Technical Description of the RTX 4090 Ti GPU
By
Samuel Pena
Instructor: Susan Delamare
November 11, 2023
Table of Contents
Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4
Background …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….5
List of Parts and Functions ……………………………………………………………………………………………….8
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………15
List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….16
References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….17
Abstract
Gaming was started in the 1950s, and throughout that time, it has evolved. There have been many consoles and systems, but the most innovative have been computers, especially the graphics that come with improving graphic cards. This paper will discuss Nvidia and its new graphic cards that have improved gaming quality.
Introduction
For 30 years, Nvidia has been making Graphics processing units (GPUs), becoming the industry’s best graphic cards. Every computer gamer aims to have the latest GPU to play their games at the best quality. The best GPU right now is the RTX 4090 (Fig. 1), released on October 12, 2022, and has been proven to run games at 13K resolution (Willings, 2023). The 4090s can make any game run smoothly at 4K. Incidentally, it may also allow games that run at 60 Frames per second (FPS) to run at 8K, which the older 3090 could not do (Mujitaba, 2022). The 4090 now has a 16-pin connector, which allows it to be powered at 600W and lets the 4090 have a response time of 10x compared to the 3090 (Mujitaba, 2022).
Figure 1
RTX 4090 Ti
Note: Reprinted from “NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Ti & RTX 4090 Graphics Card Renders Point To 3-Slot Founders Edition Cooler For Next-Gen BFGPUs” by Moore’s Law is Dead, 2022, June 23, wccftech.com, https://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-ti-rtx-4090-graphics-card-renders-point-to-3-slot-founders-edition-cooler-for-next-gen-bfgpus/.
Background
Nvidia started their company in 1993 but released the NV1 (Fig. 2) in 1995, which was their first graphics product (Willings, 2023). The NV1 had a Sega Saturn-compatible joystick port that could handle video in 2&3D (Willings, 2023). The NV1 still struggled because the Sega Saturn could not compete with the PlayStation, but Microsoft DirectX only allowed some games to be compatible with the NV1 (Willings, 2023). In 1999, Nvidia released the world’s first GPU, the Nvidia GeForce 256 (Fig. 3) (Willings, 2023). The GeForce 256 was a massive leap in gaming because it was 50x better than the best Graphics card at the time and compatible with many of the games at that time (Willings, 2023).
Figure 2
Nvidia NV1
Note: Reprinted from “Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphic cards” by Adrian Willings, 2023, March 25, pocketlint.com, https://www.pocket-lint.com/nvidia-gpu-history/ Figure 3
Nvidia GeForce 256
Note: Reprinted from “Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphic cards” by Adrian Willings, 2023, March 25, pocketlint.com, https://www.pocket-lint.com/nvidia-gpu-history/
The most significant change was in 2014 when the GeForce10 Series (Fig. 4) was released. It dominated the market because of its cost and efficiency, and it was also the first GPU to have a display and HDMI ports (Willings, 2023). The GeForce20 Series (Fig. 5) released in 2018 pushed ray-tracing, which resulted in realistic lighting in-game (Willings, 2023). The GeForce30 Series (Fig. 6) was most known for being impossible to get your hands on because it was used to mine Cryptocurrencies. Even though crypto mining has been around since 2009, it blew up in 2021 because of new cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Cryptomining makes the GPU solve complex math problems (Trajcevski, 2021). Many people would buy GPUs and then sell them at higher prices, which made getting a high-end GPU almost impossible. But ever since the fall of NFTs and many cryptocurrencies, the costs for the GeForce30 Series have dropped immensely, allowing many people to buy higher-end GPUs (Weatherman, 2022).
Figure 4
Nvidia GeForce10 series
Note: Reprinted from “Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphic cards” by Adrian Willings, 2023, March 25, pocketlint.com, https://www.pocket-lint.com/nvidia-gpu-history/
Figure 5
Nvidia GeForce20 series
Note: Reprinted from “Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphic cards” by Adrian Willings, 2023, March 25, pocketlint.com, https://www.pocket-lint.com/nvidia-gpu-history/
Figure 6
Nvidia GeForce30 series
Note: Reprinted from “Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphic cards” by Adrian Willings, 2023, March 25, pocketlint.com, https://www.pocket-lint.com/nvidia-gpu-history/
List of Parts and Functions
The GeForce RTX 4090 Ti(4090 Ti) is the newest GPU on the market, which is made to improve gaming quality and have better cooling. It is powered by, which gives it ultra-efficient ray tracing. It will be insanely powerful because it will need 450W-600W of power (Mujitaba, 2022). It will have a cooler similar to the GeForce30 Series but with some differences (Mujitaba, 2022). ( It has a custom-engineered cold plate to ensure liquid cooling reaches the VRM (Voltage regulator module)). The GPU has a 28 gigabyte (GB) memory. The 4090 Ti has a 1×16 pin power connector that allows it to draw power at 450W. Lastly, it has GPU Tweak III software, which uses the 4090 to tweak performance and monitor its system.
