Last night, at CES 2025, Nvidia finally announced their RTX 50 series graphics cards, and can I just say that I am wise to the RTX 5090’s tricks. A GPU that eats up to 575W and costs £1939 / $1999? Yeah, nice try, Geoffrey N. Vidia, but such a mad card couldn’t possibly exist in reality. It’s clearly only here to make the other ones, the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070, look like better deals.
]]>After nearly a year of public beta honing, the Nvidia App – Team Green’s new one-stop shop for desktop GPU management – is out in full. Not alongside the upcoming RTX 50 series, as rumoured, but right-now-today-this-minute. I’ve been testing out the launch version and while it’s not without some dud features, it does agreeably achieve its stated goal of combining the functions within Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience. And if installing it means never having to use the latter again, well, that’s 149MB well spent.
]]>GeForce Now, Nvidia’s PC-focused game streaming service, will begin calling time on its most muscular of power users. A post on the GFN subreddit announced the introduction of a 100-hour monthly cap (or "allowance"), effective from January 1st 2025 for anyone who signs up after that date. Existing streamists, or anyone who signs up by the end of 2024, will get a year’s grace period before the limit kicks in from January 2026.
]]>Taipei’s annual Computex event is always a big, circled, triple-underlined mark in the PC gaming hardware calendar. Whereas CES splits its focus across tech, cars, and the occasional overdesigned white good, Computex is all computing, all the time, making it a prime source of reveals and showcases for the hardware bits that make games happen.
Sadly, Computex 2024 is unlikely to go down as a classic, largely because this year’s show has been mesmerised by AI and the most tedious applications thereof: search, but different somehow! Run art-stealing generation tools faster! Oh, Computex, what have they done to you, and why do you have seven fingers on one hand?
Granted, AI is a broad field, and not everything about it is necessarily gross or creatively bankrupting. But it also doesn’t deserve to overshadow all the other useful, unexpected, and curiosity-piquing gaming tech that Computex has to offer, from new Steam Deck alternatives to resurrected CPU lineups and promising graphics card updates. Here are those highlights of the show so far...
]]>If the purpose of a tech demo is to induce a flash of thinking "Hey that’s neat," then I’d be lying if I said Nvidia’s Covert Protocol – a playable showcase for their AI NPC tool, Avatar Cloud Engine (ACE) – hadn’t worked on me. If, on the other hand, it’s to develop that thought into "Hey, I want this in games right now," it’s going to take more than a slightly stilted natter with an aspiring bartender.
]]>With a desktop version of the RTX 4050 looking less likely with every turn o’ the Earth, the true entry-level GPU among Nvidia’s current generation solely remains in the realm of gaming laptops. It’s also, I’ll admit, overdue some consideration on RPS. Between the lack of cheap graphics cards among the desktop RTX 40 series, the year-and-a-bit that DLSS 3 has had to grow its compatible games library, and the Steam Deck reminding everyone that portable, low-end gaming can still be pleasurable, now seems like the RTX 4050’s time to shine. Or, at the very least, gently twinkle.
]]>Generative AI is one of the biggest debates raging across not just video games, but art and culture as a whole at the moment. Into that debate has waded the CEO of graphics card giants Nvidia to drop a prediction that can only be described as searingly flammable: we’ll see games where everything seen on-screen is fully generated by AI, in real-time, within the next 10 years.
]]>I still don’t fully understand the rancor with which the RTX 4070 Ti is often regarded. Where some see an overpriced, memory-deprived albatross of a graphics card, I’ve only ever seen a fast and feature-rich GPU whose 12GB of VRAM is demonstrably fine for 99.95% of games at 4K. A better deal than the RTX 4080 for that resolution, in any case.
Now, though, we can all agree: nobody should buy an RTX 4070 Ti. Not when the RTX 4070 Ti Super is here, doing a better, hopefully less contentious job of smooth 4K without demanding RTX 4080 (or, indeed, RTX 4080 Super) levels of investment.
]]>Nvidia's RTX 4070 is a popular mid-range graphics card that delivers good rasterised performance with best-in-class RT and upscaling/frame generation features. Normally it costs around $550, but today you can get a three-fan Gigabyte Windforce model for just $530 thanks to a $20 off voucher at Newegg. To get this price, just use code VGAEXCGBET625 at the checkout.
]]>The RTX 4070 Super is a rather good deal, offering a significant boost in gaming performance over the earlier RTX 4070 - in fact, it's closer to the 4070 Ti than the vanilla 4070. That makes it a great choice for gaming up to 4K, while costing just a bit over the £500 mark - £539 to be accurate after a £50 discount that puts it below the UK RRP of £579.
That price is for a relatively modest Zotac Twin Edge model which fits easily even into small form factor PC, but thanks to the efficiency of the Ada Lovelace architecture the card should still run quite cool and quiet.
]]>If the RTX 4070 Super was all about addressing its predecessor’s so-so performance gains, the RTX 4080 Super’s course correction is more deeply rooted in issues of cold, hard coinage. For better and worse, it turns out – while this Super-fied GPU knocks hundreds off the RTX 4080’s starting price, any excitement for a potential new 4K champion is quickly muted by it barely moving the dial on straight FPS output. If, indeed, it’s not somehow running slower.
]]>The Nvidia tools used to create that raytraced Portal mod and other fanciness are now in open beta, inviting all and sundry to jazz up everything from Deus Ex to Garry's Mod. Nvidia's RTX Remix tech lets people fancify old games by injecting fancy modern lighting, new models, textures 'remastered' by AI, new environmental decoration, and other such fanciness, even if the game doesn't have mod support. I'll be curious to see what people make with this, though I am wary of artlessly pumping new tech into old games.
