Editor's Note: As of September 2022 the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080, 4090 have been unveiled — here's what they'll cost.
We're inching closer to the stage when deciding if buying a new graphics card is a sensible move or if waiting for a next generation of GPUs makes more sense. That’s because the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series, codenamed Lovelace, has been tipped for a reveal in the third quarter of the year.
According to regular graphics tech leaker kopite7kimi on Twitter, the next-generation GeForce GPUs will “come out a little bit earlier,” meaning sometime in early Q3, which covers July, August and September. For reference, the past two generations of Nvidia GPUs have arrived in the summer and the early fall.
Ada Lovelace will come out a little bit earlier. Keep patient.August 26, 2021
Given finding where to buy the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 is still far from easy, meaning getting a pre-built system with the graphics card is a legitimate solution, it wouldn’t be hugely surprising if Nvidia decides to get a new generation of GPUs out sooner than later.
Hopefully, the graphics giant will have planned ahead for semiconductor supply shortage and ensure a more consistent supply of next-gen graphics cards.
Going by the rumors so far, Lovelace is expected to be an evolution over the Ampere architecture of the current GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards. As such, we may not get the same leap in performance the RTX 30 GPUs delivered over the RTX 20-series GPUs.
This is all rumor-based speculation, but it would indicate that if you've got, or are in the process of getting, an RTX 30-series graphics card, you won’t feel short-changed if the new GPUs are launched soon after. In many ways, there's never a perfect time to get a new graphics card; after launch availability can be limited, prices can be high; and driver support might not be so robust. Further down the line, these issues may have been resolved but a next-gen GPU could be on the horizon.
Why I'm waiting for the RTX-40 series
So I can simply tell you what my approach is: I’m going to wait. I have a PC that’s good for 1080p gaming at high settings and decent frame rates, as well as an Xbox Series X and PS5, so I'm equipped to enjoy a decent range of PC games as well as the best Xbox Series X games and the best PS5 games, many of which are multi-platform.
I’m traditionally a PC gamer and would love a powerful machine capable of handling ray tracing, high refresh rates and 4K resolution gaming. But I currently feel there aren’t any games that really sing, graphically speaking, on the PC over the current game consoles. The exception being Cyberpunk 2077, but I’ve been put off by its poor launch. And with the likes of Starfield being delayed, I’m happy working though my back catalog of PC games rather than chasing the next high-fidelity fix.
When Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40-series card do arrive, that’ll be the time I start considering a new PC, be it a DIY project or a pre-built machine.
Of course, if your PC is struggling and you’re not a console gamer, then I can’t imagine you’ll go too wrong with one of our picks for the best gaming PCs with an RTX 30-series graphic card. Let me know what choice you’re planning on making.
