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Nvidia RTX 4070 Founders Edition review: An RTX 3080 with benefits

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An RTX 3080 with benefits.

(Image: © Future)

Our Verdict

You could claim some stagnation given that this is Ada’s fourth tier graphics card and it’s offering ostensibly the same performance as the fourth tier of the Ampere generation. But the RTX 4070 is cooler, quieter, more efficient, cheaper, and has some extra Frame Generation performance in its back pocket to give it the edge over the excellent old RTX 3080.

For

Cheaper than the RTX 3080 is even today…
…with effectively the same performance
Frame Generation is potent
Cool
Quiet
Efficient

Against

Frame Generation isn’t ubiquitous

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The Nvidia RTX 4070 is a $100 cheaper RTX 3080. That’s the easiest, but probably also the most facile, way to describe the green team’s new graphics card. This is the fourth entry in the notoriously expensive Ada generation of GPUs, and in standard metrics performs as well as the fourth tier card from the Ampere lineup. On the face of it then it’s just a cheaper chip.

But it’s not just that. The RTX 4070, this smart new Nvidia card is an RTX 3080 with benefits.

This is the first of the Ada graphics cards to utilise the same GPU as the previous release, just with a little of the good stuff cut back to create a more affordable offering. And that also means Nvidia is able to do something useful with any chip that fails to make the grade as an RTX 4070 Ti, which otherwise uses the full AD104 die, or a mobile RTX 4080.

Though the RTX 4070 is cheaper than an RTX 3080, with its $599 sticker price, Nvidia is once more raising the cost of seemingly equivalent classes of card. The RTX 3070 of the last gen came in at $499, which means realistically this new GPU is effectively replacing the similarly $599 RTX 3070 Ti. This almost inevitable shift in the price tiers takes a touch of the shine of the RTX 4070, but there are many other reasons why I’m still a fan of this new card.

Nvidia RTX 4070 verdict

(Image credit: Future)

Buy if…

✅ You always wanted an RTX 3080: With the same effective performance, a lower price, and DLSS 3.0 support, the RTX 4070 is a great replacement for the retiring GPU.

✅ You’re building a tiny gaming rig: The RTX 4070 is cool, quiet, and supremely efficient. It’s also a lot smaller than any other card of similar performance.

Don’t buy if…

❌ You already own a decent RTX 30- or RX 6800-series GPU: At ~20% higher performance than the RTX 3070 Ti, and similar performance to the RX 6800 XT, spending another $600 so soon isn’t worth it just for Frame Generation.

The RTX 4070 is like a proper graphics card. It’s not some monstrous hulk of PCIe socket-rending GPU, it’s a modest card the size of its RTX 3070 forebear. That makes it a rather cute-looking thing. Well, in terms of scale anyways; that brushed aluminium Nvidia Founders Edition frame still looks pleasingly serious.

And that’s more than aesthetics, too. The size of the card hints at the efficiency of the 4nm Ada GPU quietly thrumming away inside of it. If you want a powerful, but low power card, the RTX 4070 fits the bill. Which will no doubt make it the darling of the small form factor PC brigade, and deservedly so.

That’s certainly one of the benefits I was alluding to earlier in the RTX 4070 vs. RTX 3080 debate, but the key one is the fact the Ada card has access to DLSS 3.0 and Frame Generation. And when that comes into play it’s a game changer, especially for titles that otherwise would struggle at ray-traced 4K settings.

The obvious drawback is that Frame Gen is not widely available. Even so, getting a $100 discount on a cooler, quieter, and far more efficient RTX 3080 has got to feel like a win when you’ve got that extra potential perf bump in the back pocket.

Nvidia RTX 4070 specs

(Image credit: Future)

What’s inside the RTX 4070?

As I mentioned at the top, this is the first RTX 40-series card to pick a pared back GPU as its base from the Ada lineup, which does put it in a different light to the Ampere generation. In the RTX 30-series you had the top-four cards all using the same basic GA102 GPU, but with varying levels of scalped graphics silicon. The RTX 4070, on the other hand, is built from the third different chip of this new Ada generation of GPU architecture.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Header Cell — Column 0	RTX 4070	RTX 3080 10GB
GPU	AD104	GA102
Architecture	Ada Lovelace	Ampere
Lithography	TSMC 4N	Samung 8N
CUDA cores	5888	8704
SMs	46	68
RT Cores	46	68
Tensor Cores	184	272
ROPs	64	96
L2 cache	36864 KB	5242 KB
Boost clock	2,475MHz	1710MHz
Memory	12GB GDDR6X	10GB GDDR6X
Memory interface	192-bit	320-bit
Memory bandwidth	504 GB/s	760 GB/s
Die size	294. 5mm²	628.4mm²
Transistors	35.8B	28.3B
TGP	200W	320W
Price	$599	$699

It uses the same AD104 GPU that shipped with the RTX 4070 Ti but, where that card utilises the full chip’s 60 streaming multiprocessors (SMs), the latest spin of that GPU sports a cut down 46 SMs.

