Unless you had been living under a rock, you would know all about how expensive it was to get GPUs in the last two years. Scalping was an obvious factor. Due to an already relatively short supply because of the silicon chip shortage, scalpers stockpiled on GPUs and sold them for multiple times the MSRP. But perhaps there was an even bigger issue; crypto mining. Ethereum was, until recently, the only crypto of its stature where GPU mining for profit was still practical.
But recently, GPU prices have started to go down big time. One of the biggest reasons this has happened is because of the Ethereum merge. Tom’s Hardware has an excellent article about this that you should totally check out. But this drop in GPU prices means that a bunch of top-notch gaming hardware is up for grabs at much more reasonable prices. The RTX 3090 is one of the most powerful commercially available graphics cards on the market. It’s nowhere near as expensive as it used to be, albeit still pretty costly. So, the question arises, is the RTX 3090 worth buying? Also, is the RTX 3090 worth buying over the 3080, which is a great card for considerably less money?
Why should you buy the RTX 3090?
The RTX 3090 is best suited for the gaming enthusiast with a relaxed budget. If you’re looking for something top of the line, it’ll do you a lot of good. Here’s some factors where the RTX 3090 shows its worth.
Gaming Performance
Especially when compared to its predecessors in the RTX 20 series lineup, the 3090 is a massive upgrade in terms of performance from GPUs of old. For one, you have much faster clock speeds, more than double the memory from the 2080 series and impressive power efficiency despite its 350W rating. The cherry on top is that there’s thousands of additional CUDA cores, which go a long way in determining the visual quality of your games. There’s so much more that goes into the specifics of a GPU, PassMark has outlined a comprehensive list of details and benchmark results for all you geeks out there. In short, you will comfortably be able to hit 4K graphics and very high framerates across the latest titles with the RTX 3090. Flight Simulator Setup ranked it very highly amongst the Best Graphics Cards for MSFS2020. If you know anything about MSFS 2020, you know it’s a very demanding title to run. For some of you, the RTX 3090 is worth it for that reason alone.
8K Gaming
Some of you might be taken aback by this, 4K gaming is only just starting to get popular. Make no mistake though, 8K is where the industry is inevitably heading. In some aspects, its already here. Forza Horizon 5 offers an 8K option at max settings, and let us just say that the visuals are absolutely breathtaking. For that matter, none of the RTX 3090’s predecessors are quite as capable in pushing those pixels and offering that stunning visual experience. You simply get the most playable experience with the RTX 3090 (and of course the 3090 TI too but more on that later).
Futureproofing
When you buy a graphics card that is as expensive as the RTX 3090, you would expect it to last you some time. Nobody here has seen the future, but considering the track record of high-end graphics cards throughout the years and given the RTX 3090’s brilliant specifications, we’d say you’re in good hands. We’ve already discussed how the 3090 is going the right way with 8K gaming, but futureproofing means a lot more. For one, you’ll consistently get high FPS and resolution numbers for a long time. The RTX 3090 should support games coming out over multiple generations of console hardware for several years to come. Finally, you should be able to get some decent money out of this even if you do sell it down the line because the GPU market is volatile and GPUs do a lot more than just gaming. Us being gamers though are really only concerned with performance and getting our money’s worth for many years. The RTX 3090 will surely do that, and will be worth buying as a long-term investment too.
Is the RTX 3090 Worth It Over the RTX 3080?
The RTX 3090 is clearly a very good piece of hardware, but is it really that much better than its immediate predecessor in the RTX 3080? Let’s quickly compare some performance numbers for a few games on the 3090 vs the 3080.
| Game | Average Frame Rate 3090 vs 3080 | 1% Min FPS 3090 vs 3080 |
|---|---|---|
| Death Stranding, 4K, Very High Quality, TAA. | 113 FPS vs 107 FPS | 99 FPS vs 97 FPS |
| Horizon Zero Dawn, 4K, Ultimate Quality. | 79 FPS vs 73 FPS | 59 FPS vs 50 FPS |
| Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege [Vulkan], 4K, Ultra Quality, 100% Render Scale | 201 FPS vs 174 FPS | 176 FPS vs 152 FPS |
| 14 Game Average, 4K, High Quality | 120 FPS vs 108 FPS | 99 FPS vs 89 FPS |
Surprisingly, the RTX 3080 averages very close numbers to the RTX 3090 on paper on top of saving you a few hundred dollars. Mind you, these tests are at 4K and high settings too so this will also speak to the 3080’s capabilities. Moreover, you’ll have a much easier time finding laptops fitted with RTX 3080s rather than 3090s. In fact, here’s a list of Best Laptops For MSFS2020: https://www.flightsimulatorsetup.com/best-laptops-for-microsoft-flight-simulator/
You’ll notice that a third of these have some variant of the 3080. There’s a solid case to be made for the 3080 in terms of immediate benefit.
Should I buy the RTX 3090 TI or the RTX 3090?
The RTX 3090 TI is by all accounts the superior card. It’s newer, and a little faster too. Whether that difference was worth it at the time of launch is debatable, but owing to cuts in GPU prices, some variants of the 3090 and the 3090 TI are more similarly priced. We reckon if you can find a good deal on the 3090 TI, meaning if it is within $100 or so, you should definitely go for the 3090 TI instead.
Final Verdict
If you clicked on this article, you’ve at least considered buying the 3090 at some point. We’ve clearly shown how powerful the 3090 is. It’s performance capabilities and long-term benefits make it an easy recommendation for the high-end user. It is worth it as an investment for several years of top-quality gaming. However, if you’re looking to shave some money and are ok with losing a little bit performance for games out today, the 3080 is worth getting over the 3090. And like we’ve concluded just before this tab, for the right price, the 3090 TI is a good buy over the 3090. We hope this article will help you make the right decision, and as always, happy gaming!
Graphics Card King 