RTX 4090 review roundup reveals class-leading performance/W for the GPU as it is up to 70% faster than the RTX 3090 at 4K

By now, it is quite clear that the RTX 4090 is a beastly performer. The flagship AD102-based board can drive most modern games at 4K with high refresh rates. Coupled with DLSS 3 Frame Generation that boosts fps quite a bit and you can understand how the RTX 4090 can even play games at 8K. To see how much of an upgrade the RTX 4090 is over the previous-gen RTX 3090, 3DCenter has aggregated RTX 4090 review results from several different tech outlets. Unsurprisingly, the numbers paint a remarkable picture for the Lovelace GPU.

Per 3DCenter’s report, the RTX 4090 is, on average, 70% faster than the RTX 3090 at 4K (2160p) when it comes to rasterization performance. At QHD (1440p), the delta shrinks to 49% and drops further to 31% at FHD (1080p). Since the RTX 4090 is so powerful, it is reasonable to deduce that the lower performance bump at FHD and QHD may be due to CPU bottlenecks.

The RTX 4090 proves even faster in raytracing scenarios. On average, the card is 87% better than the RTX 3090 and 69% faster than the RTX 3090 Ti at 4K with RT effects enabled. Once again, the performance bump is less at lower resolutions. At QHD and FHD with RT, the RTX 4090 is 67% and 49% ahead of the RTX 3090 respectively.

While the Lovelace flagship has a TDP of 450 W, 3DCenter claims that, across the different reviews, the GPU never consumes 450 W or more during gaming. Because the RTX 4090 is significantly speedier compared to the RTX 3090 Ti and the RTX 3090, the board has much better performance/W than the Ampere flagships.

For instance, at 4K, the RTX 4090 has 73% better performance/W than the RTX 3090 Ti and 46% compared to the RTX 3090. Although considerably smaller, the Lovelace flagship also enjoys an efficiency lead over the RX 6950 XT (49%) and the RX 6900 XT (35%).

Long story short, the RTX 4090 is looking like an incredible release for Nvidia, at least in terms of performance and efficiency upgrade over Ampere. It remains to be seen how well these improvements translate down the stack to the RTX 4080 in November and, hopefully, comparatively cheaper Lovelace boards next year.

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