Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

GPUs are cheap right now, but don’t be tempted just yet

By
RTX 4070 seen from the side.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

If you lived through the insanity that was the GPU shortage, you might be tempted by the current prices of graphics cards. Don’t be.

We just got yet another sign that Nvidia might soon be launching the RTX 40 Super refresh, and with three new GPUs set to come out next month, there might be better options right around the corner that could adjust the entire GPU landscape in terms of pricing.

Recommended Videos

There have been plenty of rumors about the upcoming RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and the RTX 4080 Super. While Nvidia itself hasn’t said anything on the matter just yet, it’s set to hold a special keynote at CES 2024 on January 8, so the confirmation might just be a short three weeks away. Now, ITHome published some predictions as to when the three GPUs might come out once they’re announced. Of course, take this with a healthy dose of skepticism, although even if the dates don’t match up exactly, it’s likely that we’ll see all three cards in the first quarter of 2024.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

The first card to come out is said to be the RTX 4070 Super, rumored to hit the shelves on January 17. As per the speculation, the RTX 4070 Ti Super would follow on January 24, and lastly, the RTX 4080 Super would come out a week later — on January 31.

Of course, the specs of all these cards remain unconfirmed. Initially, the prediction was that we’d get a sizeable upgrade with the RTX 4070 Super and the RTX 4080 Super, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to VideoCardz, the RTX 4070 Super will sport 7,168 CUDA cores (versus 5,888 on the excellent RTX 4070) and retain the same 12GB memory configuration.

The RTX 4070 Ti Super is shaping up to be the most interesting addition to the lineup, because this is the only card that is said to be getting more VRAM and switching to a different GPU. Rumor has it that the RTX 4070 Ti Super will sport the AD103-275 GPU, 8,448 CUDA cores, and 16GB VRAM — that’s a significant increase from the 4070 Ti (12GB). These specs put it much closer to the RTX 4080 than the RTX 4070 Ti.

The RTX 4070 graphics card on a pink background.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Lastly, the RTX 4080 Super gets a bump in core counts, maxing out the AD103 chip with 10,240 CUDA cores. It’s said to retain 16GB VRAM, too. If these specs check out, we’re looking at a really small upgrade over the existing RTX 4080. Perhaps Nvidia will use this as an opportunity to fix the fact that the 4080 is pretty terrible value and will come out with a price adjustment this time around.

Whether these three new GPUs will become instant hits all depends on the pricing. Nvidia is known for its cutthroat pricing strategy, so it’s hard to hope for huge discounts. However, it’s still worth waiting for the announcement on January 8. It’s possible that after the launch of the Super refresh, the older models will see some price cuts, and even if not, you could get something better for the same or similar price. The GPUs that are currently available shouldn’t go up in price, but they might drop, so waiting until the new year really makes sense.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Nvidia just made GeForce Now so much better
Playing games with GeForce Now on a laptop.

Nvidia has just added adaptive refresh rates to GeForce Now, its cloud gaming service. The new tech, dubbed Cloud G-Sync, works on PCs with Nvidia GPUs first and foremost , but also on Macs. These include Macs with Apple Silicon, as well as older models with Intel CPUs and AMD GPUs. On the Windows PC side more broadly, Intel and AMD GPUs will not be supported right now. Nvidia has also made one more change to GeForce Now that makes it a lot easier to try out -- it introduced day passes.

Cloud G-Sync's variable refresh rate (VRR) feature will sync your monitor's refresh rate to match the frame rates you're hitting while gaming with GeForce Now. Nvidia's new cloud solution also uses Reflex to lower latency regardless of frame rates. Enabling VRR in GeForce Now should provide a major boost by reducing screen tearing and stuttering, improving the overall gaming experience on PCs and laptops that normally can't keep up with some titles. To pull this off, Nvidia uses its proprietary RTX 4080 SuperPODs.

Read more
GPUs just broke a 25-year-old record
Two RTX 4070 graphics cards sitting side by side.

The PC graphics card market witnessed notable growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to Jon Peddie Research. With shipments climbing by 6% to reach 76.2 million units, this surge marks a significant 24% increase year over year, representing the most substantial gain in over 25 years.

Projections indicate a continued upward trend, with an expected 3.6% annual growth rate from 2024 to 2026, potentially culminating in a total installed base of 5 billion units by the end of 2026, with discrete GPUs comprising 30% of the market.

Read more
Why I’m feeling hopeful about Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs
The RTX 4070 Super on a pink background.

I won't lie -- I was pretty scared of Nvidia's RTX 50-series, and I stand by the opinion that those fears were valid. They didn't come out of thin air; they were fueled by Nvidia's approach to GPU pricing and value for the money.

However, the RTX 40 Super refresh is a step in the right direction, and it's one I never expected to happen. Nvidia's most recent choices show that it may have learned an important lesson, and that's good news for future generations of graphics cards.
The price of performance
Nvidia really didn't hold back in the RTX 40 series. It introduced some of the best graphics cards we've seen in a while, but raw performance isn't the only thing to consider when estimating the value of a GPU. The price is the second major factor and weighing it against performance can often tip the scales from "great" to "disappointing." That was the case with several GPUs in the Ada generation.

Read more