GTX vs RTX | What’s the Difference? Which is Better?
Nvidia’s RTX Series of Graphics Cards are definitely a top pick for gaming and other productivity. They are currently in their second generation (at the time of writing this guide), with the new one just up the horizon. Exciting times. But a couple of years ago, it was the time for GTX Series. Even though Nvidia launched GTX all the way back in 2008, we believe the GTX 9 and 10 Series were the epitomai. But what exactly are the differences between GTX and RTX? How does the performance of GTX vs RTX compare?
And the important question is, which one should you buy? Welcome to the beginner’s guide to GTX vs RTX. Here, we will see all the glory details of Nvidia’s current and previous “mainstream” graphics cards.
Outline
A Brief Note on GTX
Nvidia has been making graphics cards forever but it started the “GTX” branding only in 2008 when it launched the GeForce GTX 260 and GTX 280 Graphics Cards. So, what does GTX stand for?
GTX means Giga Texel Shader Extreme. Here, two terms “Texel” and “Shader” are very important. We know a pixel is the smallest element of an image. Similarly, a Texel is the fundamental element of a Texture Map, which is the image applied to the surface of a polygon in graphic design.
In the world of digital computing, special graphics processing units or GPUs do the job of mapping the texels to pixels and producing a 3D image.
Before GTX, Nvidia had similar technology and called it GT (Giga Texel), GTS (Giga Texel Shader), and others. But the GTX (sometimes GTS) series had a huge improvement in the geometric shading process.
Right, we forgot about Shader. Shading is the process of calculating the amount of light, color, and darkness while rendering a 3D image. The “software” that does this job is the Shader.
Enough technical blabber. Coming to GTX stuff from Nvidia, you might remember the GTX 1080, GTX 1070, and even the most recent GTX 1650 and GTX 1660. All these cards essentially contain an upgraded version of the GTX technology.
Some popular GTX Graphics Cards from the recent past are:
- GTX 1050
- GTX 1050 Ti
- GTX 1060
- GTX 1060 Ti
- GTX 1070
- GTX 1070 Ti
- GTX 1080
- GTX 1080 Ti
- GTX 1650
- GTX 1650 Ti
- GTX 1660
- GTX 1660 Ti
With the technology continuously evolving, Nvidia moved on from the GTX technology to the much superior RTX Technology, starting with the RTX 20 Series of Graphics Cards. On that note let us jump to RTX.
A Brief Note on RTX
RTX stands for Ray Tracing Texel Extreme. Here, the important term is “Ray Tracing”. We previously talked about Shaders. Ray Tracing is an advanced technique for modeling optical effects such as shadows, reflections, refractions, light scattering, and many more.
The concept of ray tracing is very old but the “hardware” to implement this in real-time started with Nvidia’s RTX Series of GPUs.
In late 2018, Nvidia released RTX 2080, the first graphics card to support ray tracing.
It blew the world away. With a 75% performance to the previous GTX 1080 GPU and dedicated Ray Tracing cores in the GPU, the RTX 2080 was a revolution in the graphics world.
It took some time for the developers (games, rendering, and other productivity) to fully utilize the Ray Tracing capabilities of the RTX graphics cards. But everyone was delighted at the direction where the modern “graphics” technology was going.
After the success of the original RTX 20 Series of GPUs, Nvidia upped their game a couple of later with the RTX 30 Series. And boy did it deliver.
They had a significant performance gain over the RTX 20 Series, with many tech reviewers calling the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti the fastest consumer GPUs ever.
Here is a list of some RTX Graphics Cards from Nvidia:
- RTX 2060
- RTX 2070
- RTX 2080
- RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX 3050
- RTX 3050 Ti
- RTX 3060
- RTX 3060 Ti
- RTX 3070
- RTX 3070 Ti
- RTX 3080
- RTX 3080 Ti
- RTX 3090
- RTX 3090 Ti
Differences: GTX vs RTX
Alright.
Now that we have seen the basics of GTX and RTX, let us move on to their differences. Both of them are a series of graphics cards from Nvidia. The GeForce GTX Series started in 2008 with GTX 200 Series and lasted till 2018 – 2019 with GTX 10 and GTX 16 Series.