In fact, the GPU specs make it look almost identical to the RTX 3070, which itself had 46 SMs. The RTX 4070 also has the same 5,888 CUDA cores, the same 184 Tensor Cores, and 46 RT cores. The only real difference in the core config is the fact that there are notably fewer render output units (ROPs) in the newer card.

But this isn’t a straight idiomatic fruit vs. idiomatic fruit comparison here; both the new Tensor and Ray Tracing Cores are a generation further on, the newer SMs have had a tweak, and the whole thing is built on TSMC’s advanced 4nm node. That means you get a lot more efficiency out of the chip, but you can also clock the living shit out of it, too.

The RTX 40-series GPUs are generally a full 1GHz quicker than their forebears out of the box.

(Image credit: Nvidia)

The real difference maker isn’t Deep Learning Super Sampling—Ampere’s already got that down—it’s Frame Generation.

Throw in the fact Nvidia has jammed fully nine times more L2 cache into the RTX 4070 than the previous xx70 class card and you can see why those raw config numbers don’t tell the full story.

I’ve gone into greater detail about the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture before, but suffice to say it’s the clock speed and cache differences that separate the two more recent Nvidia graphics card designs.

You are still getting the 192-bit aggregated memory bus used in the RTX 4070 Ti here, and the same 12GB GDDR6X memory attached to it. That still takes some getting used to considering we were getting 256-bit memory buses all the way down to the RTX 3060 Ti in the last generation. Nvidia, however, contends that the huge rise in L2 cache means it doesn’t need such an expensive, large memory bus when it can get the necessary bandwidth without one.

Then there are the more intangible qualities the Ada architecture brings to the table. Namely DLSS 3.0, though that is a bit of a misnomer because the real difference maker isn’t Deep Learning Super Sampling—Ampere’s already got that down—it’s Frame Generation. That’s a piece of graphics wizardry that utilises Ada’s more advanced Optical Flow Accelerator hardware to create entire frames out of thin air.

Ampere has its own optical flow hardware, but not on the same scale, which is why, Nvidia says, it’s only enabling the sheer voodoo of Frame Generation on the RTX 40-series.

Sure, it’s all still based on the GPU technology itself, but is more intangible simply because it’s still software reliant—you don’t get to use Frame Generation on any game, it has to be coded in there.

Nvidia RTX 4070 performance

(Image credit: Future)

How does the RTX 4070 perform?

In the rarefied air of a $599+ graphics card, running at 1080p is a bit of a mug’s game. You can see in just how close the GPUs are in our benchmarks how much of a leveller the lower gaming resolution is. Honestly, it’s worth quickly skipping on, because if you’re intent on running at 1080p there are cheaper GPUs you can buy that will dish out excellent frame rates.

And if you’re into super high 1080p refresh rates you’re going to slashing your in-game graphics settings anyways, so you don’t need to drop $600 on a GPU.

1080p gaming performance

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But there are more and more 240Hz+ gaming monitors rocking 1440p resolutions now, and it’s here that the RTX 4070 is looking really tasty. It’s also here that we do see a few tangible improvements over the standard gaming performance of an RTX 3080, too.

The RTX 4070 is then comfortably ahead of the RTX 3070 Ti it’s ostensibly the Ada upgrade of.

1440p gaming performance

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At 4K it’s a little bit more varied in the RTX 4070 vs. RTX 3080 matchup, with the two cards swapping leads depending on the game. Cyberpunk 2077 aside, they’re always pretty playable frame rates.

4K gaming performance

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PCG test rig

CPU: Intel Core i9 12900K
Motherboard: Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Hero
Cooler: Corsair h200i RGB
RAM: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-5600
Storage: 1TB WD Black SN850, 4TB Sabrent Rocket 4Q
PSU: Seasonic Prime TX 1600W
OS: Windows 11 22h3
Chassis: DimasTech Mini V2
Monitor: Dough Spectrum ES07D03

Our testing is, however, all done without the performance benefits of upscaling in play. We’ve opted for this generation to test with ray tracing options enabled where applicable, but we’re still keen to see the native performance of the different GPUs we’re testing. But it’s still important to see what features such as DLSS, XeSS, and FSR can do to the performance of your chosen card.

