Is the fastest GPU ALWAYS the best? RTX 4090 Review

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 is a GPU that’s been rumoured to be a power-hungry beast since it was first leaked. Is it really that bad? And can its gaming performance possibly justify its massive price tag?

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

FOLLOW US
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MUSIC CREDIT
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Intro: Laszlo - Supernova

Outro: Approaching Nirvana - Sugar High

CHAPTERS
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0:00 Intro
0:57 RTX 4090 - More than a mere refresh?
2:51 Test Setup and why we didn't run 22H2
3:15 4K Gaming Results
4:56 1440p Gaming Results
5:26 Ray Tracing & DLSS Gaming Results
6:36 Where's DLSS 3.0?
7:17 Productivity Results
8:15 AV1
9:27 Power consumption
10:30 Thermals & clock stability
11:31 Case air temperature
12:16 Some quirks... DisplayPort and PCI Express
14:37 Conclusion

[LinusTechTips]

CORRECTION: We're working on updating the video, but in the meantime, our numbers for Cyberpunk 2077 were with FidelityFX Upscaling enabled. We specifically *didn't* have this enabled, but stability issues with the bench seems to have messed with the settings. We've re-run all of the numbers for each card:

*No RT, no DLSS (1%low, 5%low, avg):
- RTX 4090: 54, 69, 81
- RTX 3090 Ti: 43, 46, 56
- RTX 3090: 35, 43, 50
- RX 6950 XT: 30, 39, 46

*RT, no DLSS (1%low, 5%low, avg):
- RTX 4090: 36, 39, 44
- RTX 3090 Ti: 17, 22, 26
- RTX 3090: 16, 19, 23
- RX 6950 XT: 10, 11, 13

*RT + DLSS (1%low, 5%low, avg):
- RTX 4090: 94, 97, 108
- RTX 3090 Ti: 58, 60, 67
- RTX 3090: 52, 53, 61
- RX 6950 XT: N/A

-AY

[danielmaurel]

it´s impressive how a 600 bucks GPU is bargain now... we need serious competition in the GPU market

[Neoxon]

As powerful as this is, I honestly can’t justify the price. Not to mention the cooling & space requirements for the 4090. And the fact that the 4000 series doesn’t have DisplayPort 2.0 is legitimately baffling.

[kabiro]

I have never wanted Intel to succeed so bad.

[Yomismo]

I remember buying a 1060 for around 300€ and my parents mocking me for spending so much on it. The look on my mother's face when I told her about these gpus prices was priceless

[yt_clazify]

It feels like the 3080 and 3090 came out yesterday

[garrettyates]

I think a very valid test would be a "office" or "bed room" size room with something like this. We measure ambient and output, but more airflow = moving more hot air = more hot air into the small room. If that room is not near a thermostat you're gonna have a small sauna in your home office or a freezer in your living room while trying to keep the office cool.

[thenoblehacker]

Way too expensive, yet still extremely impressive and powerful

[GERMANFUCKDOWN]

Being honest. The performance is impressive and it would be a dream to game with that card. But the price tag and power consumption in todays market just makes me want to travel back in time

[whasian]

The enlarged GPU images in youtube thumbnails is usually for clickbait, but the 4090 may actually need to be downsized for thumbnails.

[iachimotdk]

Seriously, this video is still up saying that the 4090 is 60% faster than the 3090 Ti? Come on LMG. This is a very bad look.

[bunsenn]

I remember all the hype that came with the 30 series cards, especially the 3090, getting released. There was none of that with the 40 series. Back when the 20 and 30 series came out, me and my friends would talk about them all the time. No one said anything when the 4090 came out. It was so far out of reach that we just didn’t care.

[thwind]

Surprising differences in some results between reviewers. For example Jayz2cents had Cyberpunk 4K (ultra preset, RT/DLS off) average fps only at 76fps compared to LTT's 136fps. I wonder what could make such huge difference?

[mattb]

They didn't put displayport 2.0 on the 4090 because they don't want these cards being used 5 years from now... so you'll have to buy the next gen gpu with the 2.0 port. It would be like making a car that last for 30 years, they want you to come back and buy another

[KavinduLakshan]

This RTX 4090 review was WRONG WRONG WRONG

[lilPOPjim]

It would have been interesting to see power draw at the same FPS to see how effective the card is generating the same media

[mathsam]

For years we've been focused so much at the pinnacle of gaming pcs that NVIDIA's forcing us to look back onto practicality by their insane pricing. Maybe Intel has a point.

[zotac]

Though pricing for these cards are beyond crazy.
This is the first card where turning on Ray Tracing will finally makes sense ( when I buy them at discount some years later).

[IVMRGREENXX]

0:27 " there are some other problems"...card disintegrates

[gabe]

I'm a simple man, I see Anthony, I click video.

I know it gets shot down all the time, but would love to see a Linux Tech Tips with Anthony if he's willing to do it.