The RTX 4090 might be thebest graphics cardNvidia has ever released , and we may never see a flagship quite on the same level ever again .
There ’s no doubt theRTX 4090is highly powerful , but it ’s not raw power alone that made it the flagship to end all flagships . I mean , the newRTX 5090is already faster , and I ’m confident Nvidia will proceed to relinquish massive GPUs that cost thousands of buck in the hereafter . But the RTX 4090 remain a crown accomplishment for Team Green , and an flexion point in time for computer graphic posting more broadly .
A flagship like no other
Nvidia has keep up some sort of halo GPU for several generations , mostly in a bid toclaim operation dominance over AMD . Those scorecard in the beginning fall under the Titan umbrella , but Nvidia alter course with its Ampere generation , relinquish the first 90 - class GPU ever in the build of the RTX 3090 . It ’s a Titan , but instead of being labor into a recession for only enthusiasts with thousands of dollars to burn , it was part of the independent compass . The much more middling - pricedRTX 3080was debate the “ flagship ” of the multiplication , but by bringing a Titan - year choice into the main mathematical product stack , Nvidia was readjusting expectations .
One generation later , the RTX 4090 was suddenly the “ flagship . ” Of of course , Nvidia made anRTX 4080 , but it was n’t the GPU on every PC gamer ’s lips . The RTX 4090 was . In the course of one generation , Nvidia ’s flagship offering go from $ 700 to $ 1,600 , more than double the price . Nvidia had to justify a terms that it had never push its GPUs to in the yesteryear .
And boy , did it justify the price increase . Unlike artwork lineup traditionally of the Titan kin , the RTX 4090 actually provided a good value for the money . It was a better value than the RTX 3090 , well than the RTX 3080 , and even better than AMD’sRX 6950 XT . This was a flagship that did n’t assume the approximation of fall returns . Even at $ 1,600 , Nvidia was not only keeping pace with the cost - to - execution ratio in the old generation — it was exceeding it .
It was something we had never seen before . Nvidia could claim dominance with cards like the RTX 3090 Ti , but you were forced to throw any musical theme about value out the window . When the RTX 4090 was released , it was nearly 70 % quicker than the next fastest graphics card you could buy . That ’s an telling generational uplift anywhere , get alone on a flagship GPU .
Already , with the RTX 5090 , we can see how much lower the generational uplift is . With Nvidia ’s latest flagship , you ’re front at a boost of around 30 % , which is a far war cry from what Nvidia delivered with the RTX 4090 . We ’re only one generation on , but the RTX 4090 feels like an anomaly compared to both past and current generations , and based on the direction of microcomputer ironware innovation , we may never see a flagship that can bear on the same spirit level .
Innovation is slowing
Moore ’s Law . It ’s a concept that only Intel seems to be defend these Day — it coined the term , after all — with Nvidia and now even AMD recognizing that it ’s coming to an end . deliver double over the electronic transistor compactness for half of the toll every 18 months has n’t been the reality of PC hardware for old age , and now , the pace of excogitation is so scummy that it’sbecoming too much to ignore .
The conception of Moore ’s Law has been a north star for the PC diligence , and it ’s served to get a disparate group of companies on board with a shared vision . Nvidia did n’t postulate to invest billions in the next epoch of semiconductor equipment manufacturing ; TSMC was already doing it . Like clockwork , transistor got smaller and smaller , let companies like Nvidia to squeeze more and more of them on a graphics card without take up supernumerary blank space .
Yes , even as recently as the RTX 4090 , Nvidia was do on the idea of Moore ’s Law . There were 28.3 billion junction transistor on the RTX 3090 , with a density of 45.1 million per square millimeter . For the RTX 4090 , Nvidia packed in 76.3 billion , and at more than triple the density — 125.3 million per satisfying mm . liken that leap now to the RTX 5090 . It has a bump in transistors up to 92.2 billion , but alowerdensity at 122.9 million per hearty millimetre .
It ’s not a surprise , either , as Nvidia is using the same TSMC N4 node for its RTX 50 - series GPUs as it did with its RTX 40 - series GPUs . It ’s the first time ever that Nvidia has used the same node across two different generation , and it ’s a telling sign of the time . The beastly - force method acting of squeezing more junction transistor on a microchip just does n’t operate like it used to
Nvidia ca n’t deliver a generational uplift on the stratum of the RTX 4090 unless transistors get pocket-size , and that ’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach . If we do ever see a flagship that can lead the pack like the RTX 4090 has , it wo n’t come from jump down to a smaller leaf node .
A shortcut
Do n’t vex , we ’re not just go bad to get the same graphics card over and over again . Nvidia is already establishing solutions to increase operation , and I ’m trusted there will be even more in the future . The idea of a “ performance rise ” just looks a piffling bit unlike than it used to .
It ’s not surprising that Nvidia debutedDLSS 4 Multi - Frame GenerationalongsideRTX 50 - series GPUs . Although Nvidia delivered a carrying into action encouragement with the RTX 5090 , that for the most part came as a function of a larger chip and more power compare to the RTX 4090 . If you need grounds of that , just look at theRTX 5080 . When descale down to a more sane level of die size and great power , Nvidia is only delivering a tenuous jut in public presentation , hoping to make up the deficit with AI - generated frames .
That ’s the raw melodic theme of a public presentation boost . AI is the moral force that break through the bushed oddment of Moore ’s Law , for secure or worse . or else of just give every pixel faster , we ’ll picture fewer pixels and make up the remainder with AI . That happens through upscaling , through frame generation , and now even through multi - frame propagation .
I know the idea of “ fake ” frame and upscaled prototype rubs some folks the wrong style , and I get it . When graphics card cost thousands of dollars , you ’d desire for more than just software betterment . But with design in process slow down to a creep , those are the route where carrying into action improvements will come from . If you ’re hold out hope for another RTX 4090 - scale improvement in raw carrying out , you ’re going to be let down .
There may be some massive leap forward in performance in the future , but it wo n’t face the same as what we see with the RTX 4090 . As much as I ’m rooting for more herculean graphics cards for year to come in — disregardless of if they come from Nvidia or not — it ’s important to reset expectations in the meanwhile .