After all, if you’ve got the option to use a decent upscaling option there’s almost no reason not to these days.

So, I’ve picked out a few games that have been updated to include the Frame Generation feature upgrade for DLSS 3.0, just to highlight how much of a difference that can make to your gaming experience. It shows that, while the native performance of the RTX 4070 and RTX 3080 are practically the same, in practice the actual experience could be very different.

But Frame Generation isn’t always the answer. I’ve seen for the first time, with my RTX 4070 testing in F1 22, where it’s not actually delivering. At the Quality and Balanced DLSS settings Frame Generation isn’t actually adding frames, and in fact only adds latency. It’s purely on the 4K performance setting that there’s a delta between the feature being on or off with DLSS enabled.

That’s not been the case with any other RTX 40-series GPU I’ve tested, so I wonder if there’s something happening, or not happening here with a lower spec Ada chip. It will be interesting to see if this further replicated when we see mid-range Ada GPUs.

In the other games, however, it does add extra performance, and is a definite value-add. The caveat here is obviously that not all games have DLSS, less still Frame Generation options. But modern games, especially those with ray tracing features, are starting to come around to the dark magic of interpolated AI frames.

DLSS performance

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If Frame Generation can only sometimes highlight the generation gap between the RTX 4070 and RTX 3080, a quick look at the power and efficiency numbers shows what the difference looks like all the time from a systemic point of view. The 4nm Ada architecture is supremely efficient, and impressively light on power demands even when it’s topping 2.6GHz clock speeds.

With an average gaming power draw of just 197W that’s more than 100W less than an RTX 3080 running at full chat, and around 90W less than an RTX 3070 Ti, too.

System performance

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Nvidia RTX 4070 analysis

(Image credit: Future)

What does the RTX 4070 mean for PC gamers?

Were we living in normal times, the idea that two and a bit years after launch you couldn’t get a fourth tier graphics card for at least $100 below its original release price would seem somewhat ludicrous. Which is I guess why I’m tempering some of my excitement over the launch of a new fourth tier graphics card with the same essential gaming performance as the previous generation’s fourth tier GPU.

Damned right we should be getting a card that performs like that for less.

And, with that, the RTX 3080 has been retired.

But there’s nowhere on this planet that you can find an RTX 3080 for $100 below its original MSRP, and coming into that situation the RTX 4070 is actually looking pretty damned good for the money. Even if you’re just looking at the standard raster performance.

We’ve long said that Nvidia must have regretted pricing the $699 RTX 3080 so low given the amounts they were changing hands for over the pandemic and mining-based chip shortages. And now we’re effectively seeing an upgraded RTX 3080 for $100 less than that price.

And, with that, the RTX 3080 has been retired. It’s finally even been removed from Nvidia’s graphics card ‘family’ list.

Throw DLSS 3.0 into the mix, with the black magic of Frame Generation, and you’ve now got a mighty tasty upgrade to what was a fantastic GPU back in the day. And for a good chunk less than you’d have been able to buy it for at any point in the past couple of years. There are a healthy number of games that have gotten the Frame Gen treatment since the RTX 40-series dropped and they’re almost all games that really benefit from that extra frame rate and extra smoothness.

On the whole you’re ending up with great 4K gaming performance on a card that otherwise wouldn’t be able to handle it. Say what you will about the venerable RTX 3080, it’s not a GPU that’s able to cope with top ray-traced settings at 4K in 2023. The RTX 4070, however, absolutely can.

Image 1 of 2

(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

It is maybe a little jarring seeing the price hike over the RTX 3070, however, but Nvidia has been at pains to suggest the new card is more a like-for-like replacement for the RTX 3070 Ti, which was itself priced the same as the RTX 4070 at launch.

On the whole, that extra 20–30% extra standard gaming performance you can get over the RTX 3070 Ti with this card makes it look like a really solid gen-on-gen upgrade, if not exactly spectacular. Again though, it’s DLSS et al that makes the newer card far more than the sum of its rasterised performance.

Where does that leave the AMD-shaped competition? It’s own bluster is based squarely around the fact that its RX 6800 XT—with ostensibly the same level of native performance as the RTX 3080—comes with 16GB of VRAM. Those cards are now around the $550 mark, making them cheaper than an RTX 4070, but they’re hotter, more thirsty, and upscaling makes the difference between 12GB and 16GB less important.

The thrust of it is that AMD needs to get on with releasing its own more affordable RDNA 3 GPUs, because I don’t feel like the last-gen Radeon is cheap enough to sway me away from the RTX 4070. Honestly, even a ~$700 RX 6950 XT wouldn’t grab me right now.