]]>It’s been two whole graphics card generations since Nvidia last tried the whole Super-branded refresh thing, and from what I recall of that sweaty 2019 summer, most of the updated RTX 20 series cards were meek rejigs of GPUs that didn’t really need replacing in the first place. Having tried the new RTX 4070 Super, though, it looks like Nvidia aren’t just redeeming the Super badge – they might just right the wrongs of the RTX 40 family as a whole.
]]>Nvidia have resurrected their Super refresh branding for a new trio of GeForce graphics cards: the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4080 Super. The announcement, part of the GPU giant’s CES 2024 showcase, was light on specifics about gaming performance – but all three promise marked improvements on their 40 series predecessors. And, in the RTX 4080 Super’s case, even a big ol' price drop.
]]>With refreshed SUPER cards expected in the month ahead, mid-range RTX 40-series graphics cards are seeing heavy discounts at many retailers. One deal that caught our eye this morning is this deal on a Gigabyte RTX 4070 Windforce 3X OC model, which is down to £530.58 when bought from Amazon US via Amazon UK.
The deal price, which includes shipping and import duty, is significantly cheaper than UK-based options from major GPU makers which are in the £560 to £600 range. However, there are cheaper UK options if you're happy with a smaller, non-overclocked Palit card. Palit is more of a budget brand, but is built around the same Nvidia GPU and therefore offers the same performance.
]]>By Nvidia’s count, there are now 500 games and applications that employ DLSS upscaling and ray tracing visual effects – or "RTX technologies," in GPU superpower speak. While there’s arguably some cheekiness behind that count, as ray tracing in particular is not an RTX-exclusive feature, it is nonetheless quite the feat for a set of tools that launched in subjectively auspicious circumstances back in 2018.
]]>Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti is likely one of the hotter properties this Black Friday week; its dual 1080p/1440p capabilities, ray tracing and DLSS 3 support, efficiency, and relatively restrained pricing make it one of the best graphics cards of the current generation. Now, there’s an all-too-rare opportunity to grab one at significantly less than RRP/MSRP, with the triple-fan MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Ventus 3X OC falling to £380 in the UK and $370 in the US.
]]>The RTX 4060 Ti has emerged as something of a sweet spot in Nvidia's current-gen graphics card lineup, being more affordable than the RTX 4070 and above while providing better performance per pound than the 4060 below it - despite some reservations over its 8GB VRAM capacity and relatively modest gen-on-gen performance uplift compared to the RTX 3060 Ti. However, if you want access to Nvidia's DLSS 3 frame generation and 3.5 ray reconstruction features, and one of the most power-efficient cards on the market, then the 4060 Ti is definitely worth a look.
The RTX 4060 Ti normally retails for $400 or higher, but today you can pick up the Zotac Twin Edge OC model for just $370, a sweet $60 savings versus MSRP on one of the best-looking and highest-clocked 4060 Ti models.
]]>Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty is, according to our reviewer Graham, "perhaps the best expansion pack ever made." Feh, small potatoes – Phantom Liberty’s most prestigious achievement is surely how it heralds a new ray tracing feature that makes Cyberpunk 2077 look and run a tiny bit better. On specific settings. And only on GeForce RTX graphics cards. The more expensive ones.
Hello, then, to DLSS 3.5 and its Ray Reconstruction component. Like how DLSS improves visuals and performance with AI-aided upscaling and ant-aliasing, Ray Reconstruction injects some machine learning cleverness into the rendering of ray tracing. Nvidia say Ray Reconstruction cleans up artefacts and reduces the performance impact of RT effects, and judging by how it works in Cyberpunk 2077, I’d say they’re correct – with the caveat that all its enhancements are, ultimately, modest.
]]>Nvidia's RTX 4070 is a great graphics card - but the release of the competing RX 7800 XT has put pressure on Nvidia to drop prices. Combined with a 10% Ebay discount that knocks £55 off the price of a unit from MSI, it's now possible to grab this GPU for just £490 - around the same price as AMD's RX 7800 XT while delivering around 15% better RT performance, while also packing in the frame-rate advantages of DLSS 3 Frame Generation and superior power efficiency.
]]>As with Half-Life 2 RTX, Nvidia have taken to Gamescom to make a heap of DLSS announcements. Chief among these is an upcoming new version, DLSS 3.5, which will add to DLSS 3’s existing toolkit of upscaling and AI frame generation with a new trick named Ray Reconstruction. And it sounds pretty clever, if currently limited in application.
]]>Nvidia are making an early start on their Gamescom announcements, which include the reveal of Half-Life 2 RTX. This incoming mod for the seminal 2004 FPS will, in the style of Portal with RTX, rejig the original game with modern technical goodies like ray tracing, updated environmental details, and Nvidia Reflex support. DLSS will also be on hand to absorb the inevitably mahoosive performance hit from bouncing all those rays around, and that includes DLSS 3, provided you have a compatible graphics card.
It’s being developed by a collective of experienced HL2 modders, Orbifold Studios, without direct input from Valve. No release date yet, as Half-Life 2 RTX – or to use its full name, Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project – is still in the early stages. There is a teaser trailer, though.
]]>For all the big-budget GeForce graphics cards, it’s the firmly mainstream XX60 models that must surely keep the lights on at Nvidia HQ. A glimpse at the current Steam hardware survey reveals that the RTX 3060, RTX 2060, and GTX 1060 are all within the top four most-used GPUs – with the RTX 3060’s laptop version at number five. These are important cards, and messing up the next one would be a disaster.
The RTX 4060 is not a disaster. Ultimately, it a very capable 1080p graphics card, a technical upgrade on the RTX 3060, and (unlike several other RTX 40 series GPUs) arrives at a reasonable price. But it probably doesn’t deserve the apparent immortality of its predecessors, with only modest gen-on-gen performance gains and a heavy reliance on DLSS (including DLSS 3) to expand that difference.
]]>After zhuzhing up Portal with a shiny RTX version last year, Nvidia is at it again. This time, it’s ray-traced the cube-shaped edges of Portal: Prelude, the fan-made mod that serves as a full-length prequel to Valve’s beloved puzzler. You can go and download Portal: Prelude RTX for free now, as long as you’ve got the hardware to run it.