Coming to the RTX, it is the latest technology from Nvidia that focuses on the Ray Tracing capabilities of the GPU core. Nvidia first launched the RTX GPUs in 2018 with the RTX 20 Series.
It is currently in its second generation with the RTX 30 Series (at the time of writing this comparison guide). Soon, Nvidia is going to launch its latest and even more powerful RTX 40 Series of GPUs.
Is Ray Tracing the only difference between GTX and RTX GPUs? No. Another main difference between them is DLSS.
Short for Deep Learning Super Sampling, DLSS is a real-time deep learning technology from Nvidia that helps in image enhancement and upscaling.
Both RTX 20 and 30 series of GPUs have dedicated AI Cores known as Tensor built into the GPU.
Comparison of GTX vs RTX Graphics Cards
Let us see a couple of GTX vs RTX comparison tables. The first one is a generic comparison while the second table compares RTX 20 Series with GTX 10 Series.
| Parameter | GTX | RTX |
| Full Form | Giga Texel Shader Extreme | Ray Tracing Texel Extreme |
| Timeline | 2008 to 2019 | 2018 to present |
| Developer | Nvidia | Nvidia |
| DLSS | No | Yes |
| Ray Tracing | No | Yes |
| AI Upscaling | No | Yes. Using Tensor Cores. |
| Cost | Less expensive | Expensive |
| Parameter | GTX 10 Series | RTX 20 Series |
| Architecture | Pascal | Turing |
| Ray Tracing | No | Yes |
| VR Ready | Partial. GTX 1060 or higher. |
Yes |
| DLSS | No | Yes |
| NVENC | No | Yes |
| AI Upscaling (Tensor Cores) | No | Yes |
| Adaptive Shading | No | Yes |
Which One to Buy? GTX or RTX
From the above discussion, it is clear that Nvidia’s GTX Series is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Even though they are still releasing GTX Graphics Cards (either for desktop or laptop), the RTX is a much better choice.
For instance, the entry-level card in RTX 20 Series i.e., the RTX 2060 can outperform the high-end card of the GTX 10 Series i.e., the GTX 1080. You can imagine what the RTX 30 Series and the upcoming RTX 40 Series GPUs can do.
If you are looking for a graphics card right now, we recommend an RTX 30 Series GPU. Even though they are expensive (but looks like the prices are coming down), the performance they offer is significantly better.
Conclusion
Nvidia is an industry leader in the world of Graphics Cards. There are two main series of GPUs for them: GTX and RTX.
In this guide, we saw the basics of GTX and RTX graphics cards. After that, we also saw the differences and a comparison of GTX vs RTX GPUs.
Finally, we ended the guide by choosing one series over the other (you can guess which one we recommended).
GPU Specs, Prices, and FPS in Games
Refine results to filter 346 graphics cards by performance, release date, price, and value. Click on a GPU to view more in-depth specifications and game FPS.
Calculation Parameters
Processor
Resolution
Select game resolution
Graphics Settings
Select game graphics
Sort By
Popularity
Filters
Performance Rating
Value Rating
GPU Type
Desktop
25
Mobile
0
Integrated
0
Found 346 GPUs.
Popularity
Graphics Card
Performance
GeForce RTX 4090
Sep 20th, 2022
Performance Rating
$1,874.95 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 3060
Jan 12th, 2021
Performance Rating
$379.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6600
Oct 13th, 2021
Performance Rating
$249.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
Dec 1st, 2020
Performance Rating
$459.2 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6700 XT
Mar 3rd, 2021
Performance Rating
$389.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 7900 XTX
Nov 3rd, 2022
Performance Rating
$1,079.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
Oct 29th, 2019
Performance Rating
$244.85 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 2060
Jan 7th, 2019
Performance Rating
$279.
88 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 3070
Sep 1st, 2020
Performance Rating
$474.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6400
Jan 19th, 2022
Performance Rating
$137.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 3050
Jan 4th, 2022
Performance Rating
$299.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 4080
Sep 20th, 2022
Performance Rating
$1,294.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
Jan 3rd, 2023
Performance Rating
$899.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6800 XT
Oct 28th, 2020
Performance Rating
$599 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 550
Apr 20th, 2017
Performance Rating
$108.79 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GT 1030
May 17th, 2017
Performance Rating
$79.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GT 730
Jun 18th, 2014
Performance Rating
$79.
