Gamers and PC enthusiasts around the world are tingling with excitement for the launch of the latest Nvidia graphics cards. The Nvidia 40 series is expected to launch sometime in October 2022, with the 4090 being the flagship GPU. Several leaks have found their way into the public domain, and if they are authentic, anyone able to get their hands on an Nvidia 4090 is in for a real treat.
The Nvidia 30 Series launched in September 2020 and was a big step up from the previous GeForce 20 generation. Processing power was up across all measurables, with the 3090 being the flagship card, although the 3090 Ti superseded it. The 3090 Ti has 24GB of memory and 384 TFLOPS processing power. Compare that to a PlayStation 5 with 10.3 TFLOPS, and you see how impressive the 3090 Ti is.
Nvidia 4090 Performance Leaked
A Huge Jump in Processing Power
The problem with Nvidia’s 30 Series GPUs was, and still is to some degree, availability. A global COVID-19 pandemic coupled with a worldwide shortage of electrical components pushed prices through the roof. Demand for top-tier graphics cards is still incredibly high from people who only use their PC to check the latest online sportsbook reviews, up to video editing professionals. Why then has Nvidia developed a new generation of graphics cards? One, because it can, and two, because the Nvidia 40 Series marks an incredible jump in processing power.
Well-known leaker “Kopite7kimi” on Twitter tweeted earlier this week that the benchmark testing score of an RTX 4090 was 19,000. Kopite7kimi’s exact tweet reads, “RTX 4090, TSE >19000.” For those who are unaware, TSE is an acronym for Time Spy Extreme, a popular benchmarking test used by the PC community. Is a Time Spy Extreme score of 19,000 good? It is more than good; it is incredible.
Time Spy Extreme runs in 4K resolution and puts the graphics card under extreme load and stress. A score of 19,000 is nothing short of astonishing. The Nvidia 3090 Founders Edition scored 9,955, meaning the 4090 is almost 100% faster than the already excellent 3090! The 3090 Ti, released in early 2022, “only “scores around 11,000, making the 4090 more than 70% faster than the best graphics card currently on the market.
What Are the Expected Specifications of the RTX 4090?
Nvidia is a company that always keeps its cards close to its chest. The information that becomes available only does so because the company wants it in the public domain. Details of the 4090 are scarce, but everything points to t being the first so-called Lovelace GPU for Nvidia. Memory will almost certainly remain at 24GB like its 3090 predecessors, while clock speeds are touted to be 2.5 GHz. However, expect third-party cards with advanced cooling solutions to increase those speeds to 2.7GHz or even higher.
Other leaks suggest 16,384 CUDA cores, up from 10,752 in the 3090. All this extra processing power comes with two significant drawbacks: power consumption and retail price. All the available information suggests the 4090 will be power hungry and require 450W on its own. A 3090 Ti pulls around 315 watts when pushed to the maximum, so many will need a power supply upgrade that can cope with the demands of the new card.
Then there is the price. Again, Nvidia is well-known for keeping costs secret until the last possible moment. There have been no confirmed 4090 prices, although industry insiders believe the prices will not be too much of a premium over the current 30 Series. It is challenging to think Nvidia will not stick a couple of hundred bucks over the previous generation, so we are probably looking at a figure in the region of $2,000 MRSP. This could lead to some proper bargains for those who are not bothered about having the latest tech in their machines.
