Cyberpunk 2077 RT: Overdrive Mode Seemingly Cripples RTX 4090 Without DLSS 3

It’s been a couple of years since CD Projekt Red (CDPR) launched Cyberpunk 2077 and in spite of a rocky launch riddled with bugs, glitches and unplanned disappearing acts of vehicles, the studio has already brought the game up to an acceptable enough level, and is still constantly adding on new improvements, patch after patch. In fact, in its next update, the game will be getting a patch that gives players access to an upgraded version of ray-tracing mode, known as RT: Overdrive Mode.

We first wrote about RT: Overdrive Mode back in March, when GDC 2023 was in full swing, and both NVIDIA and CDPR gave a technical session regarding the technology. The mode, also known as Full ray-tracing, which is also known as path-tracing, is actually just one of the two popular methods used by game developer whenever they wish to simulate the behaviour of light in-game. With the more conventional ray-tracing, the in-game engine traces the path of light rays and their interaction with different objects; this processing method requires a lot of graphical power but the end results are images and environments with very accurate reflections, refractions, and shadows.

 

With path-tracing that is used by the RT: Overdrive Mode, the lighting calculation is randomly computed and involves the path of lights that are sampled within an environment. It’s a less complex and demanding process but as a trade-off, the final product is an image with higher noise levels. NVIDIA, in this case, seems to have successfully mitigated that issue, as evidenced by its latest teaser video, showing off the mode in all its glory. In the brand’s words, “full ray-tracing models all properties of light from an unlimited number of emissive sources, delivering physically correct shadows, reflections, and global illuminations on all objects.”

There is a very clear and obvious trade-off for the new RT: Overdrive mode, and that’s an increased strained or processing power by the GPU, and NVIDIA actually shows it in the product demo. With full ray-tracing activated and its DLSS upscaling technology turned on, the feature effectively kneecaps an RTX 4090, with the GPU just able to churn out 16 fps on average, and at 4K resolution. Of course, flip the switch on the brand’s DLSS 3, and the framerate ratchets back above the 100 fps mark and stays there for the remainder of the short tech demo. Honestly, we’re not sure if that massive drop in frames is actually legitimate, but if it is, it does feel a bit soul-crushing, especially given the power a GPU such as the RTX 4090 commands.

Alleged NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Specifications Surfaces

As the rumours of NVIDIA’s Geforce RTX 4070 Ti continue to pile up, there’s actually been little or next to no news about the non-Ti version of the card. Up until now, that is.

The specifications of the alleged GPU were leaked by prominent hardware leakster, kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi). According to Kopite, the card will be using a slightly watered-down version of the PG104 – similar to the one used by the RTX 4070 Ti – and from what is being listed, the same 12GB GDDR6X graphics memory, rather than the original 10GB that it was speculated to ship out with.

Additional details from Kopite’s tweet suggest that the RTX 4070 will feature 5888 CUDA cores, which is significantly lower than the previously rumoured 7168; a 192-bit memory bus that, again, is identical to its more powerful Ti sibling; a 36MB L2 Cache; and a TDP of 250W, which is 35W less than the Ti variant. Unfortunately, the tweet does not specify its base or boost clock, although those numbers could be closer to the RTX 3070, if we’re looking at trends and speculations.

And that’s all there is about the RTX 4070 by Kopite. Again, any and all news regarding the RTX 4070 has been dry, with the current focus of rumours being squarely on the imminent arrival of the Ti-based card. For another matter, there is also no specific timeline as to when the non-Ti card will launch, although if we were to look at NVIDIA’s habit and trend, it could make its debut within three months of each other, seeing how the RTX 3060 made its debut at around the same time frame from its Ti-powered sibling last year.

In a roundabout way about its performance, there is also AMD’s RDNA3-based Radeon 7000 series, or rather, what team Red would introduce as a contender to NVIDIA’s own RTX 4070 Ti and non-Ti variant. Technically speaking, the RX 7900 XTX and XT are meant to bump heads with the RTX 4080, but we’re going to have to wait for the reviews to see if that really is the case.

NVIDIA Requests Temporary Suspension Of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Production

NVIDIA seems to have made a sudden request to all of its board partners, asking them to halt the production of its soon-to-be announced GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card. Effectively, this also means that NVIDIA’s original plan of launching the card later this month is clearly not happening.

The news was initially reported by TweakTown, whom got the news from their source. However, when asked why the GPU maker requested to “pause production” of its AiB partner’s custom-cooled RTX 3090 Ti, the source wasn’t clear. However, thanks to Videocardz, we now know that NVIDIA’s 11th hour request seems to stem from issues with the card’s BIOS and hardware but nothing else beyond that point.

The RTX 3090 Ti was first announced during CES 2022 earlier in the month, albeit briefly. At the time, the company confirmed what earlier rumours had speculated about the card: it would still retain the same 24GB GDDR6X memory, but clocked at a faster 21Gbps and required a much higher 450W TDP, conducted through a new 16-pin Microfit PCIe MOLEX connector.

In any case, we’re just going to have to wait on Team Green for further updates on the RTX 3090 Ti.

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 12GB Graphics Cards Now Available; Retails From RM7000

ASUS expanded its graphics cards lineup with the addition of its own custom-cooled NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3080 12GB graphics cards. Featuring 2GB GDDR6X more than the original RTX 3080 that launched last year, ASUS is releasing the card under two of its sub-brandings: the ROG Strix series and TUF Gaming Series.

Starting with the TUF Gaming series, ASUS will be releasing two versions of the card, an OC edition and standard, non-OC edition. In terms of clockspeeds, the non-OC edition will have a gaming mode and OC mode boost clock of 1710MHz and 1740MHz, respectively. While the boost clocks of the TUF Gaming OC edition of the RTX 3080 is set at 1785MHz for its gaming mode and 1815MHz for its OC Mode. For cooling, the card sports a 0dB triple-fan cooling solution, powered by Axial-tech fans nestled on top of a 2.7-slot thick heatsink.

