3 Reasons Why You Should Skip the RTX 3090 Ti
At CES 2022, NVIDIA announced the flagship RTX 3090 Ti graphics card, which replaced the RTX 3090 as the most powerful Ampere GPU. This announcement seemed bizarre considering the Ampere lineup launched in late 2020, shortly before it ran into supply issues.
NVIDIA’s RTX 3090 Ti is one of the best consumer graphics cards on the market, but is it really worth the price tag? Here, we’ll discuss why purchasing the RTX 3090 Ti is a bad idea.
1. The RTX 3090 Ti Is Barely Faster Than a 3090
Sure, the RTX 3090 Ti is the fastest and best-performing GPU for gaming at the moment, but how much faster is it than the standard RTX 3090?
Well, we hate to break it to you, but the 3090 Ti is only 10 percent faster than the regular 3090 that has been around since September 2020. This is a major disappointment considering it carries the “Ti” tag that gamers love. Here’s why:
Back in 2017, NVIDIA launched the GTX 1080 Ti for $699, which delivered 30 percent more performance than the standard GTX 1080, priced at $599. You got substantial performance gains for just $100 more. Even the RTX 2080 Ti from late 2018 offered 20 percent more performance than the standard RTX 2080, though the performance gap was narrower for a much bigger price difference.
A 10 percent performance improvement over a graphics card from 2020 seems lazy on NVIDIA’s part. We believe NVIDIA could’ve skipped this model altogether since the company is known to refresh its GPU lineup every two years.
More importantly, if you already own an RTX 3080 Ti or RTX 3090, you could squeeze out 3-5% more performance by simply overclocking your GPU rather than shelling out thousands for a new 3090 Ti.
2. The RTX 3090 Ti Costs a Hefty Premium
Make no mistake, the standard RTX 3090 is already pretty expensive, costing more than twice that of the RTX 3080. And if that wasn’t enough, NVIDIA is charging a hefty $500 premium for the RTX 3090 Ti over the 3090. That’s right; a new RTX 3090 Ti will set you back at $1,999, assuming you can find one at MSRP.
Considering the GPU prices are already exorbitantly high, don’t be surprised to find scalpers listing them for double the price. Plus, you need to ask yourself whether a 10 percent improvement in your frame rates is worth the extra $500 that NVIDIA expects you to pay.
Regardless, as long as you have the cash to burn, the cost of the RTX 3090 Ti shouldn’t be a problem, as all you probably care about is getting the most powerful GPU on the planet. But that’s where the next point comes in.
3. NVIDIA’s RTX 4000 GPUs Will Outdate the RTX 3090 Ti
As we briefly mentioned earlier, NVIDIA refreshes its GPU lineup every two years. For the record, the Pascal-based GTX 1000-series GPUs launched in 2016, the Turing-based RTX 2000-series graphics cards came out in 2018, and lastly, the Ampere lineup hit the shelves in 2020.
Considering we already know that it’s code-named Ada Lovelace, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect the next-gen RTX 4000 series later in 2022. Besides, industry experts believe the flagship models will go on sale by Q4 of 2022.
So, if you shell out two grand on a 3090 Ti right now, your fancy new GPU will likely get outdated by the end of 2022, which is something you probably wouldn’t want. Ideally, at this point, it’s better to play the waiting game, considering the RTX 4000 GPUs are expected to bring massive performance gains over the current generation.
NVIDIA’s RTX 3090 Ti Suffers From Bad Timing and Pricing
The RTX 3090 Ti is an excellent GPU, without a doubt, but NVIDIA could’ve launched this model several months ago, and it would’ve made much more sense. Furthermore, the company could’ve announced the 3090 Ti at the same price as the 3090 and slashed prices across the lineup.
Instead, NVIDIA took advantage of the GPU shortage situation and decided to milk as much money as possible. If you don’t have a high-end graphics card yet, your best option is to buy and use a budget GPU until the next-gen models hit the shelves in 2022.