GeForce RTX 3090 vs GeForce RTX 4090

Intro

Compare all that to the GeForce RTX 4090, which features a core clock speed of 2235 MHz and a GDDR6X memory frequency of 1325 MHz. It also uses a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 4 nm design. It is comprised of 16384 SPUs, 512 Texture Address Units, and 176 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

Hide Graphs

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce RTX 3090		350 Watts
GeForce RTX 4090		450 Watts
	Difference: 100 Watts (29%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce RTX 4090 should be just a bit faster than the GeForce RTX 3090 in general. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1042432 MB/sec
GeForce RTX 3090		958668 MB/sec
	Difference: 83764 (9%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce RTX 4090 is much (more or less 150%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce RTX 3090. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		1144320 Mtexels/sec
GeForce RTX 3090		457560 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 686760 (150%)

Pixel Rate

If using a high screen resolution is important to you, then the GeForce RTX 4090 is a better choice, and very much so. (explain)

GeForce RTX 4090		393360 Mpixels/sec
GeForce RTX 3090		156240 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 237120 (152%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the max amount of information (in units of MB per second) that can be transferred across the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, the result should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by 4 instead. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are processed in one second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total number of texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly record to the local memory in one second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is calculated by multiplying the number of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - also sometimes called Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.