Upgrade to 3090 ti or wait for 4090?

gerbiaNem

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
2,169
It’s really more of an economics question at this point. My 3090 runs well, but I’m trying to maximize performance per dollar. Are GPU prices expected to plummet anytime soon?
The 3090 ti probably won’t maintain value once the 4xxx series is released, but neither will the 3090.
If I upgrade now, I spend $300 for the privilege.
If I wait, I won’t get top dollar for the 3090.
What’s a financially responsible gamer to do? (Not that anything above a 3080 is to be considered financially responsible..)
 
The price will go down when/if talk is not that strong too (2080TI will plummet once the Ampere launch and so on really did not happen), depend on the price point and obviously actually possibility to buy Lovelace, if it feels like it is not certain to be something you can buy in spring 3-4 months after launch, price could maintain.

Does the $300 spending include taxes ? Is still possible to sell an used (with all that could mean warrenty wise) 3090 that much $1900 or so when you can buy a new full under warranty TI version for "only" $2000+taxes ? If so that would make sense, performance boost and you're relaunching the warranty to zero with such big item.
 
Last edited:
The price will go down when/if talk is not that strong too (2080TI will plummet once the Ampere launch and so on really did not happen), depend on the price point and obviously actually possibility to buy Lovelace, if it feels like it is not certain to be something you can buy in spring 3-4 months after launch, price could maintain.

Does the $300 spending include taxes ? Is still possible to sell an used (with all that could mean warrenty wise) 3090 that much $1900 or so when you can buy a new full under warranty for "only" $2000+taxes ? If so that would make sense, performance boost and you're relaunching the warranty to zero with such big item.
The $300 does include taxes. That was my initial thought, I’d basically be getting performance and warranty for that price.
Another thought I had is downgrading to a 3080ti for a few months at $1299, take a $600 profit and use it for the 4xxx series when they become available. I have a feeling the 3080ti will lose a similar percentage to the 3090, if not less, and still be sellable.
 
For a mere $300 I would definitely do it, no question.
 
The price will go down when/if talk is not that strong too (2080TI will plummet once the Ampere launch and so on really did not happen), depend on the price point and obviously actually possibility to buy Lovelace, if it feels like it is not certain to be something you can buy in spring 3-4 months after launch, price could maintain.

Does the $300 spending include taxes ? Is still possible to sell an used (with all that could mean warrenty wise) 3090 that much $1900 or so when you can buy a new full under warranty TI version for "only" $2000+taxes ? If so that would make sense, performance boost and you're relaunching the warranty to zero with such big item.

The only reason the 2XXX series was still priced so high was because the 3XXX cards were so hard to come by. That's it. There was nothing inherently valuable about them and if the 3XXX cards were available anywhere near MSRP, a 2080Ti's value would be in the $500-600 range comparatively. If Lovelace has any sort of availability at all, and performs like it is projected to, a 3090s (and 3090tis) value could plummet into the $800-900 range.

The $300 does include taxes. That was my initial thought, I’d basically be getting performance and warranty for that price.
Another thought I had is downgrading to a 3080ti for a few months at $1299, take a $600 profit and use it for the 4xxx series when they become available. I have a feeling the 3080ti will lose a similar percentage to the 3090, if not less, and still be sellable.

I'd downgrade to the 3080Ti. There isn't much of a performance gap. You'll take less of a hit later on resale.

The caveat is you actually care about resale value. If you want the absolute best performance now, get the 3090Ti for the extra $300.
 
The only reason the 2XXX series was still priced so high was because the 3XXX cards were so hard to come by. That's it. There was nothing inherently valuable about them and if the 3XXX cards were available anywhere near MSRP, a 2080Ti's value would be in the $500-600 range comparatively. If Lovelace has any sort of availability at all, and performs like it is projected to, a 3090s (and 3090tis) value could plummet into the $800-900 range.



I'd downgrade to the 3080Ti. There isn't much of a performance gap. You'll take less of a hit later on resale.

