A number of days in the past, we had been studying the newest Nvidia RTX 50 collection GPU rumors, and one thing did not sound fairly proper to us. It wasn’t the data itself – we have no thought whether or not it is true or not – it was the supposed configuration that Nvidia goes with for the “RTX 5080.”
The rumored specs for that mannequin, relative to the leaked specs for the RTX 5090, simply did not stack up primarily based on what we have normally come to count on from an “80-class” GPU. And if Nvidia does certainly lower down the RTX 5080 to such an enormous diploma as these rumors are suggesting, it will likely be the weakest 80-class card relative to the flagship mannequin in Nvidia’s historical past.
What does an Nvidia GPU in a given class sometimes seem like all through historical past?
And this bought us pondering: what does an Nvidia GPU in a given class sometimes seem like all through historical past? How does the common 80-tier mannequin, 70-tier mannequin, 60-tier mannequin normally come configured relative to the flagship mannequin?
As a result of if we’re armed with this data forward of any next-gen GPU launches, we will floor our expectations in actuality and push again if vital towards a product that’s providing customers lower than they’ve traditionally gotten.
We will additionally use this knowledge to evaluate any GeForce RTX 50-series rumors to see how supposed configurations would evaluate to greater than a decade of releases.
10 Years of Nvidia GPU Configurations
The primary a part of this evaluation can be figuring out which mannequin truly suits into every class, as a result of every era has seen a unique lineup.
We have ended up going with this labeling scheme:
- Excessive Flagship
- Flagship
- x80 Ti Class
- x80 Class
- x70 Class
- x60 Class
The 60, 70, 80, and 80 Ti class fashions are fairly easy, then the flagship and excessive flagship playing cards on the very high. Granted, figuring out the precise flagship mannequin is troublesome as some fashions have come out a lot later than others; some fashions had been so ridiculously priced that nobody would have thought-about them the “wise” flagship in that era, so we ended up designating the flagship card because the GPU most individuals thought-about the most effective of that era.
For instance, within the GeForce RTX 20 collection, the flagship card was usually thought-about to be the RTX 2080 Ti at $1,200, however for those who actually wished to go loopy you might have bought the Titan RTX as an excessive flagship mannequin.
Equally, within the GeForce RTX 30 collection we had the common flagship because the RTX 3090, and the intense flagship got here later – the $2,000 RTX 3090 Ti – for those who simply needed to have the most effective. For the needs of this text, we have additionally excluded the dual-GPU GTX Titan Z that was obtainable within the 700 collection, so we will analyze single-GPU fashions solely.
Nvidia GPUs: Generations
We have gone again so far as the GeForce 700 collection right here, which was first launched greater than 11 years in the past in 2013, as a result of that is the primary era by which Nvidia produced single-GPU fashions above the 80-class. That is the beginning of what we would describe because the “present” lineup construction. Previous to that, the highest mannequin tended to be the 80-class GPU, with the occasional dual-GPU mannequin thrown in.
Core Rely Configurations
Probably the most necessary points of a GPU that varies considerably between fashions is the shader core depend. Nvidia’s flagship fashions are usually both totally unlocked variations of their largest GPU die, or shut to completely unlocked, relying on the era. As we transfer down the product stack, new smaller dies are launched, and current dies are additional lower down to cut back the shader core depend.
Nvidia GPUs: Shader (CUDA) Core Rely
Usually, the 80-tier mannequin has between 60 and 80 % of the cores that the flagship mannequin has. On the excessive finish of the dimensions, the GTX 780 had 2,304 CUDA cores relative to 2,688 on the flagship GTX Titan, so the 80-tier mannequin again in 2013 was lower right down to 86% of the dimensions.
On the decrease finish of the dimensions, we have had the GeForce 900 collection, the place the two,048 CUDA core GTX 980 was simply 67% the dimensions of the GTX Titan X, and extra not too long ago the RTX 4080 with 9,728 CUDA cores was simply 59% the dimensions of the RTX 4090 with its 16,384 cores – ouch.