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(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

It is, however, a shame Nvidia is relying on upscaling and interpolation to push this card ahead of the old RTX 3080; I find it hard not to feel like the green team is very much holding back and playing things a little too close to the margins. Enable another couple of SMs in this spin of the AD104 GPU and you could have a card that consistently outperforms the RTX 3080 across the board.

But as upscaling becomes more prevalent, and Frame Generation gains ever more traction, the RTX 4070 is still looking like the best value Ada card around. The only potential detractor from that is the potential of AMD’s own Frame Gen-a-like technology: frame interpolation. If that is, like FSR, released as a GPU-agnostic feature, and can operate well on an RTX 3080, you could see the old card catching up to this new Ada GPU again.

Still, we loved the RTX 3080, so even if Frame Gen’s off the cards, if I can buy a cooler, cheaper, quieter, more efficient upgrade for $100 less I’m certainly in. And Nvidia has stated that it believes it’s got enough $599 cards out there—between Founders Editions and third-party reference cards—to satisfy demand at launch. A bold claim for sure, but if anybody that wants a $599 RTX 4070 can get one that will be an achievement in itself.

Nvidia RTX 4070: Price Comparison

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Dave has been gaming since the days of Zaxxon and Lady Bug on the Colecovision, and code books for the Commodore Vic 20 (Death Race 2000!). He built his first gaming PC at the tender age of 16, and finally finished bug-fixing the Cyrix-based system around a year later. When he dropped it out of the window. He first started writing for Official PlayStation Magazine and Xbox World many decades ago, then moved onto PC Format full-time, then PC Gamer, TechRadar, and T3 among others. Now he’s back, writing about the nightmarish graphics card market, CPUs with more cores than sense, gaming laptops hotter than the sun, and SSDs more capacious than a Cybertruck.

Best GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Cards Available — The Fastest Gaming GPU obtainable (Updated)

The GeForce RTX 4090 is the fastest GPU NVIDIA has as of today. It offers a massive improvement over its predecessor, the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti. It provides better traditional rasterization, ray tracing, and DLSS performance. It’s also more power efficient and has a new DLSS 3 frame generation technology feature. The performance is not the only thing that is doubled. NVIDIA also doubled its video encoder; it now has two AV1 NVENC for faster and better transcoding. It’s not only great for gaming at 4K resolution, but it is also an excellent GPU for content creators. So, if you are in the market for the fastest GPU currently available, check out our list of the best RTX 4090 graphics cards below.

UPDATE: There have been some price adjustments lately to the RTX 4090 cards. Some premium cards got (slightly) better pricing compared to the past few months.

The Best GeForce RTX 4090 Graphics Cards

Starting at $1,600 USD, the GeForce RTX 4090 is not a cheap graphics card. In fact, the XX90 series or the TITAN class was never a value-oriented product in the first place. However, it is the fastest and best GPU that NVIDIA offers to its target market, regardless of the price. Certainly, it’s only a GPU for some. People who buy this, and you know who you are, more or less know what they are getting. They want the fastest GPU for gaming or the best technology currently available, especially if it is used for work and generates income.

In a gist, the GeForce RTX 4090 features 16384 NVIDIA Cuda cores, with 76 billion transistors; paired with 24GB GDDR6X memory running on a 384-bit memory interface. It uses NVIDIA’s latest Ada Lovelace architecture and comes with 3rd generation Ray Tracing Cores and 4th generation Tensor cores. You can check out the rest of its specifications below.

GeForce RTX 4090 Specifications

	RTX 4090	RTX 3090 Ti	RTX 3090
Architecture	Ada Lovelace	Ampere	Ampere
GPU	AD102	GA102	GA102
Fab. Process	TSMC 4N	Samsung 8N	Samsung 8N
Tansistors (Billions)	76.3	28.3	28.3
CUDA Cores	16384	10752	10496
Ray Tracing Cores	128 3rd gen	84 2nd gen	82 2nd gen
Tensor Cores	512 4th gen	336 3rd gen	328 3rd gen
ROPs	176	112	112
TMUs	512	336	328
Boost Clock	2.52 GHz	1.86 GHz	1.7 GHz
Base Clock	2.23 GHz	1.67 GHz	1.4 GHz
Memory Size	24 GB GDDR6X	24 GB GDDR6X	24 GB GDDR6X
Memory Interface	384-bit	384-bit	384-bit
Memory Speed	21 Gbps	21 Gbps	19. 5 Gbps
NVIDIA DLSS ver.	3	2	2
Graphics Card Power	450W	450W	350W
Required PSU	850W	850W	750W
Release Date	October 2022	March 2022	September 2020
Launch Price	$1,599	$1,999	$1,499

All GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards listed below are the best in the market. You simply can’t go wrong with any of them. It just depends on your taste, preference, and budget. They will also perform similarly regardless if it’s an OC or non-OC variant, premium or not-so-premium design. At best, the difference is only 5% (give or take). NVIDIA controls how these graphics cards perform, and they have set a limit. You can get a few more FPS from the premium card, but their difference is negligible and unnoticeable while gaming.