]]>I’m sure you’re all bored of reading about how about how expensive RTX 40 series graphics cards are; I’m certainly bored of writing about it. Thank the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti for its mercy, then – assuming you can find one at RRP, it’s the first of its family not to plonk a price premium over the last-gen equivalent. And even though it’s only moderately faster than the RTX 3060 Ti in most games, its efficiency improvements and DLSS 3 support ensure the RTX 4060 Ti keeps some crowd pleasing potential.
]]>Hey hey, we’re finally getting some real mid-rangers in the RTX 40 series, as Nvidia have announced the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 GPUs. These will finally bring Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace architecture, complete with improved ray tracing performance and DLSS 3 support, beneath the £400 mark.
]]>Nvidia's new GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card has launched to warm reviews thanks to its performance, power efficiency and DLSS 3 - including here at RPS - but its £589 price point has been decried as a bit over the top.
Enter Novatech, who are offering a Palit RTX 4070 for just £550, a £40 reduction from RRP and the best deal we've seen on the 4070 thus far. Add on £6 for next-day shipping and you've got a high-end card for a cool £34 off!
]]>A handful of Bandai Namco Europe games are headed to the GeForce Now cloud streaming service this week: Get Even, 11-11 Memories Retold, and Little Nightmares and its sequel. They're four of the seven games joining the service, and the full list also includes the multiplayer medieval melee, Mordhau.
]]>It’s taken a few GPUs, but Nvidia’s RTX 40 series is finally veering away from ludicrous luxuries and heading back in the right direction: that of graphics cards you can, and maybe even should buy, even if you’re not the heir to an Emirati property conglomerate. The GeForce RTX 4070 launches with a heavier price tag than the RTX 3070, and doesn’t make the shin-splintering performance leap forward that its predecessor did, but between its high speeds, low power usage, and DLSS 3 advantage, it’s a potent upgrade regardless.
]]>Update: Our RTX 4070 review is now live! Also it's on sale now but that's less important.
Nvidia have announced the GeForce RTX 4070, a 1440p warrior joining the RTX 4070 Ti and RTX 4080 in a collection of largely 4K-minded RTX 40 series GPUs.
]]>Nvidia have previewed the upcoming Overdrive Mode for Cyberpunk 2077, showcasing how it replaces the game’s already extensive ray tracing effects with full path tracing. Why Nvidia and not the developers, CD Projekt Red? Well, that might have something to do with Overdrive Mode being such a graphics card shatterer that it will supposedly take a GeForce RTX 40 series GPU – with DLSS 3 in effect – to run.
]]>A hearing took place at the European Commission in Brussels today related to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Afterwards, Microsoft held a press conference and announced that they've signed a deal to bring all Xbox PC games to Nvidia's cloud service GeForce Now. The deal includes Call Of Duty, if Microsoft come to own it.
]]>Here it is, then, the RTX 4070 Ti – the 12GB RTX 4080 that wasn’t. "Unlaunching" this GPU, rebranding it, and releasing it for £100 / $100 less may have bruised egos at Nvidia, but at least it’s left us with an intriguing silicone prospect. Finally, there’s a high-end, DLSS 3-capable, Ada Lovelace architecture-based graphics card that doesn’t cost four figures.
]]>There’s a new Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver out, and for once it sounds pretty interesting – especially if you’re lucky/rich/unhinged enough to have dropped megabucks on one of Nvidia’s megabucks RTX 40 series GPUs.
The 528.24 WHQL driver is mainly aimed at tuning up GeForce graphics cards for imminent PC releases Forspoken, the Dead Space remake, and Deliver Us Mars. All three will include DLSS support, which might come in handy for Forspoken in particular, given its slightly bananas system requirements. But 528.24 will also get Hitman 3 and Marvel’s Midnight Suns ready for DLSS 3 upgrades, with both games set to gain support for the overhauled upscaler in forthcoming patches.
]]>Google and Nvidia have both provided the US Federal Trade Commission with objections to Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Bloomberg report. The FTC opted last month to sue Microsoft to block the acquisition, arguing that the deal would suppress competition.
]]>CES 2023 came and went while I was burning through a statutory holiday entitlement in the Welsh countryside, so these highlights of the Vegas tech show’s PC gaming gear reveals may be as much news to me as they are to you. Unless you caught Katharine’s writeup on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which I did once I found a smidge of 4G signal. Cheers, chief.
]]>Annual tech bonanza CES is underway over in Las Vegas this week, and Nvidia have used the occasion to announce the latest graphics card in their RTX 40 series family, the RTX 4070 Ti. Out tomorrow, January 5th, at a starting price of £799 / $799, Nvidia say it's faster than their previous flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti, and will "max out" 1440p monitors.
]]>Nvidia's marketing team this week announced an Nvidia-branded shower gel and deodorant as a PR stunt for social media giveaways. As far as I can tell, their Sphynx Ampere toiletries do not smell like new graphics cards, so who cares? However! This does make me wonder: which PC gaming smells would you like as a shower gel, perfume, deodorant, aftershave, air freshener, or such? What are the good smells of PC gaming? Which would you eagerly accept as a boxed toiletry set from your aunt this Christmas? I'll go first.
]]>If I were a PC graphics bigwig, choosing which aged game to spruce up with ray tracing as an elaborate mod tools advert, I wouldn’t have gone for one with as timeless an aesthetic as Portal's. Maybe that’s why I’m not one – Portal with RTX is a gorgeous return to Aperture Science, a borderline must-play for anyone with a premium GeForce RTX GPU, and a mightily impressive demonstration of the Nvidia RTX Remix tools that built it.
Admittedly, that’s in spite of some shortcomings, including utterly broken performance on even the strongest Radeon RX graphics cards. Equip yourself with RTX hardware, however, and this free mod is a real Christmas treat.
