4080 or 4090 (future proofing?)

[drumn_bass]

Hey guys, I know the 4080 vs 4090 question has been asked a thousand times, but I want to run my scenario by you all and see what you think.

 

Here is the deal, completely honest. I don't even "need" either one of these GPUs, but a bit of a background... a few months ago, I upgraded my 3070 to 4070Ti, and was happy with it, but shortly after, I found out that I will be losing my job within 2 months (lay-offs), and had to do a responsible thing, and return the 4070Ti with a plan to upgrade after I get my employment situation resolved. Now I have. Got a new job, and still got a decent chunk of severance money left, so I decided to not only go ahead and get that new GPU I wanted, but also sort of reward or spoil myself and go ahead and get something a bit nicer, like a 4080 or 4090.

 

(not considering Radeon. Tried them. Didn't like them. No offense to anyone, just not for me).=

 

I can technically afford either one. I'm not rich or anything, but $400 price difference is not a concern. There are a couple of things I keep getting stuck on, however. I actually already picked up a 4080 FE, and it's great. I game at 1440p, so performance is awesome, it stays cool and quiet. There is a bit of coil whine, but I only hear it if right next to the case. No complaints at all. Love it. But I keep thinking that, heck, why not just go for 4090 FE at this point? Might as well, no? So the more I think about it, the more I can't decide what I want to do. With everything in consideration, I figured that for me the most important points at this time are:

 

1. How long should either card last? I know that right now both are an overkill, with 4080 technically making a bit more sense for 1440p, however, with that extra power of the 4090, and 8GB more VRAM, I keep wondering just how much longer it can remain a good performer over the years compared to 4080. For example, if the 4080 is expected to be relevant around 5 years, and 4090 around 7 (before new games become too demanding for them), that's around 40% (of extra time with a card), which is basically in line with that 35% more money for the 4090 anyway, and around 30% more performance, so that makes no difference. But if we're talking 5 years with 4080, vs 10 years with 4090, their price difference starts making a lot more sense (I suspect it will not be the case).

 

2. Power consumption. I see that under load, both cards stay at around the same temps, within 2-3 degrees. The PDT however is around 100W higher on the 4090. Trying to convert it into electricity cost savings is pointless for me, the amount I spend on gaming makes it like $6 more per year to run a 4090. Who cares? What I am thinking about is my PSU, which is a 850W Corsair, and it is technically enough, but cutting it close with the 4090. Also, the issue with some melted power cables/connectors. I know it's not as widespread as some people may want to make it sound, and also both 4080 and 4090 are supposed to have an updated power connector design, but I keep hearing of some new cases of this happening even today, and while it mostly affects 4090s, there were some 4080s having this issue as well, just not nearly as often. It seems, so that extra 100W may be the differentiating factor there.

 

Those are basically the 2 main things. The rest of my system is: 12700K, 64GB DDR4 3600, M.2 gen 4 SSDs. I know both cards can take advantage of a more powerful system, but the idea is when it's time to build a new one, the same card should still be good for it. There are a couple of small things, like the 4090 comes with a free copy of Alan Wake 2 right now, not a dealbreaker or maker, I don't need it, but a free game is a free game:) On the other hand, for that $400, well, there are a lot of other nice things I can buy. I'm leaning towards keeping the 4080, but that "I can have the best", at least for now, feeling is eating me up. How can I shake it off? There are also rumors of possible Ti models coming out soon, but I don't want to wait. Waited long enough, plus both cards have a 10% off coupon at Best Buy, which may or may not work on those new cards, assuming there is enough stock. My price is actually $1080 for 4080 and $1440 for 4090.

 

What would you do? It's really looking like the 4090 is ~35% more money for ~35% more card, so there is really no real advantage, in my case, it all comes down to future proofing, and as we all know, trying to future-proof in PC world is a pointless endeavor, right? Plus the power related considerations, will it be a waste to go with 4090?

 

(BTW, I have no one I can brag about having the best card on the market to, my wife won't be impressed, so there is that:)

[SansVarnic]

please stop using the term futureproofing, its an unrealistic sad stretch of a poorly used descriptive way of saying something that is quite unachievable. 

[drumn_bass]

7 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

please stop using the term futureproofing, its an unrealistic sad stretch of a poorly used descriptive way of saying something that is quite unachievable. 