How Fast Is The GeForce RTX 4090?

NVIDIA’s flagship GeForce RTX 4090 is insanely fast. It offers more or less a 60% performance improvement from its predecessor in traditional rasterization alone. In some cases, it is double while near double in others. It varies depending on the game or scenario.

However, with ray tracing and/or DLSS enabled, the RTX 4090 offers significant performance improvement over the RTX 3090 (Ti). And the performance gap just widens further when DLSS 3 Frame Generation technology is enabled, with up to 3x. NVIDIA says it can do up to 4x the performance of an RTX 3090 Ti with DLSS 3, but so far, it’s two to three times faster when DLSS 3 is enabled.

Just a caution. DO NOT buy an RTX 4090 if you are only gaming at 1080p or have a 1080p monitor. Even with the fastest CPU, like the Core i9-13900K or Ryzen 9 7950X, the 1080p resolution will bottleneck the RTX 4090. I’ve seen people complaining about why they got lower performance when they upgraded to an RTX 4090 or 4080. When asked what the resolution of their monitor is, most of them have a 1080p monitor. Again, please do not buy an RTX 4090 graphics card unless you plan to buy a 4K monitor or, at least, an ultrawide 1440p monitor.

Best RTX 4090 Cards Summary

“Cheapest” Or Near MSRP RTX 4090 Graphics Cards

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition

NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition is supposed to be the cheapest RTX 4090 in the market. It comes with an MSRP of $1,600. It features an industrial design with a tested and proven unique cooling solution. It’s also a huge graphics card, like most RTX 4090 graphics cards.

The RTX 4090 Founders Edition is definitely one of the best RTX 4090 cards in the market. Unfortunately, NVIDIA doesn’t have stock of the 4090 FE for several months now. And due to its limited availability, (3rd party) retailers are selling the RTX 4090 Founders Edition at a higher price. You might want to take that chance if you ever spot an RTX 4090 Founders Edition close to its MSRP.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition is available via 3rd party retailers on Amazon.com here.

ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity OC

The Zotac GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity (OC) is one of the cheapest or closest to MSRP RTX 4090 graphics cards in the market. It may be “cheap” compared to other RTX 4090, but it performs similarly. Thanks to its massive heatsink, it runs silently and doesn’t hit 80°C at all. Usually, its temperature plays around 67°C to 78°C, depending on the load, scenario, and the system’s setup.

The Zotac RTX 4090 Trinity OC has a curvy design with RGB lighting on its front side portion. The cooler shroud is entirely made of plastic, which might turn off some people. However, the back plate is all-metal. Zotac also has the AMP Extreme Airo variant, their flagship graphics card model. The Airo model looks more premium with nice RGB lighting. However, it is also slightly more expensive than the Trinity variant.

However, while Zotac’s RTX 4090 cards will perform similarly to the other RTX 4090 cards listed here, it feels bit cheap on hand. This is due to its plastic shroud.

ZOTAC Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Trinity OC is available on Amazon.com here.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC

CAUTION: According to various reports, the PCB of Gigabyte’s RTX 40 series cards is prone to “cracking” due to the size and weight of the graphics card. Unfortunately, there were reports where the manufacturer refused to honor the warranty or denied the RMA request. If you already own any big and chunky graphics card, better use a support or stand to prevent the card from sagging or bending.

Next on the list is from Gigabyte, and it’s their GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC. Gigabyte’s RTX 4090 is chunky and looks blocky. This card will occupy 4 PCI slots easily, so be sure to have enough room. Like Zotac’s Trinity OC, the front cooler shroud is made of plastic, while its back plate is metal. It also has a dual BIOS feature to switch between normal or quiet BIOS.

Because of its slightly larger heatsink, the Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC runs slightly cooler than Zotac’s Trinity OC. Aside from the dual BIOS feature, another unique feature is its middle fan spinning in the opposite direction. This reduces air turbulence that may result in (fan) noise. It also has RGB lightning, but only on the rim portion of the fan. The Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC may not be the best-looking card here, but at least it’s closer to NVIDIA’s MSRP.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC is available on Amazon.com here.

ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 OC

While plastic materials help reduce a product’s cost, sometimes it makes it feel cheap or “plasticky”. And if you are not a fan of that, the Asus TUF Gaming RTX 4090 (OC) is the next graphics card to consider. It’s also one of the better-looking graphics cards on this list. The Asus TUF RTX 4090 has an industrial vibe or feel, but it’s very sturdy and solid on hand. It features a diecast metal “exoskeleton”, military-grade capacitors, and a triple Axial-tech fan design with dual ball bearings. The middle fan spins in the opposite direction to minimize turbulence and maximize airflow.

There is only a small RGB lighting on the rear-front-side for the TUF Gaming logo. Performance-wise, it is similar to the more expensive (but premium) ROG Strix variant, making the TUF Gaming RTX 4090 better in terms of value than the ROG Strix RTX 4090.

Asus TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 is available on Amazon.com here.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio

Up next is the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming (X) Trio. Now, oftentimes this graphics card is slightly cheaper than the TUF RTX 4090. However, depending on the retailer, sometimes it’s cheaper or slightly more expensive than the TUF. So better check out the updated prices first.

The Gaming (X) Trio is not MSI’s flagship graphics card but a top-tier model. While its cooler shroud is made of plastic, it doesn’t feel cheap or plasticky compared to Gigabyte’s or Zotac’s RTX 4090. The back plate is metal, though, and a metal support bracket is placed between the heatsink and PCB. The design looks nice and aesthetically pleasing, and its RGB lighting is also not too aggressive. If you like its design and don’t mind paying a bit extra, the RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio is a great option.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio is available on Amazon.com here.

The “Fastest” RTX 4090 Graphics Cards

Now let’s move on to the more premium RTX 4090 cards in the market. These RTX 4090 graphics cards have better design, beefier VRM and power management, great for overclocking, have excellent built quality, and are simply good to look at. However, these cards are on the expensive side since you are paying for the premium look and design, not so much for the performance.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X

The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X is the company’s flagship graphics card. It is also one of the fastest RTX 4090 cards out of the box. It has a factory overclock boost speed of 2625 MHz and a massive 26+4 power phase design. When it comes to aesthetics, it features an almost all-metal material. Unlike the Gaming X Trio, whose front cooler shroud is plastic, the RTX 4090 SUPRIM X has a metal shroud. Its design is more intricate, with highlights and details not present on the Gaming X Trio. Holding one in hand feels satisfying, as it’s heavy, built like a tank, and screams premium.

Thanks to its beefier VRMs and power design, you can overclock this graphics card easily. However, honestly, I don’t think it’s necessary to overclock it unless you are trying to break a record. It also has additional accessories, like a mousepad and a nice-looking graphics card support holder. Suppose I was torn between the Gaming X Trio and the Suprim X. In that case, I’d go for the Suprim X. While it’s slightly more expensive than the Gaming X Trio, it looks far better, in my opinion.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X is available on Amazon. com here.

ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC

UPDATE: Just a small update. I noticed that the Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090’s price dropped below $2,000. This RTX 4090 card was (usually) selling above $2,000. If ever you see the ROG Strix RTX 4090 go below $2,000 or get closer to the MSRP by the time you visit this page, then I say take the opportunity; because this Asus Strix RTX 4090 card is definitely one of the best RTX 4090 cards available.

Another premium graphics card and one of the best RTX 4090 is the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC. It has a boost clock speed of 2610 MHz, making it one of the fastest RTX 4090 cards out of the box. This graphics card also screams premium with a well-polished design and aesthetics and a massive 24+4 power phase design. Not only that it looks fantastic, but it is also a huge graphics card. It is perhaps one of the largest, if not the largest, RTX 4090 graphics cards.

It has a permanent blue and red accent on its cooler shroud, but it also has RGB lighting on the rear end of the card and the Republic of Gamers logo on the front side. Speaking of its shroud, similar to the TUF RTX 4090, it features a diecast (metal) shroud, frame, and backplate. It also features Asus’ new patented vapor chamber and axial-tech fans.

The ROG Strix RTX 4090 also runs (slightly) cooler than other RTX 4090 cards. If you are looking for a white version of the ROG Strix RTX 4090, you are in luck. Asus also released a white version of their flagship graphics card.

Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC is available on Amazon.com here.
White Asus ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC is available on Amazon.com here.

Best Water-Cooled RTX 4090 Graphics Card

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM Liquid X

As you may have noticed, all RTX 4090 graphics cards in the market are massive and chunky. They take up a lot of space or PCI slots. If you are looking for a water-cooled RTX 4090, MSI has you covered.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X is a water-cooled RTX 4090 with a 240mm radiator. The card itself is also smaller than air-cooled 4090s, measuring only 280mm x 140mm x 43mm, and yes, it is a 2-slot graphics card. This is basically a water-cooled version of the RTX 4090 Suprim X (air-cooled).