How a lot the 80 collection has been lower down through the years has modified, however usually, so far as the core is anxious, it is round a 30% discount relative to the flagship.
Then for the 70-tier fashions, normally the GPU core is about half the dimensions of the flagship, or barely greater than half. That is true for the GTX 770, GTX 970, GTX 1070, RTX 2070, and RTX 3070, however not the RTX 4070, which was lower down greater than normal to only 5,888 CUDA cores, making it simply 36% the dimensions of the flagship 4090.
As we transfer right down to the 60-tier, we discover that GPU cores are sometimes about one third the dimensions of the flagship, and once more this holds true for the 5 generations previous to Ada Lovelace; sadly, that RTX 4060 simply does not attain the standard commonplace.
After we have a look at the dimensions of every GPU’s shader core (when it comes to core depend) relative to the flagship mannequin, we will create a pleasant six-generation common for every tier. On common, Nvidia’s 80 tier is 72% the dimensions of the flagship mannequin, the 70 tier is 54% the dimensions, and the 60 tier is 36% the dimensions.
Traditionally, we will additionally see that the 80 Ti tier could be very shut in its core configuration to the flagship. For instance, the RTX 3080 Ti with 10,240 CUDA cores was virtually an RTX 3090 with 10,496 CUDA cores.
Through the years, this 80 Ti class has been Nvidia’s solution to get virtually the identical degree of efficiency as their finest card, however in a greater worth mannequin.
Reminiscence Bandwidth Configurations
What additionally will get lowered between every tier is reminiscence bandwidth. That is normally achieved by narrower reminiscence buses on lower-tier playing cards, in addition to decrease clocked or worse spec reminiscence. This may be mixed right into a GB/s metric that we will use to check every era when it comes to general reminiscence bandwidth obtainable to the GPU.
Nvidia GPUs: Reminiscence Bandwidth (GB/s)
Reminiscence bandwidth scaling between every tier has sometimes been fairly much like the scaling seen within the shader core, although there are some exceptions.
For instance, again within the GeForce 700 days, every tier punched above its weight when it comes to bandwidth. The GTX Titan had 285 GB/s of bandwidth, however the GTX 760 retained 192 GB/s of bandwidth, only a 33% discount.
The RTX 2070 and RTX 2080 each shared the identical reminiscence configuration, so whereas the core was reduce on the 70 tier card, it had a comparatively over-spec degree of reminiscence bandwidth.
However usually talking, what was seen within the GeForce 10 collection days is fairly typical. The Titan X and 1080 Ti had round 480 GB/s of bandwidth, lower to 320 GB/s on the GTX 1080, lower to 256 GB/s on the GTX 1070, after which lower to 192 GB/s on the GTX 1060 6GB.
This was principally achieved by slicing the reminiscence bus with every tier, mixed with dropping from GDDR5X reminiscence on the upper playing cards to GDDR5 on the decrease playing cards.
When taking a look at percentages relative to the flagship mannequin, we will once more create a median for what every tier sometimes seems to be like when it comes to reminiscence bandwidth. On common, the 80 tier will get 77% the reminiscence bandwidth of the flagship card, the 70 tier will get 61% the bandwidth, and the 60 tier will get 45% the bandwidth. So reminiscence bandwidth is not reduce as a lot because the core on common, nevertheless it’s an analogous cadence the place the 70 and 60 tier fashions find yourself with slightly over and slightly below half the reminiscence bandwidth of the flagship card. We even sometimes see a slight bump to reminiscence bandwidth for the 80 Ti class mannequin.
VRAM Capability Configurations
Then there’s VRAM capability. This is without doubt one of the areas the place Nvidia has traditionally given patrons of flagship fashions extra, particularly in generations just like the 900 collection, the place the GTX Titan X had 12GB versus 6GB on the GTX 980 Ti, and extra not too long ago with 24GB on the RTX 3090 versus 12GB on the RTX 3080 Ti.