No I get it, I said it myself: "...as we all know, trying to future-proof in PC world is a pointless endeavor...".

 

So, would you say there no point to go with 4090 hoping it will meaningfully outlast the 4080 in performance? I know my post is a wall of text, and I'm sorry about that.

[Tetras]

You have the 4080, you're happy with it, I'd just keep it. For 1440p it is overkill anyway.

 

In reference to how long they will last, I somehow doubt you won't have a case of upgraditus way before either card is obsolete.

[drumn_bass]

1 minute ago, Tetras said:

You have the 4080, you're happy with it, I'd just keep it. For 1440p it is overkill anyway.

 

In reference to how long they will last, I somehow doubt you won't have a case of upgraditus way before either card is obsolete.

Well, that's a great point. I can technically still live with the 3070, so I suspect whatever I get, I probably won't be using it for 5-7 years anyway. Thanks for your input!

[Crunchy Dragon]

You might get another 2-3 years or so out of a 4090 than a 4080. Both cards will be relevant for at least 6 years, and should be viable choices for at least 10.

 

Realistically, and the obvious pain point with graphics cards in the modern era, you're limited to whatever Nvidia decides for whatever the newest graphics technology is. When you buy a graphics card, you're more buying the software and technologies that GPU allows you to use(until such a time as the manufacturer adjusts it) than you are the actual hardware itself.

 

If you don't care about the newest and shiniest graphics technology and maybe do a little bit of overclocking, there's no reason you shouldn't get 10+ years of use out of either card, depending on how the game industry goes and how your use case evolves.

 

Personally, I've given up entirely on building one PC to rule them all for the conceivable future, I find it more beneficial to do smaller upgrades every 3-5 years as I feel they become necessary.

[drumn_bass]

Ok guys, thank you all for your input. Just to close the loop on this, and in case anyone else finds it looking for the same info, here is what I did.

 

I posted at first that I was keeping the 4080, and it would have been fine, but I have a confession to make. I'm an idiot and have that money burning a hole in my pocket, so changing my mind for the 50th time, I saw the 4090 available for order at Best Buy with a 10% coupon and a free game again, so I ordered it. All the reason be damned... I want it. 

 

Conclusion:

1. A smart thing to do would be to keep the 4080.

2. Nothing wrong with being a bit less smart if you have a few extra bucks and get a 4090.

 

Either one would make most gamers very happy.

 

Another part of this decision was a release of new Intel CPUs, and seeing how much power they demand, and how little of the actual real life gaming improvement they offer, I feel better about using a 12700K. If I needed a new CPU from the latest refresh, my 850W PSU would definitely have to be upgraded, but with 12700K and its 125W TPD, I don't think I'll have any issues for a while. When the time comes when I feel I need more, I will probably just build a new Ryzen X3D system.

[ewitte]

The 4090 is so far ahead of the 4080 it isn't worth it for the $400 difference.

[drumn_bass]

On 10/16/2023 at 4:22 PM, ewitte said:

The 4090 is so far ahead of the 4080 it isn't worth it for the $400 difference.

@ewitte

 

Sorry, I assume you mean the 4080 is not worth it, right? I think they both make sense in their own way, to be honest, but with 4090, it definitely looks like we just don't have the games yet to take a full advantage of all of its power.

[Echothedolpin]

If you want to future proof:

 

Buy a second tier card used from the previous generation. Use the money you saved to upgrade every two years in the same fashion.

 

Plus if you have a catastrophic failure, you’ve saved money to replace parts.

 

 

 

[drumn_bass]

16 hours ago, Echothedolpin said:

If you want to future proof:

 

Buy a second tier card used from the previous generation. Use the money you saved to upgrade every two years in the same fashion.

 

Plus if you have a catastrophic failure, you’ve saved money to replace parts.

 

 

 

@Echothedolpin

 

That does make sense, but on the other hand, if instead of doing that, I just buy a top tier card now and let's say 6 years later, wouldn't it still likely be at least around the same level as a second tier card from a couple of years ago at that point? I hope it makes sense. 