The caveat is you actually care about resale value. If you want the absolute best performance now, get the 3090Ti for the extra $300.
I care about performance, but I'm ok with 20% of the year having 90% of the performance for a savings on 100% performance the next year. Part of my fear is that the 3090 ti is going to be a novelty card with very little value once the 4xxx series arrives in a few months.
 
I care about performance, but I'm ok with 20% of the year having 90% of the performance for a savings on 100% performance the next year. Part of my fear is that the 3090 ti is going to be a novelty card with very little value once the 4xxx series arrives in a few months.

I think that's exactly what it will be.
 
Yes when the 4000 series releases the 3090ti will run at 3fps and quite possibly stop working altogether and will re-sell for two-fiddy and miners and scalpers will be a thing of the past
 
Yes when the 4000 series releases the 3090ti will run at 3fps and quite possibly stop working altogether and will re-sell for two-fiddy and miners and scalpers will be a thing of the past
By little value, I mean it will probably be on 4080 level performance if not 4070. Resultingly, it will sell at price parity to those cards if not less depending on features/power/size.
 
By little value, I mean it will probably be on 4080 level performance if not 4070. Resultingly, it will sell at price parity to those cards if not less depending on features/power/size.
4070 probably. I wouldn't make the jump from a 3090 to a 3090 ti. They're too similar in performance, but not in value.
 
Who here knows when the 4000 series is dropping? What will the 4090 cost? How is the geopolitical situation going to look in 6 months? The supply chain? Taiwan? Inflation?

None of you know? Yeah I didn't think so. This is nothing but pure speculation. The OP's question is impossible to answer because there are too many variables. Worried about money? Want to make the "financially responsible" decision? Sell your 3090 now and buy a used Playstation.

I thought this was the [H]ardforum....
 
Who here knows when the 4000 series is dropping? What will the 4090 cost? How is the geopolitical situation going to look in 6 months? The supply chain? Taiwan? Inflation?

None of you know? Yeah I didn't think so. This is nothing but pure speculation. The OP's question is impossible to answer because there are too many variables. Worried about money? Want to make the "financially responsible" decision? Sell your 3090 now and buy a used Playstation.

I thought this was the [H]ardforum....
It's called educated guessing and reliable rumor sources, plus nvidia's typical roughly 2 year release cadence. Nice straw men though! Some of us have been around the industry longer than you've been alive. I too thought this was hardforum.com, not your preferred site of bestbuy.com where you wait for a product to be for sale before knowing anything about it!
 
It's called educated guessing and reliable rumor sources, plus nvidia's typical roughly 2 year release cadence. Nice straw men though! Some of us have been around the industry longer than you've been alive.

Why don't you just tell the OP when the 4090 is releasing and at what cost? Saves us a pointless discussion.
 
Why don't you just tell me when the 4090 is releasing and at what cost?
Because you aren't interested in that, you're just trolling at this point. I already did guess the date ;). MSRP usually is in flux until a week before release anyway, so that's stupid to ask. A real hardforum.com user knows that already, unlike your pretending.
 
Sure I am, Nostradamus. Give me a date and a price, since you are pretending to know. Will be hilarious when you are off by months and hundreds of US dollars.

I won't worry about it, just going to enjoy my hobby and the new 3090 Ti that's coming in today.
 
Sure I am, Nostradamus. Give me a date and a price, since you are pretending to know. Will be hilarious when you are off by months and hundreds of US dollars.
Reread what I wrote before trolling. At least keep it relevant! I already addressed both.
 
Where in this thread did you guess the date?
As I said...

"It's called educated guessing and reliable rumor sources, plus nvidia's typical roughly 2 year release cadence."

That, obviously, is based on their history and how ampere launched in September 2020.

I got my rtx 3080 10gb hybrid ftw3 ultra for $779 in Dec 2020. Seems foolish to go all in on a 3090 ti so close to the next Gen, but I guess ignorance does that to some people who are ostriches with their heads in the sand...
 
