Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Ti vs RTX 3090: Which Is For You?
Remember when 3D gaming was a huge deal? 32-bit and 64-bit limits trends were shattered as the first 3D games landed just before the turn of the century.
At that point, no one could have predicted just how far we’d go in two short decades.
Today, the graphical capabilities of modern video games and high-end gaming computers are astonishing. These visuals can easily rival films and sometimes even blur the line between reality and video games.
Some game images (UI withstanding) look just like real-world photographs and flow at impressive frame rates. Could you tell the difference with that many pixels?
The latest and greatest in gaming graphics technology comes through Nvidia’s RTX GPUs, most notably the RTX 3080 Ti and Nvidia Geforce RTX 3090. These models were preceded by the immensely popular RTX 3060 and RTX 3070, both of which are far behind their replacements in terms of memory speed, lite hash rate cores, clock speed, and other key specs.
Unless you’ve been keeping a close eye on GPU development, you’re probably wondering what the differences are between these new models. They’re both fairly costly, and produce excellent graphics, so how are we supposed to choose?
Questions like that are the topic of our WTFast guide today. We’re here to help you navigate the newest GPUs from Nvidia’s Geforce project and decide which is right for you, or whether you should look elsewhere for gaming upgrades.
Let’s get started.
Understanding the Different Nvidia GPUs
Whether you’re new to the world of GPUs and performance benchmarks or fairly well versed, this useful introduction will provide the necessary context when choosing the right GPU for you.
The first thing to note is that while there are some competitors — including AMD, MSI, and Intel — Nvidia is well established as the most dominant force in GPU technology and often leads the pack both in terms of popularity and performance. The Gigabyte AMD Radeon RX series is sometimes touted as a worthy alternative to NVIDIA’s RTX series, but NVIDIA definitely takes the cake in terms of clout.
Nvidia’s Geforce GPUs are split between two popular styles: GTX and RTX.
The Giga Texel Tracer Extreme (GTX) is the older and generally less powerful kind, but these GPUs are still incredibly popular today (but more on that later).
On the other hand, Ray Tracing Texel eXtreme (RTX) graphics cards are newer and crank up performance capabilities in general, but especially through two major features: Ray Tracing and DLSS 2.0.
What New Features Do RTX GPUs Offer?
You’ve probably heard of ray tracing before, even if you’re not sure what it is. Ray tracing is something of a gaming buzzword, but does it actually live up to the hype?
The technology essentially allows games to achieve better lighting by keeping track of light rays in real-time to create more realistic, responsive light and shadow. Games with ray tracing often resemble high-quality animation or cinema.
Okay, but are we really going to notice the difference? This is one of those situations where the less you notice it, the better it’s doing. The goal of ray tracing is to increase immersion and make your experience more seamless.
You’re unlikely to say something like, “Wow, that shadow looked so good!” But the fact that you won’t be noticing any strange shadows or disappointing light scenes can definitely improve your experience, especially combined with all other factors in the most beautiful, cinematic games.
DLSS 2.0 is a little less well-known, but equally (or perhaps even more) important to your experience. Essentially, this technology uses deep learning AI to upscale your games, allowing you to experience games in resolutions such as 4K at 60 FPS or greater.
Is an RTX Right For Me?
While RTX cards are obviously newer, flashier, and performance-packed, many gamers may not even be able to take full advantage of their best features. With the high price tags and low inventory attached to these cards, many are left asking whether an RTX is right for them.
Every situation is different, and your personal assessments of your own budget and what level of graphical capability you’re looking for will be two major factors in your ultimate decision. However, below are some additional questions to consider.
Do Your Games Need Ray Tracing or DLSS 2.0?
The first thing to note is that not every game is compatible with ray tracing and DLSS 2.0. That’s not to say you won’t be able to play these games with a ray tracing-enabled card, there just won’t be an added benefit compared to using a less powerful (and cheaper) card.
Do a quick search to check out whether your favorite games will benefit from upgrading to an RTX, or if that extra cash will be better spent elsewhere.
Are Graphics Upgrades Worth Possible Performance Downgrades?
When the graphical capabilities of a better card are increased, it can sometimes come with a relative decrease in performance.
Basically, if you’re playing highly competitive real-time games, you may not want to use cranked-up graphics to ensure you get the best FPS, response time, and lag-free gaming possible.
An RTX could optimize your performance depending on the game, but the small differences may not be worth the large jump in cost. For online multiplayer gaming, a GTX 16 series — or at most an RTX 20 series supplemented by our WTFast GPN — can offer a top-quality experience at a lower cost than the newest GPU alone.