As for the ROG Strix version of the RTX 3080 12GB, it seems that ASUS is only bringing in the OC edition of the card. In terms of speed, the card will be running on a gaming mode boost clock of 1860MHz and an OC mode boost clock of 1890MHz. Like the TUF Gaming series, the cooling solution of the ROG Strix series RTX 3080 12GB comprises a triple 0dB, Axial-tech fan solutions, but with a slightly thicker 2.9-slot heatsink sandwiched between the fans and PCB. Further, its cooler shroud is cloaked with an aRGB LED across the length of the card.

 

Be it the TUF Gaming or ROG series, all variants of ASUS’ RTX 3080 12GB cards sport the same 12GB GDDR6X graphics memory, 8960 CUDA cores, PCIe 4.0 support, dual HDMI 2.1 port, and three DisplayPort 1.4a ports. Pricing for the cards starts at RM7000 for the standard edition TUF Gaming RTX 3080 12GB, RM7050 for the OC edition, and RM7470 for the ROG Strix OC Edition.

NVIDIA Rumoured To Relaunch GeForce RTX 2060 With Double The Graphics Memory

Back at the start of this year, a rumour began circling online that NVIDIA was planning to resurrect its Turing-powered GeForce RTX 2060, with one difference: instead of 6GB GDDR6, the revived card would instead have 8GB GDDR6. Recently, a new rumour is now suggesting that the amount of graphics memory has increased again.

According to sources close to Videocardz, NVIDIA is supposedly planning on making an RTX 2060 with as much as 12GB of GDDR6 memory, which is just as much as the non-Ti version of the Ampere-based RTX 3060. The card, goes by the model number PG161 and uses the same TU106-300 GPU as the original RTX 2060, save for the “KX” name at the end of the GPU ID.

First announced during CES 2019, the RTX 2060 has long been considered an entry-level GeForce card for the Turing GPU range. The card was popular amongst many gamers, mainly for its price-to-performance ratio and the fact that, like its brethren, it was capable of performing real-time ray-tracing, when and where applicable. Production of the card was quietly discontinued by NVIDIA last year, just as the company announced its current Ampere-based RTX 30 series graphics card.

NVIDIA’s supposed decision to resurrect the RTX 2060 has also been seen as the GPU brand’s way of tackling the ongoing shortage of its RTX 30 series GPUs. Moreover, its CEO, Jen-Hsun Huang, has also said that the shortage is likely to last well into 2022.

Amazon New World MMORPG Reportedly Still Killing GeForce RTX Graphics Cards

Back in July, reports began cropping up of Amazon’s MMORPG, New World, bricking NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics card and more specifically, GeForce RTX 3090 models made by EVGA. The game has since gone live, drawing a massive wave of interest, and while EVGA itself has admitted to its own shoddy manufacturing issues with its RTX 3090s, there are still reports that the game is still causing other GeForce RTX cards to die.

Reports of New World’s ongoing GPU murder spree was picked up by the custom rig company, PowerGPU, who tweeted that many of their customers were emailing them about their GeForce RTX graphics cards that were bricked while playing -you guessed it – New World. In the same tweet, PowerGPU also says that all affected customers clearly never played the beta and it had been anticipating said issues since the issue came about.

 The serial killing doesn’t stop there either. WinFuture, the German tech publication, reported that its Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming graphics card also suffered the same fate after playing New World. This was despite the tech site enabling the game’s framerate limiter and the 60 fps limit in the NVIDIA GeForce driver; it says that the fans on the card still spinning furiously at 100% speed, before the display went black and the PC shut down immediately thereafter. There are also reports of the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Eagle 12G and other RTX 3080 cards that suffered the same fate, too.

At this point, it’s clear that Amazon’s new MMORPG isn’t just singling out specific brands, but more to the point, it is also clear that the game is a hazard to all high-eng NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. So, despite Amazon’s claim that it isn’t the game’s fault, there is little doubt that it actually is. Until an actual fix is available or a full investigation into the issue is made, we strongly suggest that GeForce RTX owners hold off from playing the game.

NVIDIA Reportedly Begins Selling Repurposed GA104 GPUs As GeForce RTX 3060 Cards

NVIDIA repurposing its higher-tier GPUs for lower-tier graphics card models isn’t groundbreaking news, by any measure of the definition. The GPU maker usually does this whenever it has a surplus of GPU dies in question and the higher-ups in the company decide to sell them to AIBs, who then sell them to customers directly.

Recently, a discovery by Twitter user Matthew Smith (@T4CFantasy) showed that NVIDIA has begun selling its GA104 GPUs in the shape and form of GeForce RTX 3060 cards. As a quick recap, the RTX 3060 shifted out with a GA106 GPU but that said, both GA104 and GA106 GPUs actually have similar designs when it comes to their pin layouts. Also, it was the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti that originally shipped out with the GA104 GPU, thus making this the first GA104-powered RTX 3060 with more than 8GB GDDR6 graphics memory.

On paper, the GA104-powered RTX 3060 still retains the same 3584 CUDA cores, as well as the same 12GB of GDDR6 graphics memory and 192-bit memory bus. However, to ensure that the card’s performance still falls within the parameters of an entry-level or mid-range card, approximately 42% of the GPU’s potential will be disabled. Versus the 7% of disabled cores in a GA106-driven RTX 3060.

As for when and where the card will be made available, there are no specific dates but Videocardz speculates that the GA104-based RTX 3060 could make its way into the North American and European markets first, before other countries in Asia (except China) begin receiving it.