So whereas these 80 Ti fashions are likely to not be reduce all that a lot in core configuration or reminiscence bandwidth, getting half the VRAM is frequent and that is factored into the worth.
Nvidia GPUs: VRAM Capability (GB)
VRAM capacities are a bit in every single place relying on the era, however on common, the 80 tier has given us 55% the VRAM of the flagship mannequin, the 70 tier has halved the VRAM, and the 60 tier has given us 41% the quantity of VRAM.
Some generations are a lot better than others, although. The GTX 10 collection was an enormous win for customers with the flagship playing cards getting 12GB, the 80 and 70 class each getting 8GB, and the 60 class getting 6GB.
However within the era prior, we had the GTX Titan X providing 12GB, the 780 Ti providing 6GB, however this was lower down to only 2GB on the GTX 960. On this space, the RTX 40 collection is definitely across the mark of a median GPU era when it comes to relative spacing of VRAM configurations.
Pricing
One other essential issue is worth. Every tier has usually gotten costlier through the years. Within the GeForce 700 to 10 collection days, you had been sometimes taking a look at round $1,000 for the flagship card. Today, it is as much as $1,600.
The 80 class has gone from round $600 to ~$1,200, which is painful, thanks totally to the 40 collection. The 70 class was slightly below $400 a decade in the past, now it is as much as $500 and even $600. And the worth for the 60 class card has elevated as nicely.
Nvidia GPUs: Launch MSRP
With that mentioned, the $400 worth of the GTX 770 again in 2013 could be extra like $540 in at present’s cash, and the 700 GTX 780 Ti could be practically $950 at present. The RTX 4060 is definitely barely cheaper than it needs to be after inflation relative to the GTX 760. However on the entire, Nvidia GPU costs have certainly outpaced inflation in every tier.
What hasn’t modified as a lot is relative pricing. On common, the 80 tier card is simply 60% the price of the flagship mannequin, the 70 tier card is 38% the price of the flagship, and the 60 tier card is simply one-quarter of the worth.
There are small abnormalities right here and there – the RTX 2080 and RTX 4080 had been each overpriced, the GTX 1070 slightly cheaper than normal – however usually Nvidia sticks to this mannequin.
The principle driving issue of GPU costs has been that top-tier flagship mannequin getting costlier annually, which has pushed up the remainder of the lineup. A decade in the past, the GTX Titan was $1,000, and the GTX 770 got here in at 40% of that worth, slotting in at $400.
On this present era, the RTX 4070 launched at 38% the worth of the flagship mannequin… it is simply that the RTX 4090 was $1,600 and that meant the 4070 arrived at $600.
In lots of cases, what makes this pricing construction work nicely is the inclusion of that higher worth 80 Ti class card. When playing cards just like the GTX Titan, GTX Titan X, and RTX 3090 are ridiculous, the GTX 780 Ti, GTX 1080 Ti, and RTX 3080 Ti provide a greater deal, normally slotting in at simply 60 to 80% of the worth of the flagship for less than small reductions in configuration.
The 2 most up-to-date generations that had worse than typical relative pricing – the 20 collection and 40 collection – each lacked a typical 80 Ti class card. The 40 collection had no 4080 Ti, and within the 20 collection, the 2080 Ti was successfully the flagship, leaving the RTX 2080 to creep up in worth and fill the hole the 80 Ti class normally fills relative to the flagship.
What a Typical Nvidia GPU Technology Seems Like
After we common out the configurations of the final six generations, that is what a typical Nvidia GPU era seems to be like. Relative to the era’s flagship, the 80 collection card delivers on common 72% of the shader cores, 77% of the reminiscence bandwidth, and 55% of the VRAM capability for 60% of the flagship card’s worth.
The 70 collection card delivers on common 54% of the cores, 61% of the bandwidth, and 50% of the VRAM capability for 38% of the worth. And the 60 collection has on common 36% of the cores, 45% of the bandwidth, and 41% of the VRAM capability for twenty-four% of the worth.
