The question we’ve seen being asked and unpacked, in various blogs, might not surprise you: ‘is it worth it?’ And the answer, while frustrating, probably won’t surprise you either: ‘well… that really depends.’
The RTX 4090 is a beast. Stepping up from the 3090, you can expect about a 70% improvement in terms of performance at 4K. If that’s the resolution you demand for your gaming experience, then… ‘Yes, the 4090 is definitely worth it.’
They call it the ultimate GeForce GPU for good reason. It’s more efficient. The AI-powered graphics render exceptional high detail and deliver virtual worlds in real-time to serve up new and exciting levels of immersion.
You probably expected that would be the case. From a quick scan of the specs you can glean that it’s powered by NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture and fitted with 24GB of G6X memory. Then there’s the newly improved resolution upscaling technology, so you can game at unprecedented speed. Lags and stalled loading times are like distant memories to us now. So, the GPU keeps up that standard of playing ray traced games with 4K graphical enhancements. It’s all sounds pretty spot on at this point. The question that invariably crops up next, is: ‘Why shouldn’t I upgrade?’
Well, one issue is the lack of games currently on market to utilise this jump forward in technology. That’s only a temporary problem, but, for now, it’s surely one to consider. Also, you have to factor in the isolation that comes from being in a niche of those few who actually operate at the GeForce RTX 4090’s level.
The display support for this iteration is up to 7680 x 4320 and can be played across four monitors (if you want to feel like you’re at the helm of the Starship Enterprise). Performance wise you can’t fault it. The 4090 powers such impressive frame rates that you really need a 4K monitor to get your money’s worth (preferably one with a refresh rate below 144Hz). It’s designed to increase frame rates and hit the highest graphics preset on most games. Really, it leaves the 3080/90 to eat dust in this regard. The card is ideal for creators who need up to 8K video editing capabilities too.
All this comes at a cost though. The RTX 4090 loves power – it can’t get enough of it – that’s why the adapter needs four long cables and winds up guzzling at least a 1000W power supply. In this, and other ways, you might say it was impractical for most gamers out there. You won’t just need a big enough budget to wrangle the 4090, but you’ll also need a high refresh rate 4K monitor and a great deal of patience when it comes to cable management. Granted, DLSS 3 is only accommodated by a handful of games as well.
So, in answer to that initial question… ‘yes, the 4090 is worth it, but only if you can’t live without ray tracing 4K content and want to play at optimum speeds and resolution with extra frames to spare’.
You can buy the RTX 4090 now for around £904. There’s also the option to pick up Nvidia’s other 40-series cards: RTX 4080 – 16GB (£678) and RTX 4080 – 12GB (£508), which are both released in November 2022…