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Nvidia has almost completed its Ada Lovelace-based RTX 40 series lineup. The company has announced everything from budget 60-class offerings to the ultimate RTX 4090 GPU for gaming. Most of these cards are now available for purchase except for the 4060 Ti 16 GB and the 4060, which will be available later this year in July.
The lineup has six options, each built for different kinds of gamers. The list includes cards for 1080p, 1440p, and 4K gaming. Nvidia is not going out of its way to claim their GPUs can play games at 8K this generation. However, some well-optimized games can be played at 30 FPS without significant frame drops on the 4080 and the 4090.
However, the wide variety of pricing and spec sheets can confuse most gamers. Although those on a budget can quickly conclude, it might be difficult for those who don't mind spending a few bucks extra for better performance. In this article, let's break down the Team Green offerings and determine which GPU offers the best bang for the buck.
Only a few RTX 40 series GPUs offer solid price-to-performance ratios
Nvidia has launched different cards in its lineup for different audiences. Thus, it is hard to isolate any one GPU and call it the best over the other offerings. Someone might need more computing power than an RTX 4060 Ti, even though it might be more value for money. Thus, let's look at the different offerings and pitch them against their last-gen offerings to determine whether they are worth the cash.
Geforce RTX 4090
The RTX 4090 replaces the older 3090 in the RTX 40 series lineup. The new GPU is a big win in terms of performance and can deliver solid performance in any workload one throws at it. According to rough estimates, the 4090 is about 71% faster than the 3090 on average,
The new GPU packs the same amount of VRAM as the RTX 3090: 24 GB. No graphics card needs more than 24 GB in any workload. Thus, this is fine.
The power draw of the 4090 has gone up. It draws 450 W as compared to the 3090's 350 W TDP. The power draw is the same as the RTX 3090 Ti. The 4090 will cost gamers at least $1,599. This is $100 more than the last-gen RTX 3090's $1,499 launch MSRP.
Considering you get 71% more performance and DLSS 3 for $100 more, it's a great offering. We recommend the RTX 40 series offering over the 3090 and 3090 Ti.
Gamers should note that the RTX 4090 is great technology but isn't built for gaming. The card's stupendous price tag makes it very unrealistic, and thus we are crossing the card from this list.
Geforce RTX 4080
The Geforce RTX 4080 was launched to replace the 3080 Ti, a card almost as good as the 3090. The new GPU is much faster than all RTX 30 series offerings thanks to its improved architecture. It also brought support for DLSS 3. However, the card was priced at a hefty $1,199.
This makes it as expensive as the RTX 3080 Ti while delivering way more performance. Pricing of the 3080 Ti hasn't improved too much after the crypto mining craze ended, and most models still sell for more than $1,000. Thus, the RTX newer 40 series equivalent makes more sense now.
However, the older RTX 3080 10 GB video card is a decent option for 1440p and even 4K gaming. The card is available for about its launch MSRP these days. However, we recommend the 4070 over the older 3080 since it is more power efficient, packs more VRAM, and is $100 cheaper.
The 4080 can come off as a solid option. If you don't want to spend over $1,000, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX is the best option. The AMD flagship is cheaper and more powerful. Thus, the 4080 is off the charts as well.
Geforce RTX 4070 Ti
The Geforce RTX 4070 Ti is the rehashed RTX 4080 12 GB. The card replaces the RTX 3070 Ti according to its naming. It brings solid 1440p and 4K performance to the table. For the same price as the RTX 3080 10 GB and 12 GB, it carries 19% more performance and more VRAM (than the 10 GB) while drawing 14-20% less power.
The card also supports upscaling technologies like DLSS 3, which will add a couple of more years to the card's lifespan. This makes the newer 40 series card a solid option over the 3070 Ti and the 3080 10 GB and 12 GB.
AMD is yet to launch a competitor to the 4070 Ti. The upcoming Radeon RX 7700 and 7800 card lineup has yet to hit the market. Meanwhile, for $699, the 4070 Ti seems a solid option, provided it beats every high-end AMD card from the last-gen and goes head-to-head with the RTX 3090.
Geforce RTX 4070
The Geforce RTX 4070 surprised us with its capabilities. But, when pitched against the RTX 3070 from the last gen, the card's pricing doesn't make it a no-brainer.
However, if you look at the pricing, the RTX 40 series offering is as much as the RTX 3070 Ti, a card that packs just 8 GB VRAM and is 19% slower than the newer GPU. In addition, Nvidia has paired extra VRAM and support for DLSS with the more recent offering, making it a better choice.
These features are all nice-to-have, but none are convincing enough to jump ship from the 3070 or the 3070 Ti. In addition, AMD has some solid options that offer better price-to-performance than the 40 series. The last-gen flagship, the 6950 XT, is now down to just $629. For about $30 more, gamers can get 16 GB of video memory and a card that is about 12% faster than the 4070.
The 6950 XT can easily play all modern video games at up to 4K, but the trade-offs are slightly worse power efficiency and ray tracing performance. However, we don't believe the Team Red flagship will be a bad option for any gamer out there.
Geforce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB
The Geforce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB is an unreleased $499 GPU from Team Green. The graphics card is no different from the 4060 Ti 8 GB, except it packs more video memory.
In our testing, the latest RTX 40 series offering was 35% more potent than the RTX 3070 from the last gen. The graphics card competes head-to-head against the RTX 3070, delivering slightly more performance than the 70-class GPU.
However, the competition has some exciting options for about $500. The Radeon RX 6800 has been discounted to $509 on Newegg, and the graphics card is slightly more powerful than the 40 series card. Gamers can opt for the RX 6800 today if they don't want to wait till June for their following GPU.
However, the 4060 Ti has some strong positives — better ray tracing performance, support for DLSS 3, and a more power-efficient design. The 16 GB memory buffer will easily last the card for quite some time. Thus, we believe it is best to wait for this GPU unless AMD has a very competent Radeon RX 7700 next month.
Geforce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB
The RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB received serious backlash post-launch. Many reviewers found the 40 series card only as good as the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT, a last-gen GPU about $70 cheaper. The GPU is only about 18% faster than the last-gen RTX 3060 Ti, so gamers with this card don't need to jump ship to the newer design.
Nvidia is selling most of its budget and mid-range 40 series offerings on features like better ray tracing performance and DLSS 3. The cards do not pack significant gen-on-gen bumps, unlike what we see from Turing to Ampere.
Thus, if you upgrade from the GTX 1060 or the GTX 1660, hold upgrading to check out what AMD offers. The Radeon RX 7600 XT might bring a better performance per dollar to the table.
Geforce RTX 4060
Nvidia is trying hard to rebuild the GTX 1060 experience with the upcoming RTX 4060. In the launch event, the company remarked that budget gamers don't mind cranking down the settings to get a higher framerate. Thus, the 40 series GPU packs multiple cost-cutting measures like a 128-bit memory bus, lesser memory than the RTX 3060, and a more power-efficient design.
Surprisingly, the 4060 is the cheapest 60-class GPU launched in the last five years. The card won't launch until July. Thus, it is difficult to conclude just yet. However, with support for DLSS 3, we believe it is a decent alternative to the Radeon RX 6600 XT and the RX 7600.
The major selling point for all mid-range and budget 40 series cards is DLSS 3 and frame generation. None of these GPUs pack massive performance improvements over the last gen alternatives.