Nvidia GPUs: Typical Technology (2013-2022)
You may clearly see right here how every bounce down within the product stack sees a bigger discount to the worth in comparison with its discount in configuration. This preserves the worth proposition of lower-tier fashions and means there’s traditionally been a worth premium to get a quicker card. It additionally means we will choose every era primarily based on this common.
The RTX 40 collection was poorly obtained as a result of every card was lower down greater than it ought to have been, and within the case of the 4080, was each lower down extra and priced increased than normal.
The RTX 30 collection was an excellent success outdoors of crypto mining points, with every mannequin providing decrease relative pricing at every of its normal configurations. The RTX 20 collection had a typical set of configurations however increased relative pricing, making it underwhelming.
Then additional again, the legendary GTX 10 collection was bang on common when it comes to core configurations, supplied once more at favorable relative pricing for lower-tier fashions. The 900 collection was related, although not fairly as robust as the ten collection, and the 700 collection wasn’t as lower down as normal throughout the lineup, however this got here with common or barely worse than common relative pricing.
How Do RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 Leaked Specs Stack Up?
So the place do these rumors of the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 slot in? Properly, issues aren’t wanting good primarily based on these rumored specs. Recognized leaker kopite is suggesting the 5090 has 21,760 shader cores and 32GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus. Nevertheless, the RTX 5080 has 10,752 shader cores and 16GB of GDDR7 on a 256-bit bus.
This data means that the RTX 5080 has each the core and reminiscence configuration lower in half relative to the flagship card, although we do not know what reminiscence bandwidth to count on as no GDDR7 pace was listed.
Primarily based on our historic knowledge wanting again at six generations of Nvidia GPUs, the 70 tier is often the category of card that’s half the configuration of the flagship. Once more, on common, we discovered that tier to have 54% of the core depend, 61% of the reminiscence bandwidth, and 50% of the VRAM dimension at 38% of the worth.
Primarily based on latest rumored RTX 5080 specs, this seems to be to us to be extra of an “RTX 5070” sort of product. We’re not even making an attempt to recommend that the rumor is flawed and that configuration is definitely a 5070, simply that if that configuration is labeled as a 5080, it might be probably the most cut-down 80 tier mannequin in Nvidia’s historical past.
However extra necessary than the identify is the worth. The benchmark is de facto set with the worth: over the past six generations, when Nvidia affords you a card that is half the flagship’s configuration, they’ve offered that for 62% lower than the flagship.
Which means that if the RTX 5090 is priced at $1,600, to be across the mark of earlier generations, the RTX 5080 as configured needs to be a $600 GPU. If the 5090 is $2,000, the 5080 needs to be within the $750 to $800 vary.
This evaluation has targeted on relative configurations and relative pricing, which is only one means to have a look at a graphics card era. Worth-to-performance ratios are equally, if no more, necessary, so a sure GPU configuration that is weak relative to the most effective mannequin may very well nonetheless be good general relying on how its price-to-performance ratio stacks up in comparison with earlier era fashions.
However an enormous GPU configuration discount will solely succeed if both the flagship mannequin is so highly effective {that a} huge cutback would nonetheless be very highly effective, or if Nvidia is keen to cut back the worth of a given product tier.
If the RTX 5080 is definitely extra like a 5070 in configuration and generational efficiency – however can be priced like a 5070 – it does not actually matter what it is known as. But when it is a 5070 configuration priced and named like a 5080… nicely, now we’re in hassle.
Our final aim right here was to arm you with historic configuration and pricing data, in order we get nearer to Nvidia’s official launch of the RTX 50 collection you may be higher outfitted to research the brand new fashions. With a clearer understanding of earlier GPU lineups, you can decide whether or not the brand new era is affordable or is ripping you off. It is undoubtedly one thing we’ll be retaining an in depth eye on.
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