Figure 7
PCB
Note: From “GeForce RTX 4090 Specs” by techpowerup, 2022, September 22, techpowerup, https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/geforce-rtx-4090.c3889#:~:text=It%20features%2016384%20shading%20units%2C%20512%20texture%20mapping,which%20are%20connected%20using%20a%20384-bit%20memory%20interface.
Inside Parts
1. AD102
The AD102 is a massive chip that is the brain of the GPU. It is located in the middle of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and supports DirectX 12. Because it supports DirectX 12, it allows raytracing and incredible shading for current and future games.
- Graphics Cores
The AD102 houses the GPU’s graphics core, which allows the GPU to clock speeds. The 4090 Ti can clock at 2.52Hz, and with its 16,384 Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) Cores, it can make any game seem lifelike.
2. 16 Pin connector
The 16-pin connector supplies the GPU with all its power. It is located at the top right of the PCB, making connecting to the power supply easy. Because it has more pins than the previous GPU, it allows the 4090 TI to gain power at 450 to 600 Watts.
3. PCI-Express x 16 connector
The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) x16 is the best PCIe in the industry. It is located at the bottom of the PCB so that the GPU can connect to the motherboard. It allows the GPU to send information at 256 Gigabytes per second.
4. DisplayPorts
The 4090 Ti has three display ports. The ports are all to the left on the PCB. The ports allow up to 3 different monitors on a single computer, so no more having to tab out during different tasks.
- HDMI
The 4090 TI also contains a singular HDMI port to connect it to any television. However, the TV cannot unleash the full power of the GPU.
Outside Parts
5. THE COOLER
The cooler is the case that protects everything in the GPU. The cooler does not use a liquid cooler but instead uses fans to ensure the GPU’s temperature is not too high so the GPU can work properly. The 4090 Ti uses five fans to accomplish this job. Three fans are located at the bottom, and there are two smaller fans, each on the left and right sides, respectively. Without these fans, all the high-end components would overheat, and the GPU would shut down.
- IO Shield
The IO shield is located at the far left or the “rear” of the cooler. The IO’s job is to protect the GPU so that dust cannot go in and damage the delicate parts. It is also where the Display and HDMI ports are contained.
List of Figures Figure
1: RTX 4090 Ti ………………………………………………………………………………….4
Figure 2: Nvidia NV1……………………………………………………………………..5
Figure 3: Nvidia GeForce 256 ……………………………………………………………………………………….5
Figure 4: Nvidia GeForce10 series ……………………………………………………………………………………6 Figure 5: Nvidia GeForce20 series …………………………………………………………………………………….7 Figure 6: Nvidia GeForce30 series …………………………………………………………………………7
Figure 7: PCB…………………………………………………………………….9
Conclusion
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Ti is the most powerful GPU on the market. It can allow so many games to look powerful and run smoothly. Many gamers love how beautiful and realistic most games look when using the 4090 Ti. They use games to escape reality and make their own little worlds where they are at peace. Throughout gaming history, graphics have continued to improve so much that games from 10 years ago look so bad and pixelated. Slowly but surely, games are starting to look more and more life-like to the point that someday in the future, people will not be able to tell games apart from reality. With its progress and technology, Nvidia has slowly been making all of this happen, and the GeForce RTX 4090 Ti is a step into a generation of amazing-looking games for the future.
References
Willings, A. (2023, March 25). Nvidia GPUs through the ages: The history of Nvidia’s graphics cards. Pocket-lint.
Mujitaba, H. (2022, May 19). NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 – The Next-Generation BFGPU For The Ultimate Gamer. Wccftech.
Trajcevski, M. (2021) What is GPU Mining? CoinMarketCap.
Weatherbed, J. (2022, January 25). GPU prices are finally dropping again. Techradar
(2022, September 20). NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Specs. Techpowerup.
