RTX 4090: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 review

I spent the past week pushing Nvidias next-gen powerhouse to the limit, testing the performance both on synthetic benchmarks and real-world games. Nvidias new generation powerhouse, the GeForce RTX 4090, comes in at a time when the worlds supply chain issues are largely behind us, and we can return to marveling at absurdly fast frame rates in top-end, yet non-obscene, pricing.

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In the end, Nvidias GeForce RTX 4090 is certainly an enthusiast graphics card, both price-wise and in terms of performance, as the power levels offered here are truly excessive for the vast majority of people who would even consider buying one. If you are obsessed with driving 4K content, particularly ray-tracing, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is a graphics card thatll get you there, with dozens more frames left to go, but right now, there are not enough games that are compatible with its DLSS-accelerated technology to justify the price. The price has increased even over Nvidias GeForce RTX 4090 predecessor, although given its insane performance and price relative to the previous graphics card champion, the RTX 3090 Ti, the RTX 4090 offers more performance per price than any card on the market outside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.

Admittedly, this makes the RTX 4090 a tough product to judge, particularly given the amount that an average PC gamer is looking to spend for a system upgrade. Nvidia has not released their two models of RTX 4080, so Reviewed suggests checking them out, or sticking with the 30 series cards, which can be found easily for under MSRP. Go is because, in the graphics-card world, Nvidia may be making one Founders Edition--what is reviewed here--but the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is also going to be made by a horde of third-party GPU makers, some of whom are going to dramatically up their asking prices in return for fancy new coolers or flashier designs.

Nvidia is also rolling out RTX 4080s (and, potentially, RTX 4070s) over the coming months, and I suspect these will be far more sensible options for most people -- at least, unless this PC gaming generation causes yet another PC hardware shortage, as it did with the RTX 3000 line. Nvidia and AMD have both released higher-powered variations on these GPUs, in the form of the RTX 3090 Ti and the Radeon RX 6950 XT, but we do not have these graphics cards in-hand to compare directly to the new drivers. It took us three generations of RTX graphics cards for us to feel confident that Nvidias ambitions were being met, but we are here now, satisfied by the strides made.

Averaged out, this also means any of Nvidias other 40-series GPUs released this year or next will greatly benefit from this huge boost to framerates, which is why Johanna Nelius fully expects we see mid-range cards pushing higher-end framerates thanks to their DLSS boost technology.

You probably already knew if you were willing and able to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 after seeing its price announcement, so here’s a short version of the following review: Yes, on pure performance it’s the best graphics card for 4K you can get. Yes, DLSS 3 is the real deal. And no, neither of those make the RTX 4090 good value for money, even if it makes a compelling argument for Nvidia's latest upscaling tech.

The Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 Amp Extreme Airo model that I’ve used for testing costs £1960 / $1700; both substantial premiums, especially in the UK, on the already lofty RTX 4090 base RRP/MSRP of £1679 / $1599. To many, if not most PC owners, that ALL probably looks like unfathomable riches. Especially with the fastest Nvidia GPUs of the last generation, the RTX 3090 and RTX 3090 Ti, now going for less than £1100 and £1200 respectively.