]]>Portal with RTX now has a release date, so anyone with a) a copy of Portal on Steam and b) a ray tracing-capable graphics card will be able to explore a freshly polished Aperture Science from December 8th.
]]>If you visited this URL in… oh bloody hell, November, you’ll know I have some ‘splaining to do. Basically I was only going to keep this RTX 4080 review as a review-in-progress until I cleared some other important hardware gubbins that was occurring that week, but then the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT and RX 7900 XTX showed up and I thought "Well it’d be good to include benchmarks from those too", so I pushed it back until those were tested. Then the RTX 4070 Ti got announced and I thought "Well it’d be good to include benchmarks from that too", so pushed it back until that was tested. Which it has been, so here they are, a little late but fully formed: opinions on the RTX 4080.
]]>Nvidia DLSS 3 is arguably the single most interesting thing to emerge from the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPU launches. Even with, I’ll concede, some limits: whereas previous DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) versions have been available to any GeForce RTX graphics card, DLSS 3 is currently only usable on these RTX 40 series models. Or will be, once the RTX 4080 goes on sale on November 16th. Yet having tested it out on the RTX 4090, I’m convinced it could be as big a deal as the cards themselves, especially if you have a high-refresh-rate gaming monitor.
]]>By far the best thing about the RTX 4090 – which is otherwise a bit of a GPU boondoggle – is that is supports DLSS 3. This next-gen version of Nvidia’s DLSS upscaler not only boosts performance with render resolution trickery but also adds entirely new, AI-generated frames of its own, smoothing out visuals even further. Fewer than 40 games are confirmed to implement it so far but that number is growing, with Nvidia today announcing that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will include DLSS 3 when it launches for PC on November 18th.
]]>Bad news for RTX 4090 owners this morning. Reports are coming in that the 16-pin power adapter for Nvidia's flagship RTX 40 series GPU is getting so hot it's actually melting the hardware, which is... err... not something you want happening inside your PC case.
]]>In a bizarre twist to Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40 series GPU rollout, it turns out there will be no 12GB version of the RTX 4080 at all. Nvidia announced an "unlaunch" of the graphics card, which would have sat below the RTX 4080 16GB and the RTX 4090, effectively cancelling it. The 16GB version will still release as planned on November 16th.
"The RTX 4080 12GB is a fantastic graphics card, but it’s not named right", reads Nvidia’s statement. "Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing. So, we’re pressing the "unlaunch" button on the 4080 12GB."
]]>You probably already knew if you were willing and able to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 after seeing its price announcement, so here’s a short version of the following review: Yes, on pure performance it’s the best graphics card for 4K you can get. Yes, DLSS 3 is the real deal. And no, neither of those make the RTX 4090 good value for money, even if it makes a compelling argument for Nvidia's latest upscaling tech.
]]>Seems things change fast in the world of graphics cards, especially if you announce a GPU that gets people cross before it’s even out. Less than a month after Nvidia announced three all-new GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs, they’ve cancelled the launch for one of them: the RTX 4080 12GB. That leaves just the RTX 4090, which has already launched, and the RTX 4080 16GB, which is coming as planned in November.
How odd to “unlaunch” a GPU so soon prior to release, though since Nvidia are reportedly paying rebranding costs to board partners, we could still see that 12GB card release under a different name. In the meantime, here’s where you can read all about Nvidia’s latest graphics card generation, from details on its ‘Ada Lovelace’ architecture to intriguing new features like DLSS 3. Plus all the basic price and release date deets, if you’re just after those.
]]>As expected, Nvidia have announced the GeForce RTX 4090 during their GeForce Beyond livestream – and confirmed the RTX 4080 for good measure. Both GPUs are based on Nvidia’s new Ada Lovelace architecture, and will launch this year: the RTX 4090 on October 12th, and the RTX 4080 sometime in November.
Key features of Ada Lovelace, and thus these new cards, include 3rd Gen RT cores, 4th Gen Tensor cores, and a new streaming multiprocessor. These supposedly add up to twice the performance of Ampere (that’s the RTX 30 series architecture currently dominating our best graphics card guide) in standard rasterised games, and up to four times the performance in ray traced games. And since Nvidia were clearly in a ray-tracey mood, they also took the opportunity to reveal Portal RTX: a semi-official mod for the original Portal that upgrades it with RT lighting and reflection effects. Corrrr.
]]>Apologies for reporting three-day-old-news (thanks, Bank Holiday weekend) but this is a rare surprise in the world of PC hardware: EVGA, longtime graphics card board partners to Nvidia, are getting out the GPU game entirely. What’s more, according an interview with Gamers Nexus, their reasoning is a lack of “respect” shown to them by Nvidia themselves. Suffice to say, there won’t be an EVGA version of the RTX 4090 or any RTX 40 series GPU that might be announced during Nvidia’s GeForce Beyond event later today.
]]>The RTX 4090 is all but confirmed now, based on the sheer volume of leaks, rumours and speculation showing off the next-gen Nvidia GPU in a variety of guises but sharing the same specs. That's pushed the prices of current-gen GPUs way down, and that's especially true for high-end cards. Ergo, it's not a massive surprise to see the Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti, Team Green's flagship card, down to just $999 at Amazon after debuting at twice that figure.
]]>Clearly in direct response to that one moan I had about the lack of reliable GeForce RTX 40 series info, Nvidia are now teasing what’s very likely a launch event for their next generation of GPUs. The official Nvidia GeForce Twitter account has been vagueposting about something called #ProjectBeyond, starting with a coded image on September 8th and more recently listing a date and time: 8am PDT (4pm BST) on September 20th.
