NVIDIA have launched their new GeForce RTX 3000 series GPUs, starting at $499.99 USD.
As stated on the official website, the newest RTX GPUs are powered by Ampere. They include the RTX 3090, 3080, and 3070 boasting up to 85% faster performance than the previous generation at much better pricing. This replaces the previous Turing architecture, which was used in the RTX 2000 series GPUs.
These cards are the second generation of Ray Tracing cores. They feature third generation of Tensor cores, along with improvements to the streaming multiprocessors, for better performance and AI acceleration for both gamers and creators.
GPU Specifications
| GeForce RTX 3090 | GeForce RTX 3080 | GeForce RTX 3070 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 10496 | 8704 | 5888 |
| Core Clock | 1375 | 1560 | 1365 |
| Boost Clock | 1700 | 1710 | 1730 |
| Memory Interface | 384-bit | 320-bit | 256-bit |
| GPU Power | 350W | 320W | 220W |
| Memory | 24GB GDDR6X | 10GB GDDR6X | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Price | $1,499 USD | $699 USD | $499 USD |
The RTX 3070 will be priced at $499 USD, and has 8GB of GDDR6 which NVIDIA promises will be faster than the RTX 2080 TI. The latter retailed at around $1,200 USD. The RTX 3070 will be available October 2020.
The RTX 3080 will be $699 USD have 10GB of GDDR6X, and Nvidia promises it to be roughly twice as fast as the 2080 or 2070 Super. The card will be available on September 17th.
Finally we have the RTX 3090, which will come in at $1,499 USD. It has 24GB of GDDR6X, and is aimed at “8K Gaming.” It takes up 3 PCIe slots, and is so beefy that in the announcement video NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang grunted picking it up. They claim that it will be able to play games at 8K past 60 FPS, with DLSS tech and its serious features.
This card also comes with its rumored 12 pin power connector to “allow more space for components and cooling.” This would be compatible with current 8-pin connectors via an adapter. The RTX 3090 will be available September 24th.
There are also quite a few changes to the tech. NVIDIA has decided to use PCIe 4.0 and HDMI 2.1 support, which is the latest version of HDMI. This allows 4k at 120Hz, or 8K single cable TVs. The latter is becoming more ubiquitous on mid-range TVs, and newer monitors.
They have also developed NVIDIA Reflex, which is aimed as NVIDIA’s response to AMD’s Radeon AntiLag. It will lower your latency between the monitor to the mouse, and say support will be coming soon for titles like Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Warzone, Destiny 2, Fortnite and Valorant. A video of this can be found here.
NVIDIA have improved on DLSS and Ray Tracing, and will be releasing new trailers and screenshots with their new partners in these titles. You can find the full rundown below (via emailed press release).
- Fortnite: The world’s most popular Battle Royale is adding ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex. Full details and trailer here.
- Cyberpunk 2077: The year’s most anticipated title supports several ray-traced effects and NVIDIA DLSS, and now you can see it running at max settings on GeForce RTX 30 Series in a new 4K trailer.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War: The next game in the hugely popular Call of Duty franchise is adding ray-traced effects, NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, NVIDIA Ansel and NVIDIA Highlights. Full details here.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone: The popular multiplayer game and battle royale game are adding NVIDIA Reflex. Full details here.
- Apex Legends: Electronic Arts’ popular Battle Royale is adding NVIDIA Reflex to reduce input latency, making gameplay more responsive.
- Watch Dogs: Legion: Ubisoft’s anticipated title is already confirmed to be using ray tracing, and now it’s adding NVIDIA DLSS as well. Full details and trailer here.
- Valorant: The competitive shooter from League of Legends developer Riot Games is also adding NVIDIA Reflex.
- Minecraft with RTX Beta for Windows 10: The path-traced ray tracing of Minecraft with RTX has been updated, and two new ray-traced worlds have been released for you to download. Full details and trailers here.
- NVIDIA DLSS will also be heading to Boundary and Bright Memory Infinite.
- NVIDIA Reflex will also be coming to Cuisine Royale, Destiny 2, Enlisted, Kovaak 2.0, and MORDHAU.
NVIDIA has also released this slide, showing performance comparing the 2070 Super and 2080 Super to the 3070 and 3080 in Borderlands 3, Doom Eternal, Red Dead Redemption 2, Control, Minecraft, and Wolfenstien Youngblood.
You can find the full launch event presentation below.
Niche Gamer’s Take: While first urge will be to complain about the pricing of the RTX 3090, it’s important to think of it more as a luxury item that would be used for the highest end of builds and for bragging rights.
The 3070 and 3080 caught my eye with their much more acceptable (while still very high) prices. The kind of improvement over last gen seems quite impressive, though as always you should wait until independent benchmarks start hitting the net.
Image: YouTube
