Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for 1080p Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060
Pros & Cons
Excellent ray-tracing performance for a lower-cost card
Supports DLSS 3
8GB of video memory
Competitive price
Lackluster performance at higher resolutions
Some issues running older games
Why We Picked It
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 is the most affordable option in its RTX 40-series lineup and provides decent gaming performance in many titles. The card has 8GB of GDDR6 memory, which should be plenty for gaming at 1080p. In Nvidia’s reference design, the RTX 4060 is rated to draw just 115 watts, which is another key selling point of the card, as its needs in terms of power and cooling are relatively small.
Who It’s For
If you are buying a graphics card on a budget, the GeForce RTX 4060 is arguably the best option. It retails for just $299 and delivers excellent performance for the money. The RTX 4060 is a bit constrained regarding memory bandwidth, making it a lackluster option for gaming at higher resolutions, particularly at 4K. Still, its 1080p gaming performance is highly competitive. Its lower power draw also means you can get by using it with lower-wattage (and thus, cheaper) power supplies, and it can work well inside compact PCs where heat and power limitations are common issues.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD107
GPU Base Clock
1830 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2505 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6
Graphics Memory Amount
8 GB
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
double
Card Length
9 inches
Board Power or TDP
115 watts
Power Connector(s)
1 8-pin
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Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Review
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 1080p Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Pros & Cons
Excellent 1080p performance
Runs cool
High-efficiency operation
Reasonably priced against competition
So-so 1440p performance
Little 4K potential
Limited bandwidth
Why We Picked It
Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 Ti provides a clear step up in performance from the company’s GeForce RTX 4060. With a significant increase in core count and slightly faster RAM, the 8GB model of the RTX 4060 Ti can run games at 1080p resolution exceedingly well. The improvement over the baseline RTX 4060 is reasonable compared with the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti’s higher price. Still, the 16GB model of this card is best avoided, as it costs significantly more and provides little in the way of real-world performance improvement over the 8GB model.
Who It’s For
The 8GB RTX 4060 Ti is an excellent option for gamers who want to run games at 1080p with higher refresh rates. The card easily runs games at this resolution and should maintain higher refresh rates in many modern games, including popular esports titles. The card does a passable job of gaming at 2K, but it’s a relatively poor option for 4K, so we don’t advise stretching it too far.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD106
GPU Base Clock
2310 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2535 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6
Graphics Memory Amount
8 GB
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
double
Card Length
9.61 inches
Board Power or TDP
160 watts
Power Connector(s)
12VHPWR
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Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Review
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for 2K Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070
Pros & Cons
Solid performance for 4K play or high-refresh 1440p
Impressive ray-tracing performance
Reasonably priced
Cool operating temperature
Smaller than many other next-gen cards
Lackluster performance in older games
Smaller performance jump than the previous xx70-class card
Why We Picked It
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 is a major step up from Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4060 and RTX 4060 Ti. It drives a major performance boost with a significant increase in shaders and memory bandwidth. The card ships with 12GB of RAM and has an MSRP of $549.
Who It’s For
If you are gaming strictly at 1080p, the RTX 4070 is overkill. It’s certainly a viable 1080p gaming solution if you like sky-high frame rates, but the RTX 4070 is a better value for 2K gaming (1440p or 1600p), where you will get better image fidelity. It could also work as an entry-level 4K gaming card, but that may require turning settings down to maintain consistent frame rates, particularly on newer titles.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD104
GPU Base Clock
1920 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2475 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6
Graphics Memory Amount
12 GB
DVI Outputs
0
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
double
Card Length
9.56 inches
Board Power or TDP
200 watts
Power Connector(s)
12VHPWR
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Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Review
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 2K Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super
Pros & Cons
Significant performance increase
Impressive ray-tracing numbers
Many improvements at the same price
Excellent thermal performance
Why We Picked It
Introduced as an amped-up RTX 4070, the RTX 4070 Super is a clear and decisive improvement over the standard RTX 4070. The RTX 4070 Super replaced the RTX 4070 at its $599 MSRP, pushing the standard RTX 4070 down to a new price of $549. However, this price difference is almost too small not to go with the newer card, as the RTX 4070 Super overshadows the original RTX 4070, providing a compelling performance boost for a modest additional cost.
