NVIDIA
GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition
AUTHOR:Onie T.
TESTED BY:James L.
Published:

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition, much like its successor, the RTX 3090 Ti, is designed for gaming at maximum settings in 1080p and 1440p resolutions. Despite consuming 100W less power than the RTX 3090 Ti, it still delivers robust performance. Even in 4K gaming tests, the RTX 3090 holds its ground, trailing the RTX 3090 Ti only slightly. 

Although the RTX 3090 was released in 2020, it remains relatively expensive. As of the publication date, the NVIDIA reference card is available online for an average price of $1,195 USD, while cards from partner manufacturers are averaging around $1,605 USD. Initially launched at $1,499 USD in 2020, the RTX 3090 now faces competition from the newer 40-series cards, which are currently slightly cheaper and offer comparable or better performance. However, if you already own this card, it still provides excellent performance.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

THE GOOD

  • Performance

    One of the fastest cards in the 30-series line up. Even with the new 40-series, if you already own this card, it is still a good card.

THE BAD

  • Price

    The reference card sells for a high average of $1195 USD. In the majority of applications, the new 40-SUPER line provides a higher price-to-performance ratio.

THE REST

  • Overall

    The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 delivers strong gaming performance across resolutions, but is limited by its high price.

LINKS
Where to buy*
NeweggAmazon

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Hardware
HardwareNotes

The RTX 3090 utilizes 8nm technology and is built on NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture. The card is based on the GA102 graphics processor, which has 28,300 million transistors within a 628 mm² die. It features 112 Render Output Units (ROPs), 328 texture mapping units, 10496 shading units, and 82 ray tracing acceleration cores. With a typical board power of 350W, the card tested by Labs is manufactured by NVIDIA, and has a triple slot, dual fan design that is rather large but fits in most computer cases. It has the standard RTX 30-series 3 x DisplayPort v1.4 output, and 1 x HDMI v2.1 ports.

In the Box

1 of 4

Front of the box.

Graphics Processor

1 of 3

Architecture
Processor Release Date
GPU Chip
Technology
Transistors
Die Size
Interface
L1 Cache
L2 Cache
L3 Cache
Board Design

1 of 5

Front of the card.

Length
Width
Height
Weight
Slot Width
TDP
Fan Size
Number of Fans
HDMI
Display Port
USB-C
Cores & Clocks
Rasterization Cores
Ray Tracing Cores
AI Acceleration Cores
Base Clock
Game Clock
Boost Clock
Memory Type
Memory Size
Memory Data Rate
Memory Bandwidth
Memory Bus
Features & Software
Features & SoftwareNotes

The RTX 3090 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate and NVIDIA’s GeForce Experience and G-SYNC features. As well as NVIDIA’s full suite of DLSS 3 and ray tracing technologies. 

It features NVIDIA’s 7th Generation Encoder, and 5th Generation Decoder, with full support for H264 Encode/Decode, H265/HEVC Encode/Decode, but only AV1 Decode.

Supported Features
Adaptive Sync
DirectX
OpenGL
Vulkan
Ray Tracing
DirectML
OpenCL
CUDA
ReBar
Encode / Decode
H.264
H.265 (HEVC)
AV1
VP9
Performance
PerformanceNotes

In terms of performance, the RTX 3090 delivers smooth gaming experiences at 1080p and higher resolutions. During testing, it consistently performed well across different resolutions, maintaining a top position in the charts throughout all tests. However, its performance was often closer to that of the RTX 3080 Ti, rather than surpassing it by a significant margin.

Gaming Performance
Ray Tracing Performance
Productivity & Efficiency
Productivity
Synthetics
Test Configuration
Test ConfigurationNotes

We will periodically retest graphics cards with updated drivers. We continuously monitor and update our results for accuracy. Stay tuned for the latest test results and insights on this product and others as we aim to provide up-to-date information on a consistent basis.

We actively address test bench variance in our evaluation process. Our methodology involves validation and calibration procedures to ensure consistency and reliability across all tests. The verified testbed variance for benchmarks in this product page is +/- 0.25%.

By monitoring and controlling variables such as hardware configurations, ambient temperatures, and system settings, we minimize potential sources of variance that could affect our results. This detailed approach enables us to deliver the most objective and accurate assessments.

Tested Settings
Drivers

FREQUENTLY COMPARED GRAPHICS CARDS