Given it’s about time in Nvidia’s preferred biannual cycle for a new graphics card generation, and it being the GeForce account rather than one of Nvidia’s non-gaming brands, and Nvidia also dropping the cryptic stuff and just straight-up confirming a "GeForce Beyond" show on the 20th, you can bet your sweet memory bus that September 20th will see some kind of RTX GPU announcement. The RTX 30 series, which has contributed most of the past two years’ best graphics cards, will finally begin its journey into semi-retirement.
]]>Earlier today we looked at a deal on AMD's top graphics card, the RX 6950 XT, and now it's time to look at the opposite end of the market: one of Nvidia's cheapest RTX graphics cards. Ebay is running a promotion today that knocks 15% off the price of brand-new items when you use the code BANK15 at the checkout, and you can use this to pick an RTX 3060 12GB for just £279.
This is a great price for this mid-range GPU, and it's especially rare to see features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS image reconstruction at this price point.
]]>The RTX 3090 Ti is the fastest consumer graphics card Nvidia has ever made - but the rumoured imminent arrival of their RTX 4090 graphics card means that it's now going for nearly £700 below its original £1879 UK RRP. In fact, you can now pick up one of these graphics cards for less than £1200, just £100 more than the launch price of the RTX 2080 Ti for around 75% more performance.
]]>The RTX 2060 is the most affordable RTX graphics card, making it your best shout for gaining the hardware to do real-time ray tracing and frame-rate-boosting DLSS without overpaying. This model debuted at £330, got more expensive over time as the worst of the GPU supply shortage hit, and was impossible to find below RRP even after its next-generation successor, the RTX 3060 launched two years later.
Now the RTX 2060 has finally dipped in price, making it an ideal time to pick up what is still a powerful and feature-complete graphics card for 1080p or even 1440p gaming. You can pick up a compact EVGA RTX 2060 SC model for just £212 on Amazon right now, a 52% drop from its peak price and a fair deal for the level of performance on offer.
]]>It’s kind of remarkable how little we really know about Nvidia’s next gaming graphics cards, the RTX 40 series. AMD are openly working on next-gen, RDNA 3-based Radeon GPUs, and Intel are gearing up for the full launch of their Arc Alchemist cards before the end of summer – yet there’s not been so much as a single presentation slide on Nvidia’s wares. Not the kind of hype-building you’d expect, given how many of the current generation’s best graphics cards have GeForce badges.
Arriving to fill that info void are, inevitably, leaks. If you don’t regularly hang out in PC hardware circles, know that there’s a veritable cottage industry of in-the-know insiders: anonymous but widely known tipsters like Greymon55 and kopite7kimi, who’ve shared enough accurate details on previous GPU and CPU launches that at least some of their sources are solid. Recently, unannounced Nvidia cards like the RTX 4070, RTX 4080 and especially the RTX 4090 have become this industry’s hottest commodities, meaning leakers are also the primary source of GeForce details for the gaming tech world at large.
]]>Two of the best value Nvidia RTX graphics cards are available at RRP in the UK, as Nvidia Founders Edition cards restock at Scan. This is an excellent opportunity to pick up the highlight of the RTX 30-series lineup, representing the best value choices for 1440p and 4K gaming.
]]>The RTX 2060 isn't the new hotness that it was a few years ago, but a global pandemic and chip shortage means that the card is still a surprisingly capable option three years later. The cheapest RTX 2060 on Amazon costs £370, but if you're willing to go refurbished you pay way less: just £190.
That's a heck of a deal for an RTX and DLSS-capable graphics card, especially given the GPUs come with a six month warranty from the folks at Laptop Outlet. This Zotac card will run rings around the GTX 1660 Super, the best card you could buy new for this price, especially in games that support DLSS to boost frame-rates.
]]>Because I now live in a country that isn't the UK, I get different bank holidays to staff in the UK, which it turns out is almost everyone else. This means I'm at work today and Friday. For other people outside the UK who don't know, this weekend it is celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. She's the first UK monarch to manage 70 years on the throne, most of the other ones having killed each other or somesuch. The country, specifically England, has responded to this by going absolutely off the boil, represented even in digi-form with a virtual street party map in Minecraft. I wouldn't normally write about it, but it gives me an excuse to republican-post on main when nobody is looking.
]]>The RTX 3080 Ti and RTX 3090 Ti are both available at their UK RRP right now at Scan, thanks to Nvidia Founders Edition models remaining in stock. This makes it a great time to pick up either model, as the Founders Edition cards perform excellently yet have much lower recommended retail prices than third-party models which can cost hundreds of pounds more.
]]>RTX 3060 graphics cards are getting more affordable. Last month we celebrated the RTX 3060 reaching £390, and now an even better model from MSI has hit a new low price at Ebuyer in the UK: £370.
]]>You could fairly think of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Ti as a big, stump-necked brute of a graphics card. What better characterisation for the latest tippity-top-of-the-line GPU from Nvidia, who’ve already produced the best graphics card for 4K in the RTX 3080? But rather than be overwhelmed by its power, I personally feel more like the RTX 3090 Ti is trying to trick, tempt and seduce me, Old Testament-style. “Recommend meeeee” it whispers, coasting through another maximum settings benchmark. “Tell evvvvvvveryone these frame rates are totally worth £1879.”
But I can’t. Sorry. While I am a sucker for go-faster gear, the RTX 3090 Ti is just too far of a stretch, with its sometimes imperceptible performance differences to the £1399 RTX 3090 and a tendency towards impractically gigantic partner card models.
]]>Looking for a GPU? The RTX 3080 Ti offers comparable performance to the RTX 3090 while costing far less, and today there's an OC model available at the card's UK RRP. It's an Ventus 3X OC model from MSI, with a hefty triple-slot thermal solution that ought to keep the card cool and quiet even running at its factory overclocked 1695MHz.
To get the discounted price, use code SAVE75 to knock a healthy £75 off the list price. That brings it down to £1054, just £5 more than the UK RRP and a great deal for an OC model. You also get free delivery, with the card slated to arrive just after the upcoming bank holiday.
