In the second half of 2022, NVIDIA officially released the new RTX 40 series graphics cards. To be fair, this generation of graphics cards received generally low reviews in the tech community.
Aside from the GeForce RTX 4090, which saw a significant performance improvement over the previous generation, the other mid-to-low-end models showed very limited performance gains and were lackluster, raising accusations of incremental updates. The RTX 4060 series, in particular, saw reductions in CUDA cores, memory bus width, and VRAM compared to the previous generation, which led to widespread dissatisfaction.
In January 2024, NVIDIA released the RTX 40 SUPER series. Despite maintaining the same prices, these cards offered significant performance improvements over the original versions, which was a pleasant surprise. This helped somewhat redeem the poorly received RTX 40 series, restoring some of its reputation.
In the RTX 40 SUPER series, the two RTX 4070 SUPER models easily outperformed the previous generation’s RTX 3090 series, including the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB. Under these circumstances, the higher-performing GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER easily surpasses the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, leaving no doubt about the outcome.
However, exactly how much stronger the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti remains a topic of interest and study. This article will reveal the answer through gaming tests.
1. Parameter Comparison between RTX 4080 SUPER and RTX 3090 Ti
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER
Released on January 8, 2024, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER features the AD103 GPU based on the Ada Lovelace architecture and manufactured using TSMC’s 5-nanometer process. It has 10,240 CUDA cores, 80 ray tracing units, 112 raster units, 320 texture units, 320 tensor cores, 80 streaming multiprocessors, and 64MB of L2 cache.
- Standard clock speed: 2295 MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2550 MHz
- Memory: 16GB GDDR6X
- Memory bus width: 256-bit
- Memory speed: 23 Gbps
- Memory bandwidth: 736.3 GB/s
- FP32 floating point performance: 52.22 TFLOPS
- Power consumption: 320W
- Suggested retail price: $999
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB
Released on January 27, 2022, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti features the GA 102 GPU based on the Ampere architecture and manufactured using Samsung’s 8-nanometer process. It has 10,752 shading units, 336 texture units, 112 raster units, 84 ray tracing units, 84 streaming multiprocessors, 336 tensor cores, and 6MB of L2 cache.
- Standard clock speed: 1560 MHz
- Boost clock speed: 1860 MHz
- Memory: 24GB GDDR6X
- Memory speed: 21 Gbps
- Memory bus width: 384-bitMemory bandwidth: 1008 GB/s
- FP32 floating point performance: 40.00 TFLOPS
- Power consumption: 450W
- Suggested retail price: $1999
2. Test Platform Configuration
The main configuration is as follows:
- Processor: Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E CARBON
- Memory: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
- Storage: Two Samsung 970 EVO 1TB SSDs
- Operating System: Windows 11
3. Real Game Test
The following tests will be conducted on seven games, all using 1080P ultra settings. In the series of images below, the left side represents the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform, while the right side represents the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform.
Since both are high-end graphics cards, comparing them at 1080P resolution is pointless. As the saying goes, “go big or go home,” so let’s skip the small talk and test them directly in 4K.
① The first game is “Alan Wake 2.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 49
- Minimum FPS: 40
- Frame Time: 19.8ms
- CPU Usage: 14%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 45W
- Temperature (CPU): 52°C
- Memory Usage: 10.9GB
- GPU Usage: 98%
- VRAM Usage: 11.4GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 294W
- Temperature (GPU): 55°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 35
- Minimum FPS: 30
- Frame Time: 30.6ms
- CPU Usage: 19%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 49W
- Temperature (CPU): 58°C
- Memory Usage: 13.3GB
- GPU Usage: 98%
- VRAM Usage: 11.7GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 389W
- Temperature (GPU): 55°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a CPU usage 5% lower, memory usage 2.4GB lower, equal GPU usage, and VRAM usage 0.3GB lower compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 14 FPS (40%) higher average FPS, 10 FPS higher minimum FPS, nearly 10ms lower frame time, 95W lower power consumption, and equal temperature, showing a clear advantage.
② The second game is “Red Dead Redemption 2.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 87
- Minimum FPS: 76
- Frame Time: 11.4ms
- CPU Usage: 24%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 52W
- Temperature (CPU): 50°C
- Memory Usage: 12.0GB
- GPU Usage: 95%
- VRAM Usage: 6.9GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 288W
- Temperature (GPU): 57°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 75
- Minimum FPS: 69
- Frame Time: 13.3ms
- CPU Usage: 31%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 56W
- Temperature (CPU): 56°C
- Memory Usage: 13.5GB
- GPU Usage: 96%
- VRAM Usage: 7.0GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 420W
- Temperature (GPU): 57°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a CPU usage 7% lower, memory usage 1.5GB lower, 1% lower GPU usage, and 0.1GB lower VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 12 FPS (16%) higher average FPS, 7 FPS higher minimum FPS, nearly 2ms lower frame time, and 132W lower power consumption, with equal temperatures.