Yeah, and I got my 3090 for $1499 back in October 2020 when all you "industry insiders" were advising people to wait. A few months later that card was impossible to find at MSRP and was going on Ebay for $3000.

That is my point. Predicting pricing, availability, launch dates, "financially responsible" decision making.... it's all rather pointless.

I'm not here to troll or attack you. Sorry for even posting in such a ridiculous thread. Speculate away...
 
Where in this thread did you guess the date? This is funny. I am a troll because I stated that nobody knows when these cards are releasing nor the pricing, so the OP is impossible to answer. OK.
No Nostradamus, you compared it to wild unknowns, when it isn't one, sarcastically and rudely.
 
Sorry if I misinterpreted your intent, and apologies then.

My post was a bit sardonic and I should have left out the "I thought this was Hardforum". I understand economics is an issue and the OP wants to make the best decision he can. I just don't think anyone, even industry veterans, can give him a good answer. Not in 2022, after all we have seen in the past couple of years.
 
Having a 3090 myself, which I was lucky enough to find at launch, I would not upgrade to 3090ti under any circumstances. It is readily apparent that the 4000 series will trounce the 3000 series. We don't know when those cards will launch, but I tend to think unless you are struggling with hitting target frames in a specific title, the 3090 will serve you well until the 4000 series hits. I actually think the 3090 may serve well enough until the 4000 series is refreshed with its own ti varients. It is not so much a question of whether the upgrade to 3090ti is worth it. It is more a question of the inevitability of your wanting a 4000 series card and unnecessarily expending resources on a 3090ti that could be put toward a 4000 series card.

You also have to look at what is going on in console land. We are still pretty early this console cycle. At a certain point, that newer console hardware will become more ubiquitous and even ports will tap into the hardware a bit more than they currently do, with developers having one foot still stuck in the last console generation. I tend to think you could ride 3090 into the 4000 series and be good for years. By the time the 4000 series launches, there may be more software to justify its existence.

I would put that money toward an OLED display if you have not already.

Ultimately, there is no right or wrong answer, but it seems to me by upgrading now you are cutting the life your current card, which is fine, unnecessarily short, buying into a new card that is probably more geared to people who haven't bought into a 3000 series card yet.
 
I would argue that the economics dictate that you sell the 3090 and use the 3080Ti until the 4XXX cards release and are available. The value of the 3090 will likely never be higher and the 3080Ti isn't a large drop in performance.
 
Last edited:
Didn't mean to start a flamewar here. This is still [H], and we're talking about the highest end gpus, just the best path to acquiring them.
I think I'm going to go the temporary 3080 ti route for now. My 3090 FE has served me well, but I will definitely be itching for the 4xxx series. We've already had the die pictured, and the speculative leaks are not zero information.
I'm all for performance, but not about throwing money away unnecessarily.
 
Didn't mean to start a flamewar here. This is still [H], and we're talking about the highest end gpus, just the best path to acquiring them.
I think I'm going to go the temporary 3080 ti route for now. My 3090 FE has served me well, but I will definitely be itching for the 4xxx series. We've already had the die pictured, and the speculative leaks are not zero information.
I'm all for performance, but not about throwing money away unnecessarily.
I'd be very surprised if they did not announce in Sept./Oct.
 
I'd downgrade to the 3080Ti. There isn't much of a performance gap. You'll take less of a hit later on resale.
I did this with my 3090 and went to a 3080Ti. No regrets and zero hit to performance.
 
Im waiting for the 4090. I just hope they figure out power, because theres no way you can put a 3090ti into a SFF with that much power and heat. To get one to work at all is going to take a 1000w SFX-L psu and makes case and clearance extremely limited in most cases.
 