]]>Last week, we were amazed to find EVGA's RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra graphics card going for $999 at Newegg - a $300 reduction from the card's MSRP and a big statement about the burgeoning health of the GPU market. Today, the beefy GPU has appeared for just $889 at Newegg, a healthy $110 reduction. That's a great price for the best high-end graphics card right now, especially for one that's made by the trusted folks at EVGA.
]]>The RTX 3070 Ti is a great mid-range to high-end GPU, with excellent performance in rasterised games plus DLSS and RT support, but it's been hard to find at a good price if you haven't lucked out with a Founders Edition restock. Prices for third-party cards are slowly falling, and now have reached within £100 of the £549 UK RRP - an important milestone for GPUs that cost £1000 or more at the beginning of the year.
The cheapest RTX 3070 Ti model we've found is a Zotac RTX 3070 Ti Trinity at Ebuyer, who are asking £649 with a despatch date of April 26th(tomorrow!). If you want the cheapest model that's in stock right now, then that'll be the Inno3D RTX 3070 Ti X3 at Overclockers for £10 more. Either way, you'll be left with a performant graphics card that requires only a modest 750W PSU, less than Nvidia's higher-end GPUs and much less than the company's next-gen products rumoured to arrive towards the end of this year.
]]>We've covered quite a few graphics card deals for the UK market over the past couple of weeks, as nature slowly heals, but now it's time for the Americans to have a go. Right now Newegg are offering an EVGA RTX 3080 FTW3 Ultra for $999, a $300 reduction from MSRP.
That's a great deal, with the card costing less than any RTX 3080 I could find on Amazon, and it's from EVGA - widely considered to be among the most-trusted graphics cards brands out there, if not the best.
]]>The downwards march in graphics card prices continues - oh, how I've longed to write those words! After posting a deal that had the Nvidia Founders Edition RTX 3080 Ti at its UK RRP of £1049 last week, third-party cards are now reaching the same levels. Right now, you can pick up a beefy KFA2 OC card for the same price, after a £50 discount at Overclockers.
If you'd prefer the better value RTX 3080, then there's also been movement - after appearing for £860 seven days ago, the cheapest card is now this Zotac Trinity OC model for £810. That's still a hefty chunk of change for a graphics card - and above the original RRP of £650 - but it's a damned sight better than the £1000+ these GPUs have retailed at for months.
]]>You don't need me to tell you that graphics cards prices are crazy these days - but things are getting slowly better. I noticed this afternoon that the RTX 3060 and the RX 6600 XT, the two major '1080p performance' GPUs, have now dipped under £400. That's still about £70 to £100 over the base RRP, but it's a big improvement over the situation for the past year where we often saw these cards retailing - and selling - for over £500, £600 and even £700.
]]>Even with some graphics cards dropping in price, the overall GPU availability situation remains pretty dire. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 and AMD Radeon RX 6500 XT both launched in recent weeks with the aim of reasserting some sanity, and to an extent, they have: while they’re not immune to bonkers inflation, they’re still relatively affordable, with unusually plentiful stock available.
Which, though, is the better buy? Both are 1080p-focused cards on sale for £300 or less, both sit at the bottom of their respective GPU hierarchies (the RTX 30 series and Radeon RX 6000 series), and both support ray tracing, so let’s break out the bar chart app and do some comparisons.
]]>Nvidia's RTX 3080 is the most powerful GPU recommended in our roundup of the best graphics cards, as it offers a ton more performance than the RTX 3070 and 3070 Ti - without the huge expense of the RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090 or RTX 3090 Ti. Therefore, it's extremely exciting to see the RTX 3080 available at Laptops Direct for a recent low price of £860, some £100 below the cheapest RTX 3080 card on Amazon.
]]>Nvidia's RTX 3080 Ti and 3090 Ti graphics cards aren only a bit faster than the RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 that came before them, but they are proving much easier to get ahold of at their (admittedly high) recommended retail prices.
Today, Scan's selling both models at RRP, with the 3080 Ti costing £1049 and the 3090 Ti costing a cool £830 more than that. These are both high-end cards with a price tag to match, but the Founders Edition models are generally the cheapest you'll find - so we thought you should know about this unprecedented stock situation!
]]>The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 might be the first GPU to benefit, in a roundabout way, from the bonkers price gouging that’s been spoiling the fun of graphics cards for nearly two years. In normal times, it wouldn’t make much sense to buy this £239 / $249 GPU – not because it’s the lowest in the RTX range, but because the much more powerful RTX 3060 would only cost a few notes more.
And yet, these are not normal times. While the MSI GeForce RTX 3050 Gaming X 8G model I’ve tested has already ballooned to £380 / $450, this leaves it looking like much more of a genuine alternative to RTX 3060, which is generally around £500 in the UK. And while it’s ultimately still a 1080p specialist, the RTX 3050 takes a big step up from previous GTX XX50 GPUs by offering DLSS and ray tracing support.
]]>The huge new patch released for Cyberpunk 2077 yesterday is mostly a good'un, bringing the dystopian RPG closer to the game it should have been 14 months ago. But Update 1.5 might be bad news for players with older PCs. CD Projekt Red have officially ended support for Nvidia GeForce 700 series graphics cards, and announced plans to end Windows 7 support later this year. This isn't immediately bad, but the game could end up breaking on affected computers in the future.
]]>As spotted by VideoCardz, Nvidia have been bumping up the prices of their latest reference cards: the GeForce RTX 30 Founders Edition series. Here in the UK it’s only the RTX 3070 Ti Founders Edition that’s seen a hike, from £529 up to £549, but over in the lands of the Euro these graphics cards will set buyers back up to €100 more than before. That’s for the RTX 3090 FE, which now sits at a widowmaking €1,649, while the rest of the range has gained between €20 and €60 in wallet weight.
