Nvidia now has three RTX 40-series GPUs. Here’s everything you need to know about them, including benchmarks and performance.
Nvidia’s current generation of graphics cards is here, and the range includes desktop and laptop models. Also referred to as Nvidia Ada Lovelace, the RTX 40-series debuted in 2022 and is set to continue being updated with new cards throughout 2023.
Below, we’ll tell you all you need to know about each of Nvidia’s best graphics cards, all set to rival AMD’s RX 7000 GPUs.RTX 40-series: specs
We have four RTX 40-series GPUs right now, but here’s how their specs break down:RTX 40-series: Pricing and release date
In this generation, Nvidia started out with a bang by introducing the flagship RTX 4090. First announced on September 20, 2022, the graphics card hit the shelves on October 12. The Founders Edition was priced at $1,600 from the get-go, but unsurprisingly, many of the cards made by Nvidia’s board partners cost a lot more.
Much like during the days of the dreadful GPU shortage, the RTX 4090 is usually out of stock. In the days following the launch, it was sold for over twice its retail price on eBay, and scalpers still have some luck re-selling the card to this day.
Next, Nvidia announced the RTX 4080 16GB and the RTX 4080 12GB. While the former landed in stores on November 16 with a $1,200 price tag, the latter never made it to the market under that name. Nvidia “unlaunched” the RTX 4080 12GB following some backlash about its price and expected performance. However, the card made a reappearance at CES 2023 and was officially released on January 5, 2023, now dubbed the RTX 4070 Ti.
On April 13, Nvidia added the $600 RTX 4070 to its lineup.
The RTX 4080 also hadn’t managed to avoid controversy about its price. With the RTX 4090 only $400 more expensive, the flagship is actually a better deal — so much so that the release of the RTX 4080 boosted the sales of the RTX 4090.
The desktop GPU lineup is still missing the RTX 4060 and RTX 4050. We haven’t heard much about these cards yet, but it’s safe to assume Nvidia may launch them throughout the year.
During its CES 2023 keynote, Nvidia also revealed the RTX 40-series mobile range, and that lineup actually includes more GPUs than the desktop range does right now. Notably, it also serves up a wider range of laptop GPUs than its predecessor. Ampere cards maxed out at the RTX 3080 Ti in laptops, but the Ada Lovelace lineup goes all the way up to the RTX 4090M.
Powerful gaming laptops containing the RTX 4090M and the RTX 4080M are set to come out on February 8, with prices starting at $2,000. Later that month, the RTX 4070M, RTX 4060M, and RTX 4050M will appear, starting on February 22. Those models will cost at least $1,000, with the prices scaling up depending on the model of the card and the rest of the components.RTX 40-series: architecture
Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace is built based on TSMC’s N4 manufacturing process, meaning a 4nm process node. This is a much smaller process than the last-gen Ampere cards, all built on an 8nm node. Although not all of these GPUs have been released yet, we know that in this generation, the GPU dies range from the AD102 (flagship) to the AD106 (budget).
A smaller manufacturing process means Nvidia can squeeze more cores on the same GPU die, and this is proven by the top die itself. The AD102 GPU in its fully unlocked state has a massive 18,432 CUDA cores. Compared to the last-gen RTX 3090 Ti, we’re seeing a huge jump in core counts, because the RTX 3090 Ti only had 10,752. However, it’s important to note that Nvidia hasn’t even released the full AD102 GPU just yet.
Right now, the best graphics card in Nvidia’s arsenal is the RTX 4090, and it doesn’t feature the full-fledged AD102 die. This implies that in the future, Nvidia will bring out an RTX 4090 Ti, or perhaps even resurrect the RTX Titan, which will utilize the full AD102 GPU.
