Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti may have been pushed back: Who cares?
Opinion: So, the most unnecessary GPU has been pushed back, big whoop
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Nvidiaannounced theGeForce RTX 3090 Tiall the way back atCES 2022, and since then we’ve heard nothing officially from the company. However, there has been a lot of talk about what has happened to the BFGPU-Ti.
The latest rumor comes viaThe Verge, which got in touch with Nvidia and was told that the company didn’t have any information about the GPU, but would provide info when it was available. For a graphics card that was supposed to come out at the end of January, it’s getting really close to March.
This isn’t the first I’ve heard of Nvidia’s troubles with the new flagship graphics card. I started hearing word of its delay just days after CES wrapped, and on February 1, there was a leaked EEC entry for a new PCB design for the RTX 3090 Ti. That alone suggests that the graphics card is a little ways out - and we’re getting really close to the point where Nvidia would traditionally wind down production of itsAmpere3000-series cards.
We won’t know definitively what’s going on with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti until Nvidia shares word on it, but it’s not exactly what the GPU world needs right now.
Another expensive graphics card
Of course, because Nvidia never actually came out and revealed the nitty-gritty details about the RTX 3090 Ti, we don’t know how much Team Green was looking to charge for it. However, given that the RTX 3090 retailed for $1,499beforethe graphics card shortage caused prices to skyrocket, it probably won’t be cheap.
Right now, the last thing we need is another graphics card that will likely cost around $2,000beforethe state of the GPU market causes prices to climb. And sure, that situation is starting to improve, but we’re still not at the point where GPUs cost what they’re actually worth, and a super-high-end graphics card like this would cost anarmand a leg.
What we really need right now are actual budget graphics cards - ones that are more affordable than the $249 (about £185, AU$350)RTX 3050or the $199 (about £150, AU$270)RX 6500 XT. It’s unlikely that we’ll seegraphics cardslike that, especially ones that aren’t a complete waste of space, but it would be nice to see products that people can actually buy again. I miss that.
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It’s kind of pointless anyway
Even ignoring the price, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 is too much card for most people. There’s no reason you would actually need one unless you’re just trying to play Cyberpunk 2077 or Dying Light 2 at4Kand you’re too stubborn to turn down any of the quality settings (basically, if you’re like me, specifically). An RTX 3090 Ti probably isn’t going to be much more powerful than the original flavor RTX 3090.
According to an earlierVergereport, the RTX 3090 Ti would have the same specs, just with faster clock speeds for the GPU and VRAM. I can tell you from experience that while the faster clock speeds look nice on paper, they’re not going to translate significantly faster game performance.
Heck, for gamers, the RTX 3090 by itself is overkill, as the 24GB of GDDR6X memory is onlyreally usefulfor creative professionals that are going to be loading it up with Blender or Premiere Pro. If you want the ultimate 4K gaming graphics card, that already exists - and it’s the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti.
That said, the 3080 Ti is almost impossible to buy right now. But even if Nvidia were to launch the RTX 3090 Ti into the wild, it’s unlikely it would be the silver bullet that magically ends the graphics card shortage.
Basically, if the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti were to come out today, it would only serve to get people fanatically refreshing Newegg and give bragging rights to the few people lucky enough to get it in their carts before the stock runs out within a few minutes. At this point, do we really need that?
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN. Previously, she was TechRadar’s US computing editor. She is fat, queer and extremely online. Computers are the devil, but she just happens to be a satanist. If you need to know anything about computing components, PC gaming or the best laptop on the market, don’t be afraid to drop her a line on Twitter or through email.
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