 

Just to make sure I understand, when you say a second tier, do you means something like 3080? So when the 50 gen launches, I can get a 4080? 60 gen a 5080, or even 5070/70Ti, and finally say 6070Ti when the 70 gen cards launch, assuming a new generation every 2 years. Let's say it cost $500 to upgrade in this fashion, in 6 years I'll be looking at $2000, minus say I resell my previous cards for $300 a pop, $1100. Or I buy a 4090 now for $1440, it's technically a bit more, but I get to enjoy the top tier power for the whole 6 years, can still sell it at that time, let's say for $400-$500, so actually around the same overall, if not even a bit cheaper, plus less hustle with buying/selling used cards. 

 

I have a feeling, and there are some rumors, that Nvidia might be going away with the whole new generation refresh every couple of years, which might make things even more complicated, plus I just saw some reports of 4090s actually going up in price in Europe... IDK man, just the uncertainty of how these things will develop, plus the inflation/world state and stuff like that, I kind of feel like who knows, this might be the last chance to grab something really good, before it all goes to sh...

[Lukjo]

Hard to tell whats future proofing at this point

With Nvidia nothing is future proof... they will lock out features from older cards just to sell the new ones

exemple? : 4060 having the same performance as a 3060 and the only selling point is dlss 3.5 and frame gen

Whats more funny is that there was a driver bug that allowed 20 and 30 series cards to use frame gen which nvidia said its not possible but they patched that silently (so much for hardware limited feature huh)

 

So future proofing for performance,sure the 4090 in terms of performance wont ever fall out of favor,i dont really imagine games becoming more performance heavy,unless they become less optimized... but that wont include feature proofing since nvidia will lock you out of future features in order to sell their new cards.

Nvidia will eventually make you consider to buy the 50 series cards with their shiny new feature (you might not,but u will still consider the thought, thats how they get you)

 

IF not the 50 series,maybe the 60 series will pull you in harder with the newer shinnny new feature, maybe DLSS 5.0 with a frame gen that works at lower frame rates,making sure ur GPU wont become obsolete ,but... only available for 70 series. U get the gist? Nvidia will always have something to pull users in to upgrade regardless what they bought and where they bought

 

I see you gave in and bought the 4090, not a bad purchase but was a bad purchasing decision, but then again its your money and your wants

I also did the same ,upgraded from my 3070 to the 6950xt cause i saw a sweet deal (also saw that my 3070 was immediatly becoming obsolete with its lack of VRAM and seeing how Nvidia is already feature locking my card into the nothing realm,at least i can hope AMD will keep me up to date with features)

bad purchasing decision? yes 100%

But at the end of the day its my money and i wont try to justify my purchases

[jaslion]

Just get a lower tier and upgrade later. In 2-4 years a 4090 will easily be beaten by the next 70 tier.

 

It's what I do. I get last gen top end when the prices CRASH which it did for a 3090. Don't need to worry about vram, undervolt it lost 3% performance but half the power and it's trucking on was600 total

[RevGAM]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:16 PM, SansVarnic said:

please stop using the term futureproofing, its an unrealistic sad stretch of a poorly used descriptive way of saying something that is quite unachievable. 

Is that an actual rule or just something you don't like? Cuz I future-proof whenever I can. 

[RevGAM]

On 10/13/2023 at 8:32 PM, Crunchy Dragon said:

(until such a time as the manufacturer adjusts it)

Which is to say: until Nvidia's increasing greed causes them to decide to handicap your GC by disabling and reducing the functions to force you to buy a new one. 

 

Judging by how itchy the OP seems to be about having bleeding-edge tech, I doubt that issue applies, though.

20 hours ago, drumn_bass said:

So when the 50 gen launches, I can get a 4080? 60 gen a 5080, or even 5070/70Ti

They would likely not sell it as a 5080, since the 4080 is basically equivalent to about a 3070, so it's be sold as a 5080 Ti or 5090...

[ewitte]

On 10/17/2023 at 4:34 PM, drumn_bass said:

@ewitte

 

Sorry, I assume you mean the 4080 is not worth it, right? I think they both make sense in their own way, to be honest, but with 4090, it definitely looks like we just don't have the games yet to take a full advantage of all of its power.

No, the 4080 isn't worth it.  If I wanted something in that class and wasn't a fan of RTX I would have just got a 7900XTX.