③ The third game is “Cyberpunk 2077.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 65
- Minimum FPS: 44
- Frame Time: 14.7ms
- CPU Usage: 35%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 58W
- Temperature (CPU): 60°C
- Memory Usage: 11.3GB
- GPU Usage: 98%
- VRAM Usage: 10.7GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 280W
- Temperature (GPU): 60°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 49
- Minimum FPS: 31
- Frame Time: 15.1ms
- CPU Usage: 59%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 73W
- Temperature (CPU): 77°C
- Memory Usage: 11.3GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 11.4GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 428W
- Temperature (GPU): 61°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a CPU usage 24% lower, equal memory usage, 1% lower GPU usage, and 0.7GB lower VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 16 FPS (33%) higher average FPS, 13 FPS higher minimum FPS, nearly equal frame time, and 148W lower power consumption, with 1°C lower temperature.
④ The fourth game is “Horizon Forbidden West.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 77
- Minimum FPS: 65
- Frame Time: 11.6ms
- CPU Usage: 36%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 59W
- Temperature (CPU): 59°C
- Memory Usage: 11.1GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 9.8GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 265W
- Temperature (GPU): 59°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 65
- Minimum FPS: 57
- Frame Time: 13.1ms
- CPU Usage: 44%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 67W
- Temperature (CPU): 70°C
- Memory Usage: 11.2GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 10.4GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 411W
- Temperature (GPU): 62°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a CPU usage 8% lower, equal memory and GPU usage, and 0.6GB lower VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 12 FPS (18%) higher average FPS, 8 FPS higher minimum FPS, 1ms lower frame time, and 146W lower power consumption, with 2°C lower temperature.
⑤ The fifth game is “Ghostwire: Tokyo.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 70
- Minimum FPS: 60
- Frame Time: 14.4ms
- CPU Usage: 14%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 47W
- Temperature (CPU): 51°C
- Memory Usage: 12.3GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 9.8GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 294W
- Temperature (GPU): 58°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 62
- Minimum FPS: 53
- Frame Time: 15.4ms
- CPU Usage: 14%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 46W
- Temperature (CPU): 50°C
- Memory Usage: 11.1GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 8.7GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 426W
- Temperature (GPU): 63°C
In this game, both platforms have equal CPU usage. The GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 1.2GB higher memory usage and 1.1GB higher VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 8 FPS (13%) higher average FPS, 7 FPS higher minimum FPS, about 1ms lower frame time, 132W lower power consumption, and 3°C lower temperature.
⑥ The sixth game is “Hogwarts Legacy.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 50
- Minimum FPS: 30
- Frame Time: 21.5ms
- CPU Usage: 24%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 53W
- Temperature (CPU): 60°C
- Memory Usage: 22.3GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 13.8GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 283W
- Temperature (GPU): 59°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 43
- Minimum FPS: 28
- Frame Time: 22.4ms
- CPU Usage: 21%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 49W
- Temperature (CPU): 57°C
- Memory Usage: 21.9GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 13.5GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 429W
- Temperature (GPU): 62°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a 3% higher CPU usage, 0.4GB higher memory usage, and 0.3GB higher VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 7 FPS (16%) higher average FPS, 2 FPS higher minimum FPS, about 1ms lower frame time, 146W lower power consumption, and 2°C lower temperature.
⑦ The seventh game is “Starfield.”
GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER Platform
- Average FPS: 63
- Minimum FPS: 52
- Frame Time: 14.3ms
- CPU Usage: 50%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 66W
- Temperature (CPU): 63°C
- Memory Usage: 14.0GB
- GPU Usage: 98%
- VRAM Usage: 7.9GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 284W
- Temperature (GPU): 57°C
GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Platform
- Average FPS: 53
- Minimum FPS: 44
- Frame Time: 18.3ms
- CPU Usage: 38%
- Power Consumption (CPU): 58W
- Temperature (CPU): 55°C
- Memory Usage: 13.4GB
- GPU Usage: 99%
- VRAM Usage: 7.8GB
- Power Consumption (GPU): 398W
- Temperature (GPU): 60°C
In this game, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has a 12% higher CPU usage, 0.6GB higher memory usage, and 0.1GB higher VRAM usage compared to the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti platform. In terms of performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform has 10 FPS (19%) higher average FPS, 8 FPS higher minimum FPS, about 4ms lower frame time, 134W lower power consumption, and 3°C lower temperature.
4. Comparison Conclusion
Overall, in most games, with similar GPU performance, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER platform shows significantly lower CPU usage compared to its counterpart. Additionally, its power consumption is substantially lower than that of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, indicating a clear overall advantage.
Based on the average calculations from the above test results, the actual gaming performance of the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER is about 22% higher than that of the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti. Due to various factors, this conclusion is relatively conservative compared to the actual overall performance gap between these two graphics cards and is provided for reference only.
In conclusion, for high-end users, the GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER (and the entire RTX 40 SUPER series) is highly worth considering. The only and biggest drawback is the difficulty of purchasing it at the suggested retail price in the market.
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