]]>As if ray tracing and DLSS weren’t big enough bonuses to owning a GeForce RTX graphics card, Nvidia has just dropped another toy in the chest: Deep Learning Dynamic Super Resolution, or DLDSR. It’s essentially an AI-fuelled upgrade to Nvidia’s DSR downsampling tool, aiming to more intelligently render the frames of your games so that they appear more detailed – without the same performance loss that comes with standard DSR. It’s an intriguing new feature that could make some of the best graphics cards even better, and I’ve been trying it out to see if it performs as effectively as Nvidia claims.
]]>Earlier this week, Nvidia quietly announced a kind of DLSS-adjacent downsampling tech: Deep Learning Dynamic Super Resolution (DLDSR). It aims to improve image sharpness and quality on GeForce RTX graphics cards, using AI to reduce the performance loss of Nvidia’s existing DSR feature, and it’s now available to install and enable through GeForce Game Ready Driver 511.23.
]]>Before it pivoted to talking about self-driving cars, something I can’t even put into a PCIe slot, Nvidia’s CES 2022 showcase went both high and low with its graphics card reveals. The high: the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, as new top-of-the-line CPU with 24GB of upgraded, 21Gbit/s GDDR6X VRAM. The low: the GeForce RTX 3050, Nvidia’s first XX50 GPU in a donkey’s age.
]]>I’m rubbish at the building component of Minecraft; it’s much easier to simply download a map and wander around in the splendour of someone else’s creation. And if you’ve got the ray tracing beta version of Minecraft for Windows installed, I can heartily recommend you too take a wander through the Nvidia RTX Winter World: a vast, Christmassy and very, very pretty custom map that has you helping Santa throw a festive shindig while you trade sweets with his elves.
]]>Nvidia Image Scaling might not be computer magic on par with DLSS, but it can perform a similarly useful job: boosting your frame rates by rendering games at a lower resolution, then upscaling them to match your monitor’s native res. Unlike DLSS, it also doesn’t require one of the best graphics cards from Nvidia’s RTX range, only an Nvidia GPU from the Maxwell generation or later – so the performance benefit is available to far more potential users. However, the issue of exactly how to use Nvidia Image Scaling isn’t very well-explained by Nvidia’s own software, so I suppose the task falls to this guide you’re already reading.
]]>It’s been nearly a year since Nvidia started reissuing older GPUs, like the GeForce RTX 2060 and GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, to help deal with the great worldwide graphics card shortage. More recently, Nvidia went a step further, quietly launching a brand new version of the RTX 2060 that doubles its VRAM to 12GB.
Emphasis on the “quietly”, mind – even if you’ve been regularly checking for available GPU stock or perusing our graphics cards deals guide, you probably won’t have even noticed there’s a 12GB RTX 2060 knocking around. So what’s the deal with this mysterious card, and should you even consider buying an RTX 20 series card in this day and age?
]]>Aw, basically all graphics cards, what have they done to ya. At this point there’s little to be gained in recapping the myriad of supply/demand problems that have left gaming GPUs either out of stock or tragicomically expensive, but hopefully there’s some value in turning our list of the best graphics card deals into a list of graphics cards that aren’t quite as overpriced as their peers.
]]>Ahead of God of War coming to PC on January 14th, an Nvidia blog post has laid bare the enhancements you can expect from the port, as well as the PC system requirements. In fairness it looks like a pretty comprehensive effort, combining expected tweaks like 21:9 ultrawide monitor support with performance-boosting Nvidia DLSS upscaling and even some general graphical upgrades. There’s a PC features trailer, too.
]]>Nvidia’s updated Image Scaling isn’t the only way in which you can – on paper – give your graphics card performance a free boot up the backside. Earlier this year, Nvidia began enabling Resizable BAR on their GeForce RTX 30 series GPUs and laptops, with the promise of faster frame rates for no additional expense. But what exactly is Resizable BAR, and assuming you have compatible hardware, is it really worth switching on?
]]>Nvidia have launched a revamped Image Scaling feature that aims to provide a DLSS-style performance boost in your games – as well as ICAT, a new screenshot and video comparison tool that will let you see the difference for yourself.
]]>Battlefield 2042 has a new trailer ahead of its November 19th release, and this one is aimed directly at us PC folk. While the action itself is more of the near-future mega-bangs you’ve probably seen in previous teasers (or, indeed, the open beta), it’s all in service of demonstrating the PC-exclusive features: chiefly ray tracing, Nvidia DLSS and Nvidia Reflex support.
]]>Nvidia’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service is getting a new, ultra-premium subscription tier powered by its GeForce RTX 3080 GPU. While one of the best graphics cards around, especially for higher resolutions, the RTX 3080 has remained frustratingly hard to find in stock since it launched last year – for many, this GeForce Now tier could be the best chance of seeing what it’s like to play with one, even if is simply streaming from a server rather than a dedicated gaming PC.
]]>The Elder Scrolls Online is the first game to implement Nvidia DLAA (Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing), and thanks to YouTuber MxBenchmarkPC you can now see how the AI-powered edge-smoothing system looks in the fantasy MMO. DLAA is a new spin on Nvidia’s existing DLSS (Deep Learning Super-Sampling): whereas DLSS involves rendering a game at a lower resolution then upscaling, reducing the performance hit of the AA it applies, DLAA skips the upscaling part and keeps the resolution native.
]]>Even if they don’t recall the exact date, plenty of gaming PC owners will remember what they were doing on September 17th 2020. They, and I, were staring at a black-and-green storefront, mashing F5 until a “Notify me” button changed to read “Out of stock”. This was the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 launch, and what initially looked like a one-off failure of Nvidia’s anti-bot measures ended up heralding the worst year in memory to upgrade a graphics card.
]]>Nvidia DLSS is usually worth turning on for an easy frame rate bump, but even after DLSS 2.0 made it easier for developers to implement, the list of games that actually support the AI-powered anti-aliasing tech has never exactly been running off the page. That said, Nvidia can now claimed to have reached the milestone of 100 DLSS-compatible games, thanks in large part to a recent adoption wave from indie games.
