Nvidia’s greatest competitors usually comes from—look forward to it—Nvidia itself! It’s solely pure that the latest, strongest two choices from Team Green pique the pursuits of players throughout the realm. 

Sure, the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 share the identical Ada Lovelace DNA, DLSS 3, and even the chunky cooler measurement. If we dig deeper, nevertheless, the 2 GPUs are extra totally different than you may suppose.

We’ll go over what that you must know in the event you’re evaluating these graphical powerhouses, together with value, availability, and efficiency. Whichever route you’re taking, we’re certain you’re going to be seeing a few of the highest (and prettiest!) frames ever.

Nvidia RTX 4090 vs. RTX 4080: Price and availability

While the GeForce RTX 4090’s MSRP of $1,599 is $400 greater than the $1,199 RTX 4080 on paper, the actual world tells us a special story. Here’s the kicker: GPU availability is way improved in 2022, however it’s nonetheless a critical difficulty for the RTX 4090. 

The RTX 4090 has been perpetually bought out since its launch, a well-recognized state of affairs to anybody who tried to purchase a GPU in 2021. Thus, its avenue value is commonly increased on the secondary market. It’s the costliest GPU out now, however it additionally bought out the quickest—Nvidia has its cake and is consuming it too! 

The RTX 4080, alternatively, has been shipped in much less quantity, however it’s extra accessible, satirically. This is as a result of it presents tremendously poor worth for the efficiency you’re getting, as PCWorld government editor Brad Chacos identified in his GeForce RTX 4080 summary. (Nvidia asking for $500 over the RTX 3080’s MSRP is a bit a lot to abdomen!)  

Thus, the RTX 4090 loses on availability particularly as a result of it wins out on price-to-performance. Yes, even at $1,599. That’s the bizarre 2022 GPU universe we’ve landed in! To be honest, it does pack a critical punch that no different GPU can high at present, by a large margin.

Nvidia RTX 4090 vs. RTX 4080: Performance

The GeForce RTX 4090 is brutally, futuristically highly effective. Ray tracing, content material creation, no matter you throw at it—it chews up. No-compromises excessive refresh-rate 4K gaming permits it to place us actually on the subsequent airplane of efficiency. 

It’s a troublesome act to comply with, and the RTX 4080 has an uphill battle. Starting with its 16GB of VRAM versus the 4090’s 24GB of VRAM, the specs inform lots of the story. In observe, most players will do exactly wonderful with 16GB of VRAM, particularly because it’s nonetheless the very quick GDDR6X selection just like the RTX 4090 has. Content creators, although, may make higher use of 24GB of VRAM, with one’s use case being the figuring out issue relating to reminiscence capability.

Brad Chacos

The synopsis introduced in Brad Chacos’s overview of the RTX 4080 reveals how massive of an averaged-out lead the RTX 4090 has in 4K rasterized efficiency. Now all of the “Price to Performance” discuss begins to make sense in favor of the RTX 4090!

Brad Chacos

Let’s have a look at some particular examples, beginning with the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The RTX 4090 has a big lead in any respect resolutions, even 4K—by a whopping 34fps! If you’re gaming on a 4K 144Hz monitor, the RTX 4090 will come closest to profiting from it. Truth be advised, nevertheless, 98fps on the RTX 4080 continues to be spectacular and also you’re not prone to discover the distinction in most sensible conditions.

Brad Chacos

Looking at Gears Tactics, we discover a potential downside with the RTX 4090: CPU bottlenecks. Past GPUs, even high-end ones, solely used to come across vital CPU bottlenecking points at 1080p decision, and infrequently at 1440p. Here, we see the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 with related 1440p body charges because of the CPU’s uncooked may changing into a difficulty. While 4K usually focuses closely on GPU solely, the RTX 4090 pushes so laborious that the CPU can develop into an issue! In Gears, whereas the 4090 breezes previous the 4080, we discovered it CPU-bound seven p.c of the time even at lofty 4K decision.

What’s one to do? Well, in the event you’re choosing the RTX 4090, you ought to be enjoying at 4K or no less than very high-refresh 1440p at a minimal. If the latter, you’ll want a top-of-the-line, ultra-fast gaming CPU just like the Intel Core i9-13900K, AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, or Ryzen 7 5800X3D to bypass potential efficiency bottlenecks. The GeForce RTX 4080 can nonetheless have these points in some circumstances at 1440p, however they’re a lot much less noticeable.