Im waiting for the 4090. I just hope they figure out power, because theres no way you can put a 3090ti into a SFF with that much power and heat. To get one to work at all is going to take a 1000w SFX-L psu and makes case and clearance extremely limited in most cases.
The top-end cards aren't really made for SFF. Just a consideration builders are going to have to make for the upcoming series.
 
The top-end cards aren't really made for SFF. Just a consideration builders are going to have to make for the upcoming series.
While true you can make the 3090 work in a lot of SFF. I've had the 3090 in 3 different SFF cases. The 3090ti is pretty much impossible because of the SFX-L requirement. If the 4000 series uses anywhere near as much as the Ti I will be disappointed. 4000 series starting to make me remember the GTX 400 series.
 
While true you can make the 3090 work in a lot of SFF. I've had the 3090 in 3 different SFF cases. The 3090ti is pretty much impossible because of the SFX-L requirement. If the 4000 series uses anywhere near as much as the Ti I will be disappointed. 4000 series starting to make me remember the GTX 400 series.

Not to completely derail the thread, but other than the FE 3090 and maybe the EVGA XC3, 3090s are just large cards in general. Even larger HSFs are going to be problematic.

Unfortunately, the large HSFs have trickled down to lower end cards that probably don't need as much cooling. There's really no reason a 3060Ti needs as large a cooler as a 3090, but my first MSI 3060Ti barely fit in any case let alone a SFF one.
 
I care about performance, but I'm ok with 20% of the year having 90% of the performance for a savings on 100% performance the next year. Part of my fear is that the 3090 ti is going to be a novelty card with very little value once the 4xxx series arrives in a few months.
I also think this will be exactly the case. If they had released it closer to when they announced it, different story. At this point it will be a short blip in history on the 4 series launch.
 
Not to completely derail the thread, but other than the FE 3090 and maybe the EVGA XC3, 3090s are just large cards in general. Even larger HSFs are going to be problematic.

Unfortunately, the large HSFs have trickled down to lower end cards that probably don't need as much cooling. There's really no reason a 3060Ti needs as large a cooler as a 3090, but my first MSI 3060Ti barely fit in any case let alone a SFF one.
Can confirm. The EVGA 3070 ti FTW3 has about the same size cooler as the 3080 FTW.
 
Sell your 2080ti now. Run, don't walk. I sold my 2080ti last March for $1450. It paid for my 6900xt by itself that I snagged on Ebay at the time for $1399. If you want a 3090ti, get one. Or just wait...you'll always hear "That card will be outdated in 4 months anyway"

No shit...
 
Last edited:
Not to completely derail the thread, but other than the FE 3090 and maybe the EVGA XC3, 3090s are just large cards in general. Even larger HSFs are going to be problematic.

Unfortunately, the large HSFs have trickled down to lower end cards that probably don't need as much cooling. There's really no reason a 3060Ti needs as large a cooler as a 3090, but my first MSI 3060Ti barely fit in any case let alone a SFF one.
I can fit the 3090 strix or ftw3 into a nr200p or my meshlicious with room to spare. If either had to have an SFX-L power supply it wouldn’t work.
 
The only reason the 2XXX series was still priced so high was because the 3XXX cards were so hard to come by. That's it. There was nothing inherently valuable about them and if the 3XXX cards were available anywhere near MSRP, a 2080Ti's value would be in the $500-600 range comparatively. If Lovelace has any sort of availability at all, and performs like it is projected to, a 3090s (and 3090tis) value could plummet into the $800-900 range.
Yes thus the if it does not feel like it will be possible to buy in the first 4 months price could maintain (I guess crypto return being the giant variable here, if a 3090 pay 7$ it will not easy to find one for just 800-900).
 
Yes thus the if it does not feel like it will be possible to buy in the first 4 months price could maintain (I guess crypto return being the giant variable here, if a 3090 pay 7$ it will not easy to find one for just 800-900).

I know how much people like to play the "Crypto Devil" card, but a 3090 hasn't done $7/day after paying for electricity in months.
 
Back
Top