]]>The Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti is currently available for purchase at its recommended retail price, a headline that would have ludicrous to write a few years ago but now constitutes major news. Scan in the UK have stock of the high-end card at its £1049 RRP, stock that has seemingly persisted for a few hours - one of only a handful of times that an Nvidia RTX graphics card at RRP hasn't sold out immediately. If you're building a high-end rig, I'd say this is a great option - as long as you can't find an RTX 3080, at least.
]]>The closed beta for Amazon's MMO New World kicked off earlier this week. As MMOs are wont to do, there were some initial hiccups, though not the ones you'd usually expect. Numerous players reported that their graphics cards overheated or died while playing in the beta, many specifically EVGA's Nvidia RTX 3090 cards. Amazon quickly released a patch to alleviate concerns about frame rates in game. EVGA have now also confirmed that they will be replacing affected GPUs.
]]>Until now, any game developer who wanted to access Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) performance booster had to apply for access. But Nvidia have chosen to be a benevolent graphics god and have released the latest SDK without any restrictions. AMD did the same thing last week, releasing their FidelityFX Super Resolution tech (or FSR to its friends) as a free download.
That means the two biggest leaps in overall gaming performance are free for anyone to use (even me). I await the tweet from the first developer who implements both in their game at the same time, warning us of the graphics singularity that they’ve unleashed.
]]>The big closed beta for Amazon's MMO New World just kicked off yesterday and things initially appeared to be going smoother than I'd expected. I started watching a few folks play, as I'd hoped to. Ed seems to have enjoyed it so far according to his New World preview. Since yesterday though, things have gotten a bit too hot to handle for some folks using RTX 3090 graphics cards. Players across several different forums are reporting overheating that's led to GPU failure. Amazon are aware of the issue, and have started with some tips to help players avoid overheating.
Update: Amazon have now said that they have "seen no indication of widespread issues with 3090s" during alpha or beta testing but plan to release a frame capping patch today in order to reassure beta players.
]]>Nvidia's RTX 30-series graphics cards offer a big performance uplift over their 10-series and 20-series competitors, but they've been nigh-impossible to find at a sensible price for months now. Best Buy has been one of the best bets to find a card in the US at a reasonable price, and tomorrow they'll offer visitors to selected physical stores the chance to buy a single graphics card - without worrying about bots, scalpers and - hopefully! - price inflation. Here are all the details you need to know to get your hands on one of the best graphics cards.
]]>AMD have declared that their performance boosting upscale tech, FidelityFX Super Resolution (or FSR for short) is here for everyone. They've released it on GPUOpen, and declared: “You can get access to the AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution source code for free under the open source MIT License!”
In addition, FSR is now available to developers in a beta version of Unity Engine, and via a number of patches that will soon be integrated into the stock Unreal Engine. It's everywhere.
]]>Overly graphical Deadwood fanfic Red Dead Redemption 2 has just received its DLSS update. Nvidia’s upscaling tech claims some big boosts for the demanding game, suggesting that every RTX card will be capable of 60fps at 1920x1080 on max settings. For pixel pushers, you’ll still need a more recent RTX 30 series card to get 60fps on max settings at 2560x1440 (and at least an RTX 3070 to do the same at 4K), but this is still great news by and large given how intensive it is on the PC performance front. I’m still waiting for the update that will wipe the long conversations with Dutch from the game, but that’s looking increasingly unlikely. He’s the worst.
]]>For those of you lucky enough to own an RTX capable graphics card and a copy of Doom Eternal (I assume there's a decent amount of crossover there), the ray-tracing update promised since the shooter’s launch has finally arrived. Nvidia’s tech has added a final level of polish to the game’s surfaces, and also brings DLSS support to balance out the power-hungry enhancements.
]]>You can't buy a new graphics card for love nor money these days. When the RTX 3070 Ti went on sale last week, it followed in the footsteps of all new GPU launches this year and disappeared in a puff of smoke in 23 seconds flat. It's a real shame, as some of these new GPUs would be pretty decent upgrades if your current PC's starting to struggle a bit.
However, I put it to you that the real crime of 2021 is the current state of graphics card box art. It's just so... bland and sensible these days. Not like the good old days, when Palit's robo frog was giving you the evils from on high with a menacing grin, PNY's purple Verto face could turn you to stone with their piercing, cybernetic snake eyes, or... whatever the hell's going on with that goblin up there. Seriously, is that a glowing bagel on a stick? And what is with that terrible haircut? Oh no. Today's graphics cards don't know they're even born. So here's to you, GPUs of yore and their terrible box art. We miss ya.
]]>Bad news for owners of older Nvidia graphics cards this morning, as the graphics card maker has confirmed they're ending support for all of their desktop Kepler GPUs starting this October. That means no more Game Ready drivers, performance enhancements or bug fixes for people with GTX 600, GTX 700 or GTX Titan cards.
]]>With the launch of Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, we've now got a complete suite of high-end RTX 30 cards to choose from - or at least we would under ordinary circumstances, the current graphics card shortage notwithstanding. While we wouldn't advise trying to buy a new graphics card right this second due to the ongoing stock problems, you've probably had your eye on at least one of these cards for quite some time now, so we've put the RTX 3070 and RTX 3070 Ti head to head to show you exactly what kind of performance you can expect to see from each card once they're more readily available. And to help you make an even better buying decision, I've also included my RTX 3080 figures in here, too, for the ultimate RTX 30 face-off.
]]>The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is the latest graphics card in Nvidia's RTX 30 series and today's the day it goes on sale, June 10th. While I don't rate the card personally and strongly advise against trying to buy a new graphics card right now, there will no doubt be some of you out there itching to get one. So, if you're desperate to get your hands on an RTX 3070 Ti, here's everything you need to know about where you can buy one, its release time, starting price and specs.
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