While the RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X runs at slightly lower temperatures than an air-cooled RTX 4090, its performance is similar to most RTX 4090, especially the premium ones. So, despite being water-cooled, there’s no noticeable performance improvement compared to an air-cooled RTX 4090. You are paying for its smaller size and lower temperature.

However, since this graphics card has a beefy 26+4 power phase design and a liquid-cooled GPU, there is more room for overclocking. My only concern with water-cooled cards is the potential pump failure, which may or may not happen. So far, I have yet to hear or read of a bad RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM Liquid X is available on Amazon.com here.

Asus ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 4090 (Unobtainable At The Moment)

For those who have a lot of money to burn, Asus announced a comeback of its Matrix branding. At CES 2023, Asus unleashed the ROG Matrix RTX 4090 liquid-cooled graphics card. And unlike your typical liquid-cooled graphics card, the ROG Matrix RTX 4090 features a very unique and elegant-looking water block. It doesn’t look like your typical graphics card, either.

The ROG Matrix RTX 4090 features a larger cold plate for GPU die, VRMs, memory, and a 360 mm radiator with magnetic daisy-chainable fans. Unfortunately, you can’t buy one yet, as it will be available later this year. But expect to pay an exorbitant amount of price for this graphics card. But when it comes to performance, I expect that it would perform somewhat similarly to the ROG Strix RTX 4090 as it uses the same custom PCB design as the ROG Strix.

These are the best GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards available in the market as of to date. If you are torn between an RTX 4090 or RTX 4080, you might want to check out this article comparing the two. It may help you decide which one to get.

Questions About The RTX 4090

What RTX 4090 is the best brand?

Looking at the top brands on the market, most, if not all, are reputable. While I would say that EVGA would be my top choice since their after-market support is excellent, unfortunately, they are out of the graphics card business. MSI, Asus, Zotac, and Gigabyte are great too. They have been in the PC business for several years now. However, even though these are some of the “best brands”, these companies and their products are not infallible.

What RTX 4090 has the best VRM and is excellent for overclocking?

The MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X, Suprim Liquid X, and Asus Strix RTX 4090 OC have the beefiest VRMs and power design, making these graphics cards excellent for overclocking. Zotac’s RTX 4090 AMP Airo also has a massive 24+4 power phase design. But MSI and Asus’ cards feel and look more premium.

What is the best CPU for the RTX 4090?

If you plan to get the fastest graphics card today, it’s only reasonable to pair the RTX 4090 with the best CPU. Honestly, any mid-range to high-end CPU of the current and previous generation would do well for the RTX 4090, especially if you are playing at 4K UHD since it is mostly GPU bound.

However, if you want to maximize everything, the best CPU you can pair with an RTX 4090 are the Intel Core i9-13900K series, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, or Ryzen 9 7950X. These are the current flagship CPUs from each company. Note that the 7950X3D is a gaming/productivity CPU. It’s a bit faster than the 7950X (non-X3D) in gaming, but the 7950X is faster in productivity overall.

What is the best PSU for the RTX 4090?

The minimum power supply requirement for the RTX 4090 is an 850W PSU. If you have an 850W or higher PSU, you can use that, but you need four (separate) 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

If you need to upgrade your PSU or buy a new one, you should get the latest ATX 3.0 and PCIE 5-ready PSUs. These PCIE5 PSUs are built and support the latest 16-pin 12VHPWR connector. So you don’t need to use that ugly adapter that requires 4x 8-pin PCI-E power. You only need one 16-pin 12VHPWR connector native to these PCIE5 PSUs.

I currently use MSI’s PCIE5 PSUs – the MSI MPG A1000G PCIE5 (pReview here) and the more feature-rich MEG Ai1300P PCIE5. Both PSUs work well, and I have not encountered any issues yet.

What case could support the RTX 4090?

There are plenty of chassis or cases that can support the RTX 4090. Some mid-tower cases may support these chunky and beefy graphics cards, but not all. Since most RTX 4090 cards are huge, you will likely have a clearance issue with a mid-tower’s side panel.

Mind the dimensions of the graphics cards I listed above. The safest case that would fit these RTX 4090 cards is a full-tower chassis. They are big and heavy.

Here are some chassis that not only support an RTX 4090 card but also look nice and have plenty of features: the MSI MEG Prospect 700R, HYTE Y60, and Corsair iCUE 5000T. These three are all excellent cases for the RTX 4090. They have their own unique look and set features as well.

