RTX 3080 vs RTX 4090: The Ultimate Comparison

RTX 4090 reviewed against the RTX 3080 12GB: Is the extra money worth it? The RTX 3080 12GB can provide a very good 1440p experience, and even does well at 4K. But the RTX 4090 is at a whole new level of performance. Is it worth it? Let's look at some apples to apples comparisons as well as looking at what sorts of realistic graphics settings (including ray tracing and DLSS 2 and 3) make sense for each GPU.

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro- why am I comparing a 3080 vs a 4090?
1:44 Which exact GPUs am I testing
2:00 Test system specs
2:14 Plague Tale Requiem 4K Ultra
2:45 Plague Tale Requiem 4K ultra DLSS Quality
3:16 Plague Tale Requiem 1440p Ultra
3:37 DLSS 3 Frame Generation in Plague Tale Requiem
5:08 DLSS 3 Frame Generation in Spider-Man Remastered
7:05 Spider-Man Remastered 4K Very High RT
7:43 Spider-Man Remastered 4K Very High RT DLSS Quality
8:10 RTX 3080 w/DLSS Quality vs RTX 4090 w/DLSS Frame Generation (Spider-Man)
8:39 Cyberpunk 2077 4K Ultra
9:51 Cyberpunk 2077 4K High DLSS Quality
11:05 Can they both run 4K RT Psycho? DLSS Performance vs Quality
12:20 What is the best 4K RT settings they can each run at ~60fps 4K
13:33 Cyberpunk 2077 1440p Ultra native vs DLSS Quality
14:47 1440p RT Ultra w/DLSS vs RT Psycho DLSS on/off
16:02 RT Psycho at 1080p- can they both max out graphics at 1080p?
17:16 Guardians of the Galaxy 4K RT Max native vs DLSS
18:02 Guardians of the Galaxy 1440p RT Max
18:32 Guardians of the Galaxy 4K Ultra
19:03 Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4K RT Max
19:44 Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4K Highest
19:58 Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1440p RT Max
20:11 God of War 4K Ultra
20:41 God of War 1440p Ultra
20:50 Forza Horizon 5 4K Extreme
21:28 Horizon Zero Dawn 4K Ultimate
21:53 Horizon Zero Dawn 1440p Ultimate
22:15 Red Dead Redemption 2 4K Favor Quality Max
22:54 Red Dead Redemption 2 1440p Favor Quality Max
23:12 Final Thoughts on 4K Performance
24:07 Final Thoughts on DLSS 3 Frame Generation
26:31 Final Thoughts on 1440p
27:31 Final Thoughts on Power Draw
28:45 Actual Final Thoughts
29:14 OK I'll answer the question- is the RTX 4090 worth the extra $1000?

[DrearierSpider]

I currently have a 3080 10GB. If I got a 4090 free in a contest or something, I would be ecstatic. But I got my card for the MSRP, and gaming just isn't important enough to me to be spending $1600 on a GPU, especially at a time when our economy is being driven off a cliff.

[TheBassKitty]

This is hands-down the best review of the 4090 I've seen, and I've watched them all. What made this so great was the direct apples-to-apples comparison between the new gpu and one I'm well familiar with. This is real-world, applicable knowledge which is much more helpful. Thank you!!

[lgeiger]

The 4090 actually starts at 2.5k $ in my country and I paid 850 $ for an OC version of the 3080 a few months ago. So when I read 1000$ I can tell you that the value of the 4090 can definitely be way worse outside the US. Additionally to the 4090 you will need a high refresh rate 4k monitor, which adds another 550 $. For me a 3080 is more than enough to play everything I want on max settings at 1440p. Even Cyberpunk works great with DLSS at 1440p. The crazy thing is that the prices are rising again for the 30 series as well. It costs 70 $ more now. it's scratching at the 1000$ mark again...

[N-VAMusic]

I picked up a 3080 10gb for 500 used and sure it definitely was a mining card but so far its been thoroughly tested and giving me a fantastic 4k gaming experience. Honestly I'm satisfied.

[Clive_Bixby.]

Beginner PC user here. Great video, I have a 3080 12gb, so I found this very helpful. You explain things very well, and I subscribed straight after watching your video! Keep up the good content

[TooBokoo]

It's also worth noting, most games aren't worth running at ultra settings. You're usually gaining very little in visuals, but taking quite a big hit in performance. Hell, in many games, going above medium on settings adds very little but tanks your performance. I'd definitely recommend keeping textures high/ultra in most games, but lowering the majority of other settings to medium. You'll likely notice very little difference, but the FPS gains will be huge!

[FantomasARM]

I have a 3080 10gb and honestly it does everything I need, going to skip this generation.

[kathrynck]

Really good analysis here. I don't see ANYBODY else looking this closely at the user experience with various settings.
I've been enjoying your videos for a couple months now, and finally caved in and subbed :)
(PS: there is a video which the world hasn't been made yet... Can the 4090 run Crysis?)

[DDHDTV]

I know we're testing GPU, so we"re going for ULTRA quality settings, but I'm always wondering, how HIGH settings look like compared to ULTRA and what the performance gain looks like compared to it.
As often ultra settings adds unseeable changes that are very taxing on the GPU.
Thats what I loved about this review! By far the best review I've seen in a while!

[Lambda.Function]

The 4090 and 13900k's efficiency gains over last gen are interesting -- it means you can undervolt and power limit them and get better performance at much lower power draw. If these can be changed easily with presets it'd certainly be nice to run a low power setup for older games when you know you don't need the maximum performance.

[nikolamijailovic]

Man your channel is hella underrated. You talk sense in every video, and give genuine good advices

[teddyholiday]

Just me personally: I just upgraded to a 3080 12gig yesterday and I’m thrilled with it. It only cost 730 bucks and I can’t find a 4090 for less than 1800. I game on a 1440p monitor, I think I’m set for the next couple years.

Also, I would need a new PSU for a 4090 so that’s another 180 bucks or so

[bfhandsomeface]

For price to performance, I would still go with the 3080. 60 fps in single player is fine imo. I'm more interested in seeing what AMD releases in the $700 range!

[S_Rilla]

I appreciate your channel so much.

It often feels like you’re the only channel that is in-touch with non-YouTuber pc gaming enthusiasts (I hope my sentiment makes sense)

Either way… thank you!

[FASTYOU-skie]

I am so happy with my ASUS RTX 3080 12GB that I really don't see the need to upgrade not worth the money. It would be really interesting to see how many players could make out a difference by just looking at the images when there is no naming of the cards and the values.😉

[LambdaHDvideo]

I think an important thing to mention about Frame Gen is that NVIDIA have said that they plan to make VSync available in the future, but that its still a WIP

[mattk]

Recently upgraded to a 3080 12gb and I'm happy with it. Less than half the price of a 4090 and no intention of 4k gaming so fits my needs.

[neilstack]

On a 1440p panel I'll stick with my current gpu as price to performance is not worth it in the long run.. interesting stats tho

[n]

I'm very happy with my 3080 12gb and will continue to be happy with it for a long time if these benchmarks mean anything. Thanks again D for quality content!

[Otinashi]

I got a 3080 10GB at release at MSRP and I'm really tempted to upgrade again this generation since I've upgraded the past few generations (1060 to 2070 super to 3080) but I think I'll skip this generation because at this point an upgrade really just isn't necessary. The 3080 is already an incredible card