The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 goes all the way to the top and can be regarded as ruling the graphics card’s hive. Thanks to the 24 GB of GDDR6X RAM hidden behind this massive heat sink, the Nvidia’s flagship card will handle hardcore gaming and 3D rendering like it is a piece of cake. With that in mind, it provides excellent 4K output even in the latest AAA gaming titles, and can also run 8K games at 60 frames per second – not flawlessly but still, smoothly enough.
We believe it is not surprising that the company replaced Nvidia Titan RTX and the 2080 Ti with Nvidia GeForce 3090. The two previous generations were also top-notch graphics cards. Such GPUs may have set the high bar to be fulfilled, but the 3090 is very powerful – it is on another level.
Sadly, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 has a premium price, making it more appealing for mainstream gamers to go for the options like RTX 3080 and the Radeon RX 6900 XT. Although the best PC games can be handled without breaking a sweat, this GPU is more exciting for someone who needs heavy graphic lifts for 3D animation and video rendering – particularly at this cost. This GPU is essentially better for those who don’t mind the price and want the best for those who need hardware-accelerated rendering.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 – Price & Availability
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is now available for 1,499 bucks. This will be the first time, Nvidia has opened its top-tier card to third-party card producers including MSI, Asus, and Zotac, meaning that we can foresee a slightly higher cost for certain models of the RTX 3090.
However, as compared to Titan RTX, which is priced at $2499, and RTX 2080 which is available for $1,199, the RTX 3090 happens to be somewhere in between in terms of prices. The GeForce title says this graphics card is designed for gamers but the specifications and pricing imply more for developers who want raw rendering ability but are not prepared to leap into the fields of Nvidia Quadro and Tesla.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Review – Features and Chipset
The RTX 3090 is based on Nvidia Ampere architecture using the fat GA102 GPU just like RTX 3080. Amazingly, we now have 82 streaming multiprocessors (SMs), with a total of 10.496 CUDA cores, 328 tensor cores, and 82 RT Cores.
The modest bump from the 72 SM on Nvidia Turing Titan RTX seems to be a marginal upgrade at first sight, but it is one of the most revolutionary differences in Ampere’s architecture as it has the potential to deal with all data paths on the SM. This results in the fact that the core numbers of CUDA per SM are doubled because the RTX 3090 gives such an act of smooth rendering.
Also on a 384-bit bus, the RTX 3090 comes with 24GB of GDDR6X video storage – that’s almost an input terabyte per second. The fact that VRAM is so large ensures that anyone who performs intense 3D rendering greatly enjoys their time with software such as Davinci Resolve and Blender. And whatever can save your time off the project cycles when the job requires these apps can save you money in the long run. The RTX 3090 is a direct bargain, along with relatively low expense – at least in comparison with the Titan RTX.
In the RTX 3080, both the tensor cores and the RT cores were better than the last few versions of graphics cards. That is, the RT cores’ output doubled to RTX 3000 series card’s second generation.
In Ray Tracing Apps, the SM casts a light ray and then unloads ray tracking workloads to the RT cores to determine where it bounces in the scene reporting the data back into the SM. In the past, the tracking of the ray was impractical, since the SM was responsible.
However, while the RT core takes up a large share of the burden, ray tracing is still a very costly tech for the computers, and thus, therefore, has high-performance costs, which is why both games and programs such as D5 Render DLSS have become more and more relevant.
Nvidia Ampere graphics cards have also seen a massive increase in the tensor core of the third generation, which doubles in speed over the Turing tensor core. DLSS results, however, failed to see an overall 2x bump, since each SM is packed with a single tensor core, while turning contains two tensor cores per SM.
However, these tensor cores do not just power up the DLSS. They are also the new tech that makes Nvidia Broadcast, a far-reaching function of this generation.
Nvidia Broadcast is ideal for online meetings as well as late-night clashes and it is phenomenal to both flush out the undesired noise from your microphone and to replace your backdrop while you are in the fiftieth Zoom call of the week, while you lose both enthusiasm and willingness.
Now that we all are becoming used to working from home, and it sure looks like this will become the current standard, hence, it’s a huge advantage if video conferencing is made easier and faster. The great thing about this technology is that it is open to everyone with Nvidia RTX.
We must, however, worry about electricity usage. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 absorbed no more than 357 Watts at its peak during our testing. This is a lot of power, particularly if you combine it with a strong processor. The least input voltage of 750W is recommended by Nvidia, but we’re just going above this and suggest the complete 1.000W PSU for this card to make sure that your power supply is in a state of peak performance.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 – Founders Edition Design
Like the RTX 3080, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090’s Founding Edition has been shipped hands-down by Green’s finest cooler concept team. This is a huge graphics card – 12.3 inches tall, 3-slot card, and a lot of weight. Look, we’ve got no scale, and Nvidia’s weight is not listed, but this is comfortably over 7 lb.
In a black, gunmetal, and gray color design it looks very similar to the RTX 3080 Founders version with fans along both sides of the GPU.
Moreover, the PCB has gotten completely revamped to enable this cooler layout, to allow air passage through the rear of the GPU. As an outcome, instead of the double 8-pin connectors, Nvidia added a new 12-pin PCIe power connector. There are no such actual power supplies that suit this new power connector, but customized cables like Corsair can be used. Fortunately, Nvidia has a power connector of 2×8-pin to 1×12-pin, which is why you don’t need to stress yourself over it.