Who It’s For
The RTX 4070 Super targets gamers running 2K monitors with resolutions like 2,560 by 1,440 pixels. This is where the card excels: driving playable frame rates even with most or all of the settings maxed out in newer games. It’s also not a bad option for entry-level 4K gaming, but you’ll likely need to reduce some graphics settings to maintain 60 frames per second or better in the latest titles.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD104
GPU Base Clock
1980 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2475 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6X
Graphics Memory Amount
12 GB
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
double
Card Length
10 inches
Board Power or TDP
220 watts
Power Connector(s)
12VHPWR
Learn More
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super Review
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for 4K Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super
Pros & Cons
Improved performance over plain RTX 4070 Ti
Larger 16GB memory pool
No price increase
Increased power consumption
Too pricey compared to AMD’s competitor
Why We Picked It
The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super is one of the more challenging cards to place in Nvidia’s current RTX 40 lineup. Its MSRP of $799 situates it exactly between the RTX 4070 Super at $599 and the RTX 4080 Super at $999. Although it’s a fast and powerful card overall, it’s a bittersweet value. That’s because its closest brethren, the RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4080 Super, both deliver somewhat better performance relative to what you pay than the RTX 4070 Ti Super does. That’s not to say the card isn’t worth buying; just expect to get more value from one of those other cards.
Who It’s For
The RTX 4070 Ti Super fills an important void between the $599 and $999 price points in Nvidia’s RTX 40-series lineup. This puts it in tough competition with some of AMD’s best cards, notably the Radeon RX 7900 XT, and, as we stated above, it provides slightly less performance per dollar than the RTX 4070 Super and the RTX 4080 Super. If you are dedicated to Nvidia’s green team of graphics cards and want the best performance possible but can’t justify dropping $999 on a GeForce RTX 4080 Super, this is the card to buy. If you can afford the extra, though, the RTX 4080 Super is well worth the added cost.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD103
GPU Base Clock
2340 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2610 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6X
Graphics Memory Amount
16 GB
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
3
Card Width
double
Card Length
12.1 inches
Board Power or TDP
285 watts
Power Connector(s)
12VHPWR
Learn More
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Review
Best Nvidia Graphics Card for High-Refresh 4K Gaming
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super
Pros & Cons
Competitive price
Exceptional ray-tracing performance
Mild boosts in general performance over original RTX 4080
Decent power draw and thermal results
$999 is still a lot of cash
Runs a bit warm under load
Why We Picked It
In some ways, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super is the king of Nvidia’s RTX 40-series line-up. It has exceptional performance, and with a 256-bit-wide memory interface and 16GB of GDDR6X, it can handle running modern games at 4K resolutions better than almost anything else on the market. This is particularly true for games that support ray tracing, a specialty of the entire Nvidia RTX 40 series.
Who It’s For
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super delivers one of the best gaming experiences that money can buy on current-generation hardware. Priced at $999, it’s pretty expensive but well worth it if you want to run modern games with maxed-out settings at 4K. High-refresh-rate gaming at 4K is even possible with this powerful card, but depending on how high you want to push that frame rate and how demanding the game is, you still may be forced to draw back settings a little to hit your refresh-rate target.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD103
GPU Base Clock
2295 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2550 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6X
Graphics Memory Amount
16 GB
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
triple
Card Length
12 inches
Board Power or TDP
320 watts
Power Connector(s)
12VHPWR
Learn More
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super Review
Most Powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series Graphics Card
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090
Pros & Cons
Ferociously powerful for a single-GPU card
Power consumption is relatively low for this level of raw GPU performance
Usual exceptional Founders Edition build quality
Pricey
Almost impractically enormous
Raw power appears, at times, to bottleneck a Core i9-12900K CPU
Why We Picked It
This is the big one. Not only is Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 one of the physically largest graphics cards we have ever seen, but it also has an absolutely enormous GPU die with an exceptionally high core count, 24GB of GDDR6X connected to a 384-bit-wide memory interface, and a sky-high MSRP of $1,599. Currently, no graphics card on the market can match it.
Who It’s For
Though undeniably powerful and the envy of gamers everywhere, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is not for the faint of heart. Supporting it will require a large case, a high-wattage power supply, and similarly robust components throughout your entire PC build. That’s not the part that’s hardest to swallow, though; that’s expected. It’s the price: The $1,599 MSRP sometimes goes even higher due to robust demand for the RTX 4090 in compute-intensive workstations and servers. It’s possible to buy an entire system’s worth of parts, including an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super, for what you might spend just on an RTX 4090. Because of that, it isn’t a card we recommend to casual gamers. This is the sort of card you buy if money isn’t a factor and you simply want the best high-resolution, high-refresh gaming experience available.
