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After much speculation, the RTX 3090 Ti was finally released on March, 29, 2022 - just shy of four months after it was originally announced at CES 2022. The iterative update on the BFGPU saw minor upgrades from 2020's first edition, with the standout differences being the increased bandwidth and memory clock, a boost to 1,008 GB/s and 21 Gbps effective respectively.
That's an insane amount of power, making the RTX 3090 Ti the best graphics card for gaming on a sheer technical level. It's rocking 10,752 CUDA cores, 24GB GDDR6X memory, and a 384-bit memory bus, so while only an incremental upgrade on the OG model, the goalposts have moved ever so slightly.
While we've endeavored to bring you everything we know about the RTX 3090 Ti as well as the availability of RTX 3090 Ti stock, one further question remains: what is this GPU's place in the market in 2022? We're going to bring you all the answers on this front to help you understand whether or not this new video card is right for you.
Who is the RTX 3090 Ti for?
The RTX 3090 Ti finds itself in an odd position from a purely gaming perspective, as even in 4K and 8K, there's nothing that can really throttle this video card. Generally speaking, the same is true for the standard version, too. That's why this new BFGPU iteration finds itself in such a tough spot - if you're after the absolute highest-end available then this video card hits the mark, but all that power offers minimal benefits.
This is because the RTX 3090 Ti offers a roughly 10% power increase over the first model, however, as many modern games aren't coming close to utilizing the potential of the 2020 unit, there's even less to rush the new version. Outside of gaming, the capabilities of this GPU extend to its capabilities with video production, 3D rendering, and other graphics-intensive operating tasks.
If you're just after a graphics card for 4K60 then you're going to be better suited for either the RTX 3070 Ti or the RTX 3080, with the latter offering more consistent performance in 2160p. The RTX 3090 Ti is ideal for anyone who is long overdue for an upgrade, especially if they're scaling up from the GTX 1000-series or before. While a substantial investment, at $1,999, it's very likely to be enough power to carry you through the next decade at least.
How much is the RTX 3090 Ti selling for?
The Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti carries an MSRP of $1,999, however, that's for an Nvidia-made Founders Edition model. More realistically, you can expect to pay between $2,000 - $3,000 depending on the manufacturer, especially if the GPU is a higher-end configuration. Given the current market rate for the stock RTX 3090 at the moment, generally hovering around the $2,000 mark, if you can get in early with the upgrade, you'll be getting a little more power for your money.
If we take a further look at the price vs power performance of the RTX 3090 Ti, then it can be more understanding to see where that considerable MSRP factors in. Compared to the original RTX 3090, you're roughly going to get a 5 - 10 frame advantage in 4K, and closer to a 5 FPS bump in 8K. That's an extra $800 for what amounts to around a 10% improvement.
This is without factoring in the inevitable price hikes which every single Ampere GPU has endured since launch. While the graphics card shortage may be showing signs of slowing down in 2022, it's still very challenging to get your hands on any RTX 30 series card post-launch for actual retail price save for a few specific, and rare, restock instances.
Should you wait for the RTX 40 Series?
If there's credence to everything we know about RTX 40 series, then there are genuinely two answers to this question which all come down to one factor - budget. For the vast majority of PC gamers, leaping in headfirst with the most expensive and powerful flagship GPU on the market isn't going to be as viable, hence why we typically see the entry-level and mid-range options as far more powerful.
It's worth noting that the RTX 3060 Ti was on par with the previous leading Turing video card, the RTX 2080, in many respects, so it stands to reason that Lovelace could outperform Ampere in much the same fashion at a fraction of the cost. What this means is that, should the Q4 2022 release date be correct, we're going to have better-performing graphics cards launching before the year's out.
If you want the best of the best that's available right now, then the RTX 3090 Ti, however iterative of the first model, is the graphics card you're going to want to go for. With that said, though, should you want a video card for a cheaper rate in 4K, and are less concerned with 8K30, then you're probably going to be better suited by what's already available, or what's to come.
Whether the rumored TDPs and price points of Lovelace are true at this point remains to be seen, but with the jump up to PCIe 5.0 compatibility, the next RTX line could be far more powerful, and just as power-hungry. It all depends on whether you want to invest in a futureproofed card now, which, realistically, is going to last a very long time due to its 24GB VRAM, or want to hold off just that little bit more.
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