090.
One of the more impactful features announced was DLSS 3, which will be exclusive to 40-series graphics cards. The new version uses an Optical Flow Accelerator and data from sequential frames to create new frames on the GPU itself (rather than within the game) to improve frame rates by up to 4x. This method also bypasses any CPU bottlenecks that affect traditional upsampling and image reconstruction methods as the frame rate increases.
The new 40-series models will replace the 3090 series of cards but will join the existing 3060, 3070, and 3080 series of cards, which will continue to be sold at least until 2023. The lower variants of the 40 series, like the 4060 and the 4070 will be a lot cheaper but improve significantly over the existing 30-series cards.
Nvidia will be selling its own Founders Edition cards for the RTX 4090 and the 16GB RTX 4080, alongside models from AIB partners, such as Asus, Colorful, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, and Zotac. Most of these cards feature a 3-4 slot design along with beefy power requirements. The cards will have HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity.