Specs & Configurations
Graphics Processor
Nvidia AD102
GPU Base Clock
2239 MHz
GPU Boost Clock
2520 MHz
Graphics Memory Type
GDDR6X
Graphics Memory Amount
24 GB
DVI Outputs
0
HDMI Outputs
1
DisplayPort Outputs
3
Number of Fans
2
Card Width
triple
Card Length
12 inches
Board Power or TDP
450 watts
Power Connector(s)
4 8-pin (12VHPWR)
Learn More
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Review
Buying Guide: The Best Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series Graphics Cards
What Is the ‘Ada Lovelace’ Architecture?Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40-series graphics cards are based on Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace microarchitecture. Currently, just five graphics chips are based on the Ada Lovelace architecture: AD102, AD103, AD104, AD106, and AD107. All RTX 40-series graphics cards will contain one of these chips, which we will cover separately after first reviewing what they have in common.The Ada Lovelace architecture is an evolutionary design heavily based on Nvidia’s preceding “Ampere” architecture, which powered the RTX 30 series. Both share a common internal layout with a similar distribution of some resources. The base-level hardware shaders are organized into streaming multiprocessors (SMs), with each SM containing 128 CUDA cores, 128K of L1 cache, four texture-mapping units (TMUs), four Tensor cores, and a single third-generation ray-tracing (RT) core.
A schematic of the GeForce RTX 4080’s AD103 die (Credit: Nvidia)
Each pair of SMs is grouped into a texture processing cluster (TPC), with six TPCs combined to create a graphics processing cluster (GPC). The GPC is the largest organizational unit employed by Nvidia, with the largest Ada Lovelace GPU die containing a dozen GPCs and the smallest coming equipped with just two. Each graphics chip also contains memory controllers, raster operation processors (ROPs), media encoders, media decoders, L2 cache, and other circuitry required to make a fully functional graphics chip. However, these resources are not unified into a static package like the GPCs and vary considerably from one chip to the next.
A schematic of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series SM (Credit: Nvidia)
The CUDA cores, TMUs, and ROPs drive game performance, primarily, particularly in older titles. The RT cores are also crucial in this respect, but only in newer titles that support ray tracing. The Tensor cores aren’t heavily used in games but help drive AI workloads and boost computational performance. However, we should note that the usefulness of this hardware in games may change soon, as Nvidia and other companies are looking into incorporating AI features into games.While organizationally similar to Ampere, the Ada Lovelace architecture brings several technological upgrades to improve performance. The changes made in the RT cores, which is Nvidia’s third-generation of RT hardware, are particularly noteworthy as these now contain fixed-function hardware that is hardwired to accelerate ray-tracing operations. This differs from most other hardware inside the graphics chip, which tends to be more flexible and fit for work other than graphics operations.The RT cores also have new abilities, including what Nvidia calls an Opacity Micromap Engine. This technology works to alpha-test geometry before running the ray-tracing calculations. This enables the GPU to better determine what objects are affected by a light source and restricts the workload to those objects or parts of those objects. Areas that won’t be affected aren’t processed, saving valuable time and accelerating ray-tracing performance.
Nvidia Opacity Micromap (Credit: Nvidia)
Nvidia’s RTX 40-series graphics cards also support the latest version of Nvidia’s deep learning super sampling (DLSS) technology, which is DLSS 3. This version of DLSS incorporates frame generation technology and can help boost frame rates substantially in the right scenarios. This works best in games running into a processor bottleneck and with GPU horsepower to spare.
An Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 core circuit board (Credit: Nvidia)
Nvidia’s board partners (the companies that actually produce GeForce cards based on its GPUs) vary slightly from region to region, but North America’s main board partners are Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI, PNY, and Zotac. Nvidia often creates its own Founders Edition models of graphics cards at launch, which are only available in limited quantities. After those are gone, you’ll need to look at models from one of these vendors, all of which are known to produce high-quality cards. That covers the essential similar features of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series of graphics cards. Next, we’ll look at each GPU in more specific detail.AD102: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090Nvidia’s biggest and most potent 40-series graphics chip is the AD102, which powers the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090. This enormous chip has 76.3 billion transistors, an area of 608.5 millimeters square, and 18,432 CUDA cores. Nvidia does not currently sell a graphics card with all of these cores enabled, but you get most of those with the RTX 4090, which has 16,384 active cores. The RTX 4090 also has a 384-bit-wide memory interface that links 24GB of GDDR6X video RAM to the graphics chip.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
To illustrate how massive this chip is, let’s compare it briefly to its lead competitor, the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX. The RX 7900 XTX uses a chip that is 552 millimeters square, which may not sound much smaller, but the transistor count of “just” 57.7 billion better helps to illustrate the difference. In truth, these two cards do not compete, given their substantial gap in price and resources, but the RX 7900 XTX’s graphics chip is the second largest in the industry after the AD102 chip in the RTX 4090.For gaming, this is a graphics card that is hard to recommend due to its introduction price of $1,599. That price has only increased over time due to demand, primarily driven by people looking to use the RTX 4090 for compute-intensive workloads. It can run games exceptionally well, but we don’t see much reason to buy such a powerful or expensive graphics card unless you want to run the latest games with maxed settings on a high-refresh 4K monitor—the current pinnacle of PC gaming—and you have cash to burn.AD103: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4080, and RTX 4070 Ti SuperNvidia’s second-most-powerful Ada Lovelace die is the AD103, but it’s a major step down from the AD102. Instead of the max possible 18,432 CUDA cores available in the AD102, AD103 contains just 10,240, paired with a smaller 256-bit-wide memory interface with 16GB of GDDR6X VRAM. It was first released inside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 and had a partially disabled AD103 die, leaving 9,728 CUDA cores available for $1,199, but this card has since been discontinued.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super Founders Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
The GeForce RTX 4080 was replaced by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 Super, which employs a fully enabled AD103 die, giving it an advantage over the regular RTX 4080 in overall core count. It also has slightly faster GDDR6X memory, and most appealing, it was released for $999. Its improvements over the non-Super model are fairly small, but the more competitive price makes it unquestionably far more attractive than the original RTX 4080.
Zotac GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Trinity Black Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
The only other graphics card based on the AD103 GPU die is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super. Effectively, 25% of the resources in AD103 are turned off in this version of the GPU, leaving just 8,448 CUDA cores enabled. The memory interface wasn’t cut down on this reduction, which gives it a notable advantage over the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super and the standard Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Priced at $799, it also serves as a replacement for the standard Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, which was discontinued after the release of the Super version.AD104: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4070 Super and RTX 4070The AD104 GPU die is targeted as a midrange solution and is the backbone of some of Nvidia’s most enticing graphics cards. This GPU was supposed to be released first inside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12GB, but that card was subsequently canceled and rebranded as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
The RTX 4070 Ti had access to the fully enabled AD104 GPU die, giving it 7,680 CUDA cores with a 192-bit interface supporting 12GB of GDDR6X. It was also priced at $799 but has since been discontinued and replaced by the RTX 4070 Ti Super (based on the AD103).The AD104 GPU die is also used inside the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 and the GeForce RTX 4070 Super. These cards have 5,888 CUDA cores and 7,168 CUDA cores, respectively. Both support a 192-bit memory interface with 12GB of GDDR6X. The RTX 4070 was initially priced at $599, but it has been discounted to $549 following the release of the RTX 4070 Super, which took over the $599 price point.AD106: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 TiTo date, Nvidia has used the AD106 GPU die in just one graphics card: the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti. This graphics card has 4,352 CUDA cores and a relatively slim 128-bit-wide memory interface. This hampers its performance at higher resolutions, but the card performs well at 1440p/1600p resolution and lower. Nvidia officially declared the RTX 4060 Ti to be its ultimate graphics card for 1080p gaming at launch with an introduction price of $399, which we consider a bit high for a card targeted at 1080p gaming.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Founders Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
You’ll find two versions of this card available on the market today. The standard model has 8GB of GDDR6 memory and is priced at $399. The other model has 16GB of memory and costs $499, which makes it quite hard to recommend. The graphics card’s limited 128-bit memory interface keeps it from running games at higher resolutions particularly well, making the larger pool of RAM only marginally beneficial in some games.AD107: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060The newest Ada Lovelace graphics chip released to date is the AD107, which powers the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060. This is Nvidia’s most affordable RTX 40-series graphics card, with an MSRP of $299 and the lowest core count of 3,072 CUDA cores. It has a 128-bit memory interface (similar to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti) and is similarly hindered by this at higher resolutions.
