RTX 4090 - actually future proof?

[Vexr]

Especially for us 1440p / UWQHD 3440x1440 users. Are we talking about rock solid max settings with ray tracing at these resolutions at 100-120-144 Hz? Even the power consumption scales when it's under-utilized.

Sure, currently it's said the 4090 is wasted on anything less than a high refresh rate 4K display. However, looking back at a previously mega-OP GPU, the 1080 Ti, I'm sure that was once considered wasted on 1080p displays, yet now 1080p is the only category it can truly bring a high FPS experience to still.

Also there is no new technology on the near horizon that might render the 4090 obsolete as far as I'm aware of. Sounds to me like you could buy the 4090, and that might be a GPU that will last you 5 years+ or more at 1440p / UWQHD with DLSS 3.0, maybe evem 6, 7, 8 years.

I'm throwing this out there as Devil's Advocate. I don't want to pay £1600 for a GPU, but if I could actually get a triple A futuristic experience that might last the better part of a decade from a GPU, then that sounds to me like a potential investment.

 

[Vexr]

Some say there is no future proofing, and yet haven't certain Intel processors enjoyed massive unexpected long-term relevance until recently (especially compared with AMD, where even Intel processors from an earlier era outlived their FX series or early Ryzen counterparts massively).

Also the 1080 Ti, which was once considered overkill, turned out to be the only GPU that matched the 2080 in rasterization and it took the 5700 XT to overcome it from AMD, and it stayed relevant long after the rest of the 1000 series fell away into Vega 64 / GTX 1080 territory. Many reacted to the 2000 series launch by snapping up the 1080 Ti.

The 1080 Ti did not have the advantage of DLSS and it was the last really mega-card before ray tracing. The 4090 sounds like it occupies the massively OP territory the 1080 Ti once did, but it has ray tracing and DLSS 3.0 to support it for the rest of its lifetime.

 

[Vexr]

Please describe what the new cards of 2024 are likely to be bringing to the table that make the RTX 4090 obsolete in two year's time.

 

[Vexr]

And yet we're coming off the back of some tech that became 'futureproof', like certain Intel CPUs and graphics cards like the GTX 1080 Ti, which was only dethroned by its lack of DLSS and ray tracing, and the increasing resolution and refresh rates of our displays.

The RTX 4090 looks set to breeze through the problem of max ray tracing, 4K displays, and 100 Hz+, but where it can't, it can summon DLSS 3.0.

Looks like the most plausible case of 'final graphics card' I've ever seen.

 

[Vexr]

To clarify, this is purely academic / speculative on my part. I have no need to justify a 4090 purchase as I'm certainly not getting one any time soon. Other than it costing way more than I'd personally spend on a GPU, I'd have to get a bigger case, probably replace my rather old 750w PSU, and I suspect my motherboard only having PCI-E 3.0 x 16 will make it even more silly for me.

There are new features every generation, but some of them turn out not to catch on despite initially being hyped (Rebar, PhysX maybe?). There are also new features that don't really become useable until a generation or two after their introduction (there was a good example from the old days, can't remember if it was hardware T&L / something to do with shaders) and more recently ray tracing.

There's also surely widening inequality in the hardware of PC gamers. I expect developers will want their games to be playable on the average PC, which currently has around a GTX 1060 level GPU, and the decent cheap upgrades of yesteryear seem to be gone forever. That might act as an anchor on how demanding games can get, allowing a card like the 4090 to dominate on high settings for a long time to come.

Personally I believe 8K and greater than 120-144 Hz displays suffer too much in the way of diminishing returns to be a worthwhile upgrade in terms of image quality and smoothness. As it sounds like the 4090 is going to be hard locked by its DP version to a max of 4K/~120hz, I suspect it could push that with the help of DLSS for a very long time.

 

[Vexr]

Honestly not looking that OP for 3440x1440:

Is still just a 55-60 fps card in Cyberpunk 2077 without DLSS at max settings.

 

[Vexr]

I think the forbidden words 'future proof' has triggered some here.

The only acceptable use of that term was describing AM4, and now AM5, what with AMD's commitments to such platforms.

The RTX 4090 will put any owner of said card massively ahead of the curve, especially while the average PC user continues to use something in the 1060-2060 range.

 

[Vexr]

Here we are, a Youtuber who has committed the sin of calling the 4090 'incredibly futureproof' for 1440p (which can be generalised proportionately to UWQHD)

Mostly I recall 2016's 1080 Ti, and it wasn't until 2019 cards like the Radeon VII, RX 5700 XT, and RTX 2080 could match it 3 years later. That 2016 $700 RRP retrospectively became a bargain, and that was in a time when it and its 2019 competitors had no screwed up inflated economy as a backdrop.

 

[Vexr]

While AMD seems to have potentially cornered the market on a DP 2.1 600 FPS Fortnite experience platform, I get the feeling the rest of us who humbly want to run triple AAA games with ray tracing @ something like 1440p/4K @ > 60-100 fps, we will have to yet again look to the ludicrously overpriced NVidia offerings this generation. Hell, even an ex-mining 3080 for £500 looks to be the card we all should have over AMD's latest and greatest if we want some sweet RT.

 

[Vexr]

Perhaps it's time to revisit this discussion two and a quarter years later

Seems likely the RTX 4090 will be the second best consumer graphics card in existence until very late 2026 / early 2027, so nearly 4.5 years on the podium at first and then second place.

It getting the actually useful parts of DLSS 4.0 should be a massive boost too.

As it stands, I'm even wondering if my 7900 XT will still be in my system and delivering reasonably highish-end performance for 4+ years, especially if FSR 4 comes to RDNA 3