66 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6700
Jun 9th, 2021
Performance Rating
$329.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6500 XT
Jan 19th, 2022
Performance Rating
$164.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6800
Oct 28th, 2020
Performance Rating
$479.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6750 XT
Mar 3rd, 2022
Performance Rating
$449.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GTX 1650
Apr 23rd, 2019
Performance Rating
$199.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
Oct 25th, 2016
Performance Rating
$179.99 on Amazon
In Stock
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Feb 22nd, 2019
Performance Rating
$224.99 on Amazon
In Stock
Radeon RX 6950 XT
May 10th, 2022
Performance Rating
$879.99 on Amazon
In Stock
- Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- .
.. - 12
- 13
- 14
- Next
GeekBench 5 CUDA — the result of testing video cards in the benchmark －O－Comparison of video cards in terms of power and performance
As you know, each generation of video cards for laptops is very different from the previous ones. Comparison of video cards from different manufacturers based on the results of the test in the GeekBench 5 CUDA program will give you the opportunity to choose the right model. Check out the possibilities without downloading the program: the results are available online in the table. The rating of built-in video cards from laptops will allow you to navigate. Also consider additional nuances:
— What is the best graphics card for a budget laptop?
— What is the worst video card?
— How to choose a laptop with a discrete graphics card?
— Which graphics cards are the most powerful?
— How to determine the performance of a video card?
We bring to your attention a rating of all models of budget gaming video cards for laptops from different manufacturers.
We considered both discrete and built-in, both mobile and stationary. nine0003
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
238123
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
235513
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
202162
nine0002
NVIDIA RTX A5000
191194
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
149740
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti
128321
NVIDIA RTX A4000
nine0003
122992
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
NVIDIA RTX A2000
NVIDIA RTX A2000 Laptop GPU
NVIDIA T1000
nine0003
NVIDIA Tesla M40
NVIDIA GeForce MX450
NVIDIA T600
NVIDIA T400
nine0002
NVIDIA Tesla K40m
New AMD Radeon graphics cards compared with Xbox Series and GeForce RTX 4080
AMD cleverly used the features of the huge NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 when promoting video cards.
The journalists decided to compare their sizes
nine0002 Modern NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards are impressive in size. AMD made it clear that with the size of the Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX, things would not be so bad.
Journalists decided to compare AMD video cards with NVIDIA products and not only. Indeed, AMD video cards are slightly more compact.
If in the case of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT the difference is clearly visible, then the AMD RX 7900 XTX is quite comparable to the Xbox Series S.
nine0002 The new AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX graphics cards are expected to go on sale on December 13th.
2022-12-09 14:29:45
Boris Piletsky
Inside: Diablo 4 in production hell, the game was required to be released in some form and hard content was cut
Ubisoft scammed Anno 1800 buyers on Steam 4 years ago.
Now they are criticizing the company for a bad return to Valve
News
Publications
Space torture. Overview
Space has always attracted mankind, who understood that the Earth is only a temporary shelter. A green planet cannot always remain home to billions of individuals mercilessly pumping out resources, polluting the soil and poisoning the atmosphere. The authors of Ixion offer their vision of the near future, where the descendants of Adam made an irreparable mistake, putting themselves on the brink of extinction. nine0003
The price is out of competition. Gaming laptop Lyambda LLT173M01DJNS-BK
The Lyambda brand is familiar to the public for watch straps, smartphone cases, chargers, power banks and other little things. Recently, PCs have also appeared under this brand, both desktop (monoblock) and portable (laptops), and in this last mobile category, the range includes six different models with 12th generation Intel processors from Core i5 to Core i9.
The perfect remake. Dead Space Remake review
Skepticism, unconvincing previews, rivalry with The Callisto Protocol — a remake of the cult Dead Space from Electronic Arts could not turn out good! It seems that all the fans thought about it. But something, fortunately, went wrong and in the end we have an exemplary project.
Already today! How AI is replacing game developers
nine0073
Artificial intelligence learned how to make games. So far, these are text quests, but the army of ordinary game developers has tensed up. Artists are already ready to raise an uprising against robots. Scriptwriters and programmers are looking at artificial intelligence as a competitor. We, the players, are interested in something else. And will the games created by AI be better than those offered to us today by people?
The standard of horror.