Do You Have the Right Display?
4K gaming at acceptable FPS is one of the biggest draws of RTX GPUs, but of course, you won’t be able to benefit unless your monitor or display of choice has 4K capabilities.
While 4K displays are much more affordable today than they were just a few years ago, upgrading your monitor should be considered into your budget decisions if you’re thinking of going from an older GPU to an RTX and hoping to take full advantage of the added power and features.
Comparing the RTX 3080 Ti vs. the RTX 3090
Zooming in a bit closer on RTX cards specifically, we’ll find that they actually come in two different series: the RTX 20 series and the RTX 30 series. Despite sharing their core prefix, the differences are significant since the 20s and 30s use a completely different core architecture.
RTX 30 series cards use the latest Ampere architecture, compared to the Turing architecture used in RTX 20 series cards and GTX 16 series cards. While Turing was a powerful improvement in its time, Ampere offers vastly greater capability for multitasking.
RTX 30s are top-of-the-line if you want to optimize your graphics power. Looking at the two newest models in the 30 series, however, we don’t see a lot of tangible differences for real-world gaming.
Stats for the two models are surprisingly close, except in one category. The most significant difference is in memory, where the 3090 doubles the 3080 from 12 GB to 24 GB. Essentially, this is going to allow the 3090 to handle more tasks at once efficiently.
However, most gamers have no real need for that much memory — and no capacity to take advantage of it. The 3090 is the top choice for industrial uses: game developers, data centers, etc. Plus, these two models have the same amount of CUDA cores for processing.
Most of the differences between the two are small: an HDMI port, Founders Edition features, base clock speed, and the capacity to mine Ethereum are all relatively superficial differences.
For the casual gamer, picking up a 3080 at a much lower cost is likely the better option. Actually, going back to the 20 series or a GTX 16 series is just as viable, particularly if you’re on a budget.
Which GPU Should I Choose?
We’re going to cover one last major consideration before you make your decision. Having covered pretty much all the most important factors in terms of the actual graphics cards, it’s also important to be aware of the current market conditions.
Even if you’re new to the computer gaming world, you’ve probably heard about the GPU shortage. In fact, it’s not just a GPU issue — the automobile industry and more are also suffering.
Unfortunately, complex circumstances have led to a worldwide shortage in semiconductors, an essential component in cars and graphics cards.
We’re not here to dive deep into economics, so what does that mean for you? Sadly, finding a graphics card (especially one of the newest such as an RTX 3080 Ti or 3090) in-stock and at a reasonable price is exceptionally difficult.
They’re often sold out everywhere you look, or when you do find one in stock, it’s at a markup of 50% or more from the base price listed by Nvidia.
Many are predicting this shortage will slow down and hopefully end by summer 2022 or early 2023, but it’s impossible to know. Skimmers and unusually high, long-lasting demand have made this situation hard to predict.
Alternatives to a New GPU
With GPUs being such a tough find today, it’s useful to be aware of all your options. Better graphics capabilities aren’t the only ways to improve your gaming. There may be better ways to take advantage of your current GPU without shelling out on a big new purchase’s MSRP or used price.
A super simple step is to check for graphics driver updates. It’s easy to forget if you don’t have an automatic update system, so do some digging and ensure everything is up to date — otherwise, you can safely predict performance issues.
CPU, VRAM, GDDR6x memory bandwidth, and cooling are just as important as GPUs in many respects, but they aren’t going through the same awful market conditions. If you’re looking to upgrade your PC part-by-part, starting elsewhere may be the best move.
For those gaming only, performance issues might not have anything to do with your hardware at all, but your network.
Switching to a wired connection and pausing background activity such as downloads and streaming are great first steps. Still, the easiest overall solution is to use our innovative network solution: the WTFast GPN.
With our GPN (Gamer’s Private Network), we send your gameplay data down a private, optimized route to the game server.
You’re guaranteed the fastest, most stable connection possible for your session thanks to a total focus on gaming performance — unlike VPNs, which many have tried to use for these purposes to little avail.
Conclusion
Whether you go for an RTX 3080 Ti, 3090, an older model, or an alternative solution, our WTFast GPN is still the best way to ensure totally optimized performance while gaming online.
Stick to our WTFast blog for future updates on PC parts, gaming technology, culture, and much more!
Sources:
What Is Ray Tracing? | Fossbytes
A chronological history of the catastrophic GPU shortage | Spider GL