Asus Dual Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 OC Edition (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
The 128-bit-wide interface doesn’t stop the RTX 4060 from performing well at lower resolutions, and the card is notably proficient at running games at 1080p resolutions. This, combined with its modest 115-watt power design and $299 price, makes it one of the most compelling entry-level graphics cards on the market today.Which Is the Best Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series Card to Buy?Nvidia’s RTX 40-series graphics card lineup covers various price ranges with widely varying performance between each card. As a result, no definitive card is best for everyone. Out of the lot, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is the most powerful, but it also costs more than most people will want to spend for gaming. The chart below summarizes the specs on all the RTX 40-series cards still in active production and sold in North America for easier comparison.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 is one of today’s best budget graphics cards. Though $300 is a bit high for what some will consider “budget,” you’ll find few modern cards selling for less than this. The AMD Radeon RX 7600, the Intel Arc A580, and the Intel Arc A750 are the only current-generation cards that sell for less than this price. These other cards provide some competition for the RTX 4060, but Nvidia’s is the fastest card out of this set, more often than not. This makes the RTX 4060 one of the best entry-level graphics cards you can buy, regardless of brand.For everything between the RTX 4060 at the bottom and the RTX 4090 at the top, it’s a lot more complicated. None of these cards comes off as a poor option except the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti with 16GB of RAM. (You’ll simply find better options for the price than that card, like the RTX 4070 or the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT.) Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4080 would also fall into the “avoid” category, as the RTX 4080 Super drives more performance at a lower price. But the RTX 4080 Super is a complete replacement for the standard RTX 4080, with the latter being discontinued, so the point is moot.
The rest of the cards are all worth considering, and which will be best for you primarily depends on what you can afford to spend. In the chart above, you can gain some insight into how each of these cards performs in relation to each other. You’ll also want to look into our reviews to get more in-depth knowledge and see additional test results. This way, you will better understand what sort of performance you can expect from each graphics card, know what you are buying, and won’t be disappointed.
In general, however, the more you pay, the better gaming experience you will have with higher fidelity image quality and faster refresh rates. It’s also important to remember that the higher-end the graphics card, the more power-hungry it will be and the more cooling it will require. The chart above illustrates the power draw and thermal performance of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series cards we have tested. The cooler included on graphics cards is typically sufficient to avoid any heating issues. However, you still may want to invest in additional case fans for handling particularly hot models. You’ll also need to factor in the cost of more powerful power supplies for higher-end cards, which should be carefully considered while picking your video card.Physical Considerations: Power Connectors, Ports, Card Width, and Card LengthThe GeForce RTX line ranges from compact cards in the RTX 4060 line to true monsters with the RTX 4090. The four physical considerations with these cards are power delivery, video outputs, card slot width, and card length. There’s no fixed length for a given GPU model. (So, for example, you can find short, single-fan GeForce RTX 4060 cards, alongside long, three-fan ones.) But as you go up the card ladder by GPU, the more cooling the GPUs require, and thus the bigger the physical card has to be for the thermal hardware that’s up to the task. To be sure, you won’t find any compact RTX 4080- and 4090-class cards, and even some the RTX 4070 family tend to be pretty beefy. You’ll want to check the length of any card you buy against the free space in your PC’s case. Some cards can exceed a foot in length, and older PC cases that predate the beastly cards of the last few GeForce generations may have a hard time coping. Likewise, card width is another matter of case fitment. Most cards take up two or two-and-a-half slot positions on the PCI Express backplane of your case, and a particularly small case may have issues with hosting an extra-thick card, or lack enough clearance for proper ventilation. Again, check your case’s specs as well as any components or cards you may be installing alongside it for enough clearance. The port mix on most GeForce cards is pretty standard: three DisplayPorts and a single HDMI. That said, a few cards offer two HDMIs at the expense of a Displayport, and especially compact cards may drop a port or two. If you’re using multiple monitors, check for a mix that works with what you’ve got. Old monitors with DVI or VGA inputs only will need special cables to convert the signal.
Typical port mix (three DisplayPort, one HDMI) on a triple-slot-wide GeForce RTX 4080 Super (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
Finally, as for power delivery, make sure your PC’s power supply meets or exceeds the recommendations from the card maker; not all cards of the same GPU family will require the same minimum wattage. With modern GeForce cards, you can also expect the card to require a mix of 6-pin or 8-pin power connectors from your PSU, so check what the card requires before you buy, and make sure your PSU has those GPU-specific leads free to plug in. (Some high-end cards can use three or even, rarely, four PSU connectors!)
A 12VHPWR adapter cable atop an RTX 4070 Super Founders Edition card (Credit: Michael Justin Allen Sexton)
One wrinkle with GeForce cards is that some (notably, Nvidia’s own Founders Edition cards) make use of an Nvidia-specific connector called 12VHPWR. It is a single compact connection on the card edge that, via an adapter, branches off into sockets for several normal 8-pin PSU connectors. (Note: The 12VHPWR connection tends to stick out of the top of the card awkwardly.) Some late-model power supplies have dedicated 12VHPWR lines for these cards, but otherwise you can expect to get a 12VHPWR-to-8-pin converter in the box.