Brad Chacos

One of the most important attracts to RTX 40-series efficiency might be in Nvidia’s DLSS flavors, primarily DLSS 3 and its killer Frame Generation feature. While not each sport helps this, those that do, akin to Flight Simulator 2020, have nice uplifts in efficiency. The RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 each have very highly effective {hardware} inbuilt to do that, however the RTX 4090 has a giant spec benefit that offers it the outright lead when pushed laborious.  

Why is DLSS essential? Ray tracing is a giant motive—which historically offers GPUs a efficiency penalty. With DLSS, you possibly can have each superior visuals and better frames. (The stuff goals are fabricated from!) 

Looking at Cyberpunk 2077, we will go from 42.3 frames at 4K with ray tracing, to a whopping 83.9 with DLSS on the RTX 4090—and that’s not even with DLSS 3 Frame Gen on, which despatched efficiency skyrocketing to 138fps in our testing. The RTX 4080 brings its 29.1fps to 47.9fps. Sure, it’s underneath 60fps, however it’s nonetheless playable in comparison with underneath 30fps with out DLSS. (It’s price noting our exams additionally set ray tracing settings to extremely, and decreasing these to High can enhance efficiency tremendously.) 

There’s little doubt that right here the RTX 4090 may be very far forward with ray tracing over the RTX 4080, partly due to its {hardware} benefit. 83fps in comparison with 47fps is a giant distinction that you could actually really feel, placing the RTX 4090 actually in a category of its personal.

Adam Taylor

In content creation both the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 show to be very highly effective. There could also be a barely totally different “price-to-performance” mindset in the event you’re a content material creator, for the reason that RTX 4080 could be wonderful even when in comparison with the RTX 4090 relying in your use case. In gaming, nevertheless, the RTX 4090 nonetheless takes the cake by a a lot wider margin—particularly in the event you want its blazing-fast 24GB of GDDR6X reminiscence for high-resolution video exports.

Nvidia RTX 4090 vs. RTX 4080: Power and different issues to know

When you consider power-efficient GPUs, the very last thing that pops into your thoughts is a four-slot RTX 4090, proper? Well, what if I advised you it has the identical 450W TDP because the RTX 3090 Ti, however with oodles extra efficiency? Likewise, the RTX 4080 has a TDP of 320W however is significantly extra highly effective than its predecessors. More efficiency, similar energy. If that’s not effectivity, I don’t know what’s! 

Of course, we have to point out the RTX 4090 12VHPWR adapter and its well-publicized soften down points. To sum it up, don’t fear about it. There was a really low incidence charge, and the trigger got here right down to principally consumer error in connecting the adapter. (Make certain you push all of it the way in which in!) There are different issues to bear in mind, akin to not bending the cable an excessive amount of—which generally is a downside on the very thick RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 in lots of PC circumstances. Since they usually share related coolers, they’re about the identical when it comes to case necessities, too. 

Thiago Trevisan

The advantage of these outsized monsters is that each usually have wonderful thermals because of the coolers, and quiet operation. Coil whine can nonetheless be a difficulty on each GPUS, nevertheless, in the event you’re unfortunate. 

Nvidia RTX 4090 vs RTX 4080: The verdict

In the top, it’s laborious to say, “Just get the $1,599 GPU!” prefer it’s an informal resolution. We can discuss how and why we acquired right here—however it’s the truth of the scenario.

If you will have a giant GPU price range that may cowl a GeForce RTX 4090, and if you will discover one, it’s the apparent alternative. The efficiency is just unmatched. It will open up new gaming experiences for you which have by no means earlier than been potential. 4K 144Hz? Ray tracing? We’re right here!

The RTX 4080, value apart, shouldn’t be a foul GPU. It has nice efficiency, thermals, and next-gen DLSS 3 with the second-best ray tracing efficiency. Not too shabby. It’s additionally not notably energy hungry both. Unfortunately, we will’t put “price aside” completely, and its wildly costly for what you’re getting so far as gaming goes. Content creators might discover the RTX 4080 suits them nicely on their use case, nevertheless, so their “math” could also be barely extra constructive than for simply gaming functions. For gaming, the RTX 4090 is it, although! 

The RTX 4080’s atrocious value makes the RTX 4090 actually appear to be a a lot better choice, with the least compromises. Hats off to you, GeForce RTX 4090, our winner!