The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 20 Series Graphics Cards Launched

Those of you who have listed in the Hardware Asylum Podcast back in May 2018 may have noticed that we talked extensively about how video cards were back on the market.  If you didn’t catch the show be sure to check it out. 

In that episode we talk about several reasons for why cards were back in stock and one of those was a rumor that a new NVIDIA card was set to be released.  At the time everyone was grasping for any information about the new project and up until “now” nobody had it right.  The name was wrong, the model number was wrong.  In fact the only thing anyone got right was the name of the GPU architecture, Turing.

At Gamescom the NVIDIA CEO announced the new generation of GeForce graphics for gamers called the GeForce RTX.  Unlike previous generations they are hitting the market with ALL of the halo chips including the RTX 2080, RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2070 and RTX 2070 Ti.  In the past the Ti editions would be a cash grab for after the early adopters exhausted the first release and it would seem this time around several things have changed. 

Mind you I didn’t get any of this information from NVIDIA though I’m pretty sure they monitor everything I write so, maybe, just maybe I’ll get an email.

But, I digress

On to what I noticed from my arm chair

• I had already mentioned this but normal and Ti edition cards were announced at the same time.  This is a major change in the NVIDIA release cycle and while they will stage the cards to market they were at least launched at the same time.

• The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is $1200 USD!!  Yes that’s right, twelve hundo.  The GTX 1080 Ti was half that and I have a theory as to why.  Well, two theories.

• Theory #1:  Remember when there was a GPU shortage and retailers would price gouge buyers AND cash flush gamers would pay it?  Well, guess what? those consumers (miners, gamers etc) provided to NVIDIA that people are willing to pay $1200 bux for a video card.  On top of that even if gamers can’t afford to buy the card the miners will be fisting over cash trying to Pokemon every RTX they can find.

• Theory #2: There won’t be a Titan version (not likely) and the RTX 2080 Ti will take the spot while the Quadro cards will fill in the professional gap left by the Titan.

• The NVIDIA Marketing engine is running 120% to re-brand the new cards as the second coming for gamers.  It is all about ray tracing and the ability to get most excellent graphics in real time.  That is no small feat and I applaud them for making it happen however the brutal “in your face” “nobody listens to us cause we are only the leader in performance graphics” “blah blah something about certain generations not reading anymore, thinking YouTube is truthful, laptops are for gaming so, we had better hit them hard with messages they don’t understand” marketing seems a little extreme.  #heyitworked

• There are actually some decent cards in the GeForce RTX line-up and at a reasonable price.  You can get the RTX 2070 for $600 USD and there is promise that downmarket cards like the 2060 and 2050 will likely follow sometime later.  Or, maybe that will be what all of the “extra” GTX 1080 Ti cards will end up becoming.

• The new heatsink design is pretty damn ugly however; I will say that for a factory cooling solution it is better than the old blower design.

• EVGA is doing some amazing things with RTX and will finally break into the 2.5 slot cooler designs.  We can thank NVIDIA for removing 4-Way SLI for that little gem.

• Speaking of SLI I didn’t catch how what would work with the new Turing based cards.  It seems to only be available on the 2080’s and will be using NVLink.  NVIDIA has 4 slot bridges listed on the NVIDIA website so maybe that will be a thing, again?

• Finally, power the new GPUs are super sippy when it comes to power consumption.  RTX 2070 @ 185W while the RTX 2080 Ti tops out @ 260W.

On the positive we have a new GPU on the market and that always makes me excited.  This will expand what games can do, will push VR to the next level and might even bring back 3D Vision!!  (Ha just kidding).  As always I can’t wait to get a card in the lab and really see how powerful it is, how well it overclocks and learn more about the Turing architecture.

I’m also super excited to see how many RTX 20 Series cards Jay (@jayztwocents) will get from NVIDIA so he can gloat about them on his channel.  Inevitably he will later complain about them when everyone else (the board partners) sends over cards for him to review. 

Must be nice! 

Take care and stay tuned.