The next generation of graphics performance is finally in our hands – and it’s one of the biggest generational leaps we’ve ever seen. Back in the day, comparing RTX 3080 to RTX 2080 showed up some impressive gains – but the performance multipliers are at a new level when considering how the new RTX 4090 stacks up against prior GPU champions RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti. In fact, on a broader level, the delivery of so much performance actually poses problems in creating a balanced gaming PC: as you’ll see in our analysis, many of the games we’re benching are now hitting CPU limitations. Even at 4K resolution. Even at maximum settings. The heaviest of ray tracing workloads though? RTX 4090 is simply phenomenal.
In fact, the power of the new card actually poses some fundamental questions: if CPUs can’t fully feed it, will it be a good match for your surrounding hardware? More importantly, what are the current real world applications for the card? Ultimately, if you have a 4K 120Hz+ display (I use a 48-inch LG CX OLED), you’re in good shape for matching your display with the capabilities of the hardware. If you’re gaming at 1440p or lower, or even if you have a 4K 60Hz screen, there’s a good chance that the RTX 4090 simply offers too much performance… on the games of today, at least.
This leads us on to a key message Nvidia delivered at the RTX 4000 launch – one overshadowed by the controversy surrounding the RTX 4080’s specs and pricing. The truth is, we’ve yet to emerge from the cross-gen malaise and our one hint at the future of gaming comes from Unreal Engine 5 and The Matrix Awakens. UE5 seems to be the engine of choice for the games of tomorrow, where we should see the new wave of GPUs more taxed. Nvidia is thinking beyond that though, using the extra performance of RTX 4000 in combination with a new DLSS 3 to make new gaming experiences a reality. We saw RTX Remix, modernising older titles with full path-tracing. We also saw Cyberpunk 2077’s RT Overdrive upgrade. Interestingly, CD Projekt RED and Nvidia aren’t outright saying this – but this is effectively another path-tracing upgrade – a remarkable statement of intent.
Source – eurogamer.net
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