Is the RTX 3090 Ti currently the most powerful GPU?

The RTX 3090 Ti by Nvidia was released this year in March and has the best specifications of any gaming GPU, making it perfect for high-resolution and VR gaming. The top-tier graphics card is the strongest contender on the market until you consider the price.

The 3090 Ti is one of the biggest cards and is 325 mm in length and 150 mm in width, with a weight of 1.67 kg. If you have a comparatively smaller cabinet, you will have trouble trying to house this monster. Also, if you do not have a capable PSU that can provide 450W to the GPU alone, the card's performance will be unstable and cause more problems.

The specifications of the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti are:

• CUDA cores: 10,752
• Boost clock: 1.86 GHz
• Base clock: 1.67 GHz
• Memory: 24 GB GDDR6X
• Required system power: 850 W

Even with such powerful specifications, there are many reasons to not buy this GPU and opt for better alternatives, or even wait for the next generation of GPUs by Nvidia and AMD that are expected to release in Q3 of this year (which could by any time from July to September). Waiting a few months for a better, cheaper GPU does not seem like a bad option.

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Are there any better GPUs than the RTX 3090 Ti?

On paper, no, there is no better GPU than the RTX 3090 Ti for gaming. However, this card has one of the worst price-to-performance ratios as it has an MSRP of $2,000. To make matters worse, getting a graphics card at MSRP is quite difficult in the current market, with scalpers and a worldwide silicon shortage.

A negligible performance bump

The RTX 3090 costs $500 less than the Ti version and is just barely slower than its bigger brother. Benchmarks show that the RTX 3090 Ti is only 10% faster on average, and this does not justify the $500 price bump.

Previously, when Nvidia launched Ti versions of their base card, they usually offered a 30% increase in performance while costing only $100 more. This gave consumers enough reason to buy the costlier GPU.

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Next-generation GPUs are almost here

Nvidia's RTX 40 series GPUs will quickly outdate this GPU even though it will only be a few months old when the new generation cards get released. When a consumer buys the best graphics card, they expect it to stay on top for at least a couple of years.

Unfortunately, Nvidia released this card way too late in the generation cycle, and this does not give consumers a good reason to buy it. It would be a much better decision to wait a few months to buy an RTX 4090 that will likely cost less and have better performance.

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Other cards offer better a price-to-performance ratio

AMD RX 6950 XT comparisons (Image via AMD)

The most powerful card by AMD is the RX 6950XT which was also released late in the generation cycle (in May of this year) but costs $1,100, which is $900 less than the competition. It also offers a significant performance bump over its predecessor, the RX 6900, while only costing $100 more.

In some benchmarks and games, the card performs better than the RTX 3090 Ti and also requires less power, which makes it a much better option unless you are looking for the absolute best GPU right now.

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Conclusion

Though the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti is the most powerful gaming card on the market currently, it will not take long for the next-gen cards to release. Moreover, it is not the best choice for an average gamer, given its price. If users are looking for the best card on the market, they should consider waiting for a few months and buying a GPU from the next generation.