TOP-10 best video cards of 2023 price-quality — Rating of models for games from TehnObzor

Author Vasily Hi-tech Reading 18 min 02 Abstract

How to choose a graphics card
Best video cards price-quality in 2023 — TOP-10 rating
ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC
ASRock Radeon RX 6600 Challenger D
MSI Intel Arc A750 ASTRO 2X
Sapphire Radeon RX 6700
PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Hellhound
Palit GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Dual
PowerColor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Dragon
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse
MSI RX 7900 XTX GAMING TRIO CLASSIC
Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom
Best Graphics Card for Gaming 2023
Other Graphics Card Ranking 2023 Value for Money — Video

Want to buy the best graphics card for gaming in 2023 but don’t know which one to pick? We have compiled a rating of video cards in 2023 from the TOP-10 models of different price categories: from the cheapest for playing in Full HD to the top ones in 4K.

A video card (graphic processor) is one of the most important components of any computer, it is on it that performance in games primarily depends. However, choosing the optimal model is not easy, because the stores are full of GeForce and Radeon cards from different manufacturers, such as ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and Sapphire. This TOP video card of 2023 will help you choose the best price-quality video card.

How to choose a graphics card

You don’t need to buy the newest and coolest graphics card to get high frame rates in games — older models that cost much less will work.

What is the best graphics card for PC gaming? New models from Radeon guarantee high performance with traditional rasterization. But when ray tracing is enabled, you should expect noticeably lower frame rates compared to GeForce.

But you can count on the support of FSR technology, which is responsible for image scaling and improves the smoothness of animations. It turns out that the Radeon Chill function, which reduces power consumption, is also useful.

The top graphics cards for gaming in the GeForce RTX series are not as good as the Radeon, but they offer better performance with active ray tracing. The advantage is also support for DLSS technology, which provides the smoothest animations — especially the latest version of DLSS 3.

When buying an Nvidia graphics card, gamers will appreciate the ability to connect monitors with G-Sync technology and for some models with FreeSync. These GPUs also perform very well with software acceleration, making them a great choice for professionals and content creators.

The best video cards price-quality in 2023 — TOP-10 rating

Which video card to choose? To help, we have prepared a list in which we have collected only the TOP video cards 2023 price-quality.

We focused on gamer models, so here you’ll find both more affordable options and fancy designs for professional gamers with fast 1440p and 4K monitors.

2023 Video Card Ranking Table
Model	Size and type of memory	Connection type	Price 9000 7
ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC	4GB GDDR6 64bit	PCI-Express x4 v4.0	from 16 568 rubles.
ASRock Radeon RX 6600 Challenger D	8GB GDDR6 128bit	PCI-Express x8 v4.0
MSI Intel Arc A750 ASTRO 2X	8GB GDDR6 256bit	PCI-Express x16 v4.0	from 30 351 rubles. PCI-Express x16 v4.0	from 40,000 rubles
PowerColor Radeon RX 6700 XT Hellhound	12GB GDDR6 192bit	PCI-Express x16 v4 .0	from 40 923 rubles.
Palit GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Dual	8GB GDDR6 256bit	PCI-Express x16 v4.0 9 0007	from 42 340 rubles
PowerColor Radeon RX 6800 XT Red Dragon	16GB GDDR6 256bit	PCI-Express x16 v4.0	from 68 490 rubles.
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XT Pulse	20GB GDDR6 320bit	PCI-Express x16 v 4.0	from 105 668 rubles.
MSI RX 7900 XTX GAMING TRIO CLASSIC	24 GB GDDR6 384 bit	PCI-Express x16 v4.0
Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom	16GB GDDR6X 256bit	PCI-Express x16 v4 .0	from 107 825 rubles.
Prices are correct as of publication date and subject to change.

What will a good video card give? It’s simple — the better the CPU, the higher the performance. A more powerful card will allow the game to run smoothly at higher resolutions and/or better graphics settings.

You can also expect more frames per second, which will be appreciated by owners of gaming monitors with a high refresh rate. Well, the most powerful video card will become obsolete more slowly, so you won’t have to change it for a long time.

ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC

ASUS TUF Gaming Radeon RX 6500 XT OC is the most budget price-quality video card in our rating.

It allows you to enjoy modern games in Full HD at medium settings, equipped with a Navi 24 (RDNA 2) graphics processor and 4 GB of video memory. Since this is a new model from ASUS, it uses the PCI-Express 4.0 bus — on older PCs with the 3.0 bus version, it will work, but the performance will be lower.

On the other hand, effective semi-passive cooling is used here, and the noise from the fans is almost inaudible. The design is not the most stylish, but given the price, this is not a serious problem.

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