But it’s a little unpleasant and it’s difficult to get the same type of clean cable configuration. Nevertheless, the same 8-pin power connector is still used by third-party manufacturers of graphics cards, so you can still go for one if you want.
As this is a big 3-slot card, you may want to double-check to make sure that your case supports it. Some stylish ATX microphones and mini-ITX cards won’t be fortunate enough to use this tech.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Performance Review
Talking about the performance, the only thing that we would like to mention bluntly is: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is just 10 to 20 percent quicker than the RTX 3080 and more than twice the price. If all you need is a gaming GPU, this boost in output doesn’t seem to be valuable, and that’s all right.
This is a card that is intended specifically for 8K gaming applications and for advanced 3D rendering. With this in mind, without talking about 8K gaming – there is nothing to talk about.
Right now the area of high-end TVs exists almost exclusively for 8K, which means that the panels do not have an exact distribution as of right now. In the coming years, this will almost certainly change, but at the moment there is not even a single display that would help to sustain the resolution.
Neither do we have a practical 8K monitor – the display that we use to measure computing components is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, we can test games at 8K output with a native 4K resolution of the display that we use as a tester – thanks to Nvidia’s Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR).
This results in a large performance loss of 3-5 percent, but otherwise, it gives a clear insight into how 8K play gameplay feels. The RTX 3090 does not have the 8K 60 frames per second level in the most difficult games on a PC. But it’s complex, like most things.
The games that we tested are available to drive the GPU to its maximum so that the performance delta can be compared between various graphics cards. They provide conveniently repeatable benchmark codes, so we can be confident that any graphics card is equally powered.
You can bet your low dollar, though, that we have thrown this graphics card into our personal computer and tried to find out how it works through a wide range of PC games both at 4K and at 8K.
We managed to achieve a steady 60-70 fps at this exceptionally high resolution in games like World of Warcraft: and Destiny 2. It’s not as large as it looks, since we don’t have to download textures because 24GB of VRAM is sufficient.
But as we start immersing ourselves in more visually intense single-player games such as Control or even Dark Souls III, the frame rates were usually in the 40s – which are still playable. This is the first graphics card that we’ve ever reviewed to have real playable gameplay at this resolution.
However, this alone is appealing to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090. We are not saying that 8K gaming isn’t flawless, and it’s certainly not where the settings should only be cranked up and forgotten. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is a tech for early adoption in all respects when it comes to 8K games – it must be taken into account that it is the first graphics card to have a playable frame rate at this high resolution. This resolution can be handled by RTX 3090 quite impressively.
However, at 4K, the RTX 3090 provides the standard of output where each setting can be trimmed to the maximum. We tried to play each game and it performed like a boss with this 4K graphics card. Final Fantasy XV gave us a huge 70+ fps – with the stammer that’s almost eliminated due to the frame buffer of 24GB.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 – Rendering & Encoding Performance
The RTX 3090 is very brilliant in 3D rendering and encoding. You don’t have to spend thousands of bucks on Quadro or Tesla cards for high-quality professional rendering.
The NVENC encoder is here – the same as the RTX 2080 Ti, so the output doesn’t vary much from generation to generation. It should be noted that this encoder is backed by Adobe Premiere, the GPU is now accelerating virtually the whole video processing workflow, which makes the GPU immensely advantageous for video editors. Decoding a video through the NVENC encoder, instead of using the Software, would take the time and slash it into half – even though we use the Ryzen 9 3950X 16-core AMD along with RAM of 64GB at 3600MHz.
While there is no particular variation in straight encoding efficiency between RTX GPUs – because they both use the same processor – the processing effects will be enhanced based on the GPU you use. You should not have any problems with playing back video in real-time while editing with an RTX 3090 on your video editing PC.
But in 3D Rendering applications such as Blender and Autodesk Maya, the RTX 3090 is very slick. In reality, the RTX 3090 is almost twice as fast as the Turing Flagship in Blender, making the benchmark in just 229 seconds to the RTX 2080 Ti’s 438 seconds, whereas the RTX 3090 is 50 percent quicker than the RTX 2080. Mainly thanks to the high performance of VRAM and FP32 offered here, this represents a 91% improvement.
Nvidia should step up to democratize the 3D rendering technology so that people can try their hands on 3D animation without needing to purchase incredibly costly hardware. The xx80 card will provide this kind of rendering output in the next generation to make it easier for the developer to create 3D content. Also, the availability and accessibility are now more than ever.
Go ahead and buy it if:
You want to be a visionary of 8K gaming: The first graphics card with an 8K playing score is Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090. Yes, it is not perfect but it is still better than watching a slideshow at this resolution.
You’re a creative expert: If you do 3D rendering as part of your routine, the huge computing output and abundant VRAM offered here are a dream come true.
You don’t want to talk about 4K games: We eventually arrived at the stage where you can just max whatever game you play in 4K and forget it with Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090.
Do not buy it if:
You are on a tight budget: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is the world’s fastest, but very expensive graphics card. The profit on the RTX 3080 does not value the rise in prices, so if you want the best of the best, regardless of the price – sure go ahead, but if not, we will suggest the less expensive options.
You play games under the 4K resolution: The RTX 3090 is a powerful graphics card and you really won’t be charged for it if you still play games with 4K – even after buying the RTX 3090.
You don’t want the best of the best: You actually should go with the cheaper card if you are okay with good gaming results because you don’t want to buy the RTX 3080 is double the price for 15 percent more gaming performance, after all, Nvidia itself has called it the titan tier card.