Gigabyte RTX 3090 Ti OC Review

Conclusion

We’re no fools here at OC3D. We understand that even a RTX 3080 Ti is way beyond the means, or indeed needs, of most people and the RTX 3090 Ti is sitting in even more rarified air. No matter how carefully Nvidia have attempted to negate any supply issues and the scalping that always brings – hello anybody still trying to buy a PS5 or XBOX X – there is no getting around the fact that this is a seriously steep investment. Thus we’re speaking either to people who have the money and probably would buy it anyway, or those of you who just like to dream of what you might do with your lottery winnings, or when your rich uncle finally snuffs it. However, let’s pretend that we’re all going to sit here with our hands on our chins and contemplate the wisdom of purchasing a flagship card a few months before the replacement arrives.

Unsurprisingly the answer to the “should I buy this” question is simply answered by choosing any of the graphs on the previous pages at random and then seeing how your system compares. It’s the best of the best right now. The flagship. The benchmark. The high watermark by which all others shall be judged. It’s not a quantum leap (Ziggy!) forwards when compared to the RTX 3090, but neither is it impossible to get hold of like that card was. It is, like all Ti cards before it, the ultimate refinement of a product. The most Ampere GPU an Ampere GPU can be. Comfortably spanking 4K results in anything you care to name. Breaking average frame rate speeds hither and thither. It’s a monster, a beast. If it came with any more pomp it would be written by Elgar.

Thus the question isn’t if you should buy a RTX 3090 Ti, it’s whether you should buy this RTX 3090 Ti.

That’s a bit more of a thorny issue. Clearly as we saw throughout our testing the Gigabyte card is generally a couple of frames per second ahead of the Palit card, in pretty much everything. It also makes full use of one of the biggest coolers we’ve ever seen fitted to a graphics card to have absolutely rock bottom temperatures. If all you want is the coolest, fastest card then your decision is pretty much made right there.

For us, although the Palit Game Rock is somewhat divisive with those gaudy ARGB lights it also grabs your attention more. The Gigabyte is so understated that you wonder if you really have just placed a card costing £2000 in your rig, because it does nothing to advertise that expense. We’re not asking it to shine lasers like a Pink Floyd show, or be gold plated like all the cars in Kensington, but we’d like something that at least hinted at the money we’d spent, rather than a screen printed brand and that’s your lot. Additionally it’s another £75 more expensive than the Palit. Sure if you’re spending nearly 2 grand you might as well spend 2 grand, but that extra might be the straw that broke the camels back, or it might be the difference between some other piece of hardware that will make a difference and a lesser one. You could get a 500GB Gigabyte Aorus M.2 drive for that. We know what we’d rather have.

The Gigabyte RTX 3090 Ti OC is everything you would expect the new flagship Nvidia card to be. More power than you could need, capable of demolishing any game, on any setting and do so at super cool temperatures. We like a little more glitz and glamour for our investment, and the Gigabyte Gaming does suffer from being all steak and no sizzle. That might be just want you want though. YMMV.

  

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