The Next-Gen is Here: RTX 4090 & 4080 GPUs announced by Nvidia

Introduction

Today marks the official announcement of Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPUs. The RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 are to be officially released on the 12th of October following months of speculation . The RTX 4090 will be available on October 12th for $1,599, while the RTX 4080 will go on sale in November starting at $899. The next-generation Ada Lovelace architecture from Nvidia powers both.

RTX 4090 Specifications. Image via Nvidia

Specifications

The RTX 4090 will pack a colossal 24GB GDDR6X memory and it will be 200% - 400% times faster than its predecessor the RTX 3090 Ti while using the same amount of power. Nvidia has recommended an 850W PSU alongside a Ryzen 5900X CPU at the least.

The RTX 4090 houses 16,384 CUDA Cores, a 2.23GHz base clock with a boost capability of up to 2.52GHz, 1,321 Tensor, 191 Ray Tracing and 83 Shader-TFLOPs. 

The RTX 4080 is being offered variations, one with 12GB of GDDR6X memory and the other with 16GB of GDDR6X memory. According to Nvidia, these variations are 2-4 times faster than the RTX 3080 Ti.With a starting price of $899, the 12GB model has 7,680 CUDA Cores, a base frequency of 2.31GHz that can expanded to 2.61GHz, 639 Tensor, 92 Ray Tracing and 40 Shader TFLOPs.

RTX 4080 Specifications. Image via Nvidia

The 16 GB version of the RTX 4080 comes with 9,728 CUDA Cores, a 2.21GHz base clock that can be increased to 2.51GHz, 780 Tensor, 113 Ray Tracing, and 49 Shader TFLOPs and prices start at $1,199. A power source of at least 700 watts is needed for the 12GB RTX 4080 variant, and at least 750 watts is required for the 16GB model. In November, the two RTX 4080 variants will go on sale.

These next-gen RTX 40-series cards will offer Nvidia Shadow Play, which enables gamers to record games at up to 8K resolution and 60 frames per second in HDR. Additionally, Nvidia is utilizing its most recent NVENC encoders, which will be better suited towards the encoding of livestreams.

Nvidia RTX 4090 from AIBs

In the absence of Nvidia's own Founders Edition graphics cards, the new RTX launch would not be complete. The graphics cards with its own internal design, the GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 (16GB), will be sold by Nvidia. 

Nvidia Technical marketer Andrew Burnes stated the following,

For our new GeForce RTX 40 Series Founders Edition graphics cards, we’ve further optimized the Dual Axial Flow Through system, increasing fan sizes and fin volume by 10%, and upgrading to a 23-phase power supply - memory temperatures are reduced, and the new, substantially more powerful Ada GPUs are kept cool in ventilated cases, giving gamers excellent overclocking headroom.

Instead of using the unique method it developed for its own RTX 30-series Founders Edition GPUs, Nvidia is supporting the PCIe Gen-5 16-pin connection with its own RTX 40-series cards. It also powers 40-series cards with a single cable, but you can also connect three 8-pin power connectors with the adaptor that comes in the package. In fact, Nvidia advises connecting a fourth one for additional overclocking space.

Ada Lace Architecture. Image via Nvidia

In October, ATX 3.0 power supplies from Asus, Cooler Master, FSP, Gigabyte, iBuyPower, MSI, and Thermaltake will go on sale. These supplies will come with native compatibility for PCIe Gen-5 16-pin connections. Soon, further versions are anticipated from other manufacturers as well.

The third generation of RTX that drives the RTX 4080 and RTX 3090 is called Ada Lovelace after the English mathematician and author. It is intended to enable Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) 3 and significantly enhance ray tracing.

Today, Nvidia unveiled Racer RTX, a simulation of an off-road kart racing game, as the first demonstration of its third-generation Ada Lovelace RTX architecture. One Ada Lovelace GPU, manufactured by TSMC using a 4nm technology, provided power for the Racer RTX demo.

Third-generation RT cores are another feature of Ada Lovelace that are intended to significantly enhance ray tracing. A new DLSS 3 AI that analyses the new frame and the previous frame to determine how game scenes are evolving is responsible for some of the improvements.

Nvidia RTX 4090 Founder's Edition. Image via Nvidia

More than 35 games and applications will support DLSS 3, according to Nvidia, with the first titles supporting it in October. As Nvidia releases the RTX 4090 and two variants of the RTX 4080 in the upcoming months, we'll need to put all of the company's boasts to the test.

Nvidia and the GPU market as a whole are facing difficulties at the time of the RTX 40-series card introduction. The crypto crisis has reduced GPU demand, and more recently, the predominance of GPU-based crypto mining has fallen as a result of Ethereum switching to proof of stake. In its most recent reports, Nvidia saw a startling $1 billion decline in gaming sales.

Nvidia RTX 4090 Founder's Edition. Image via Nvidia

Conclusion

While the Founders Edition graphics cards from Nvidia are the main focus of the company's introduction, other GPUs from hardware partners including Asus, Colorful, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, INNO3D, MSI, Palit, PNY, and Zotac will also be available alongside them. The Nvidia CPUs in these third-party GPU models are the same, although they might be set up differently and have various cooling. But don't count on seeing RTX 40-series GPUs from EVGA, which recently declared it will stop producing Nvidia graphics cards due to the chip maker's unsatisfactory conduct.

Although its replacement is official, older RTX 30-series GPUs will probably continue to be sold for some time. Nvidia acknowledged earlier this year that its GPU production had exceeded targets and had to lower retail prices as a result of the surplus stock.