If you haven’t heard the term “power creep” in gaming, it’s basically a term used to describe how games introduce new features or items that are, statistically, identical to older versions, but are far superior, leaving the older ones all but obsolete.
On a meta level, power creep is very much a thing in the PC gaming space. One needs to constantly future-proof themselves with the latest technology in order to keep abreast of the ever-increasing demands of new limit-breaking games that AAA developers put out over time. In such an environment, a one-year-old PC is already considered old, while one that’s five years old can even be considered ancient.
For folks that are looking to build a new rig after finally deciding that their decade-old machine just can’t keep up with the new games out today, there’s no better time than to get a new PC with the new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards. These come in the RTX 3070 (US$499), RTX 3080 (US$699), and the RTX 3090 (US$1,499) versions.
The RTX 30 series is the world’s first GPU to support HDMI 2.1 that optimises 4K and even 8K gaming, so when you finally invest in a 4K/8K monitor, you’ll get to enjoy those pixel-perfect breathtaking visuals you typically see in tech demos at E3 or GDC, now in the comfort of your own home. This is also thanks to a new high-speed 24GB GDDR6X VRAM that is able to soak up any heavy-duty graphical processing that games and even content creation apps for motion graphics and animation require for the task at hand. This makes the RTX 30 the world’s fastest graphics card in existence so far.
Not only that, the RTX 30 series comes with 2nd-generation ray tracing cores that makes the lighting in your games (yes, even on Fortnite) look as realistic as possible, without sacrificing performance. Combined with 3rd-generation Tensor cores, running AI-powered graphics technologies and programs is so much easier. Of course, other PC games that benefit from the new ray tracing technology include Death Stranding, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Monster Hunter World.
Additionally, the RTX 30 GPUs come with superb cooling systems that alleviate any heat generated while processing those superb visuals in the form of a pair of fans, one located on the front and the other on the rear of the graphics cards. This lets heat flow through the fans and be dispensed as cool air through large bracket vents located near the fans. This helps to offload any of the heavy-duty cooling work the fans in your PC are already doing, and ultimately makes for a really cool (literally) and energy-efficient gaming experience, even when running games at the highest graphics settings.
For your convenience, here’s what you’ll get with each variant of the RTX 30 series:
| GeForce RTX 3070 | GeForce RTX 3080 | GeForce RTX 3090 | |
| CUDA Cores | 5,888 | 8,704 | 10,496 |
| VRAM | 8GB GDDR6 | 10GB GDDR6X | 24GB GDDR6X |
| Starting Price | US$499 | US$699 | US$1,499 |
Purchasing any of the three RTX 30 variants also grants a free PC digital download of Watch Dogs Legion (which is one of the perfect games to try out the awesome new 2nd-gen ray tracing technology on, we might add).
Should you find yourself on board with the RTX 30 series, you’re all set for the next few years for all your gaming needs and beyond.
Marion has a serious RPG addiction. Sometimes it bleeds into real life; he forgets to sleep because he thinks he has a Witcher’s body clock. Forgive him in advance if he suddenly blurts out terms such as “Mind Flayer” and “Magic Missile”, because never once does he stop thinking about his next Dungeons & Dragons game.
Natalie
Si Jia
