Overclocked Nvidia mobile RTX 4090 GPU can beat even a desktop RTX 3090 Ti

While the performance difference between same generation laptop-grade and desktop-grade Nvidia GPUs is clearly hinginging on the power constraints coming with the mobile versions, it is still impressive to see how much more efficient GPUs can become from one generation to the next, especially in the case of a mobile RTX 4090. Jumping from Samsung’s 8 nm nodes to TSMC’s 4 nm nodes, an overclocked RTX 4090 laptop GPU can now beat a desktop RTX 3090 Ti, as demonstrated by Reddit user Kelzs, as well as Notebookcheck’s own tests.

According to our comparison tool, the desktop RTX 3090 Ti GPU can score 21,645 points on average in the 3DMark Time Spy test. The RTX 4090 laptop GPU, on the other hand, can score 22,254 (MSI TItan GT77 - possibly factory overclocked), and can even be pushed to 22,339 points with a 250+ MHz overclock on the Razer Blade 18. These gains are not limited only to synthetic tests, but may be seen with content creation loads and some games, as well. Particularly impressive seeing that the laptop GPU is limited to 175 W, while the previous gen desktop GPU requires 400+ W. Admittedly, a new RTX 4090 laptop could cost more than double compared to a desktop RTX 3090 Ti card, especially if we look at Razer’s prices, but apparently that is justifiable for mobile solutions these days.

It should also be noted that the performance gap between top-tier desktop and laptop solutions slightly increased since the last generation. Our Time Spy test comparing the RTX 3080 Ti laptop GPU and the RTX 3090 Ti desktop model shows a performance gap of ~57% for maximum Time Spy scores between the two previous gen GPUs. Comparisons between the desktop RTX 4090 and the laptop RTX 4090 reveal a 62% performance gap. Of course, Nvidia is not even using the same SKUs for these models, as the laptop RTX 4090 is just a cut-down desktop RTX 4080 with limited TGP. Yet, somehow, the mobile efficiency gains over last gen desktop are still nothing to sneeze at.

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