Why You Should Skip Nvidia RTX Series Graphics Cards

Nvidia RTX series graphics cards are based on the new Nvidia Turing architecture and the main selling point is support for real-time ray tracing.

Nvidia RTX series graphics cards are based on the new Nvidia Turing architecture and the main selling point of these graphics cards was the fact that they could support real-time ray tracing technology which was not possible on a single graphics card before now.

Although Nvidia RTX is cool in theory but the actual performance of the cards is not all that great. At launch there was no game that actually supported the feature but now we have Battlefield V that actually comes with Nvidia real-time ray tracing support.

Nvidia RTX Series Graphics Cards Are Not There Yet

The performance with RTX enabled is far from acceptable. The top of the line RTX 2080 Ti is able to run the game at 1080p 60 FPS with RTX enabled. The performance drops when you turn the resolution up to 1440p. At that point the game is only playable at 30 FPS. This is not the kind of performance that you expect from a $1100 graphics card.

The same is the case with the Nvidia RTX 2080, you will only be able to play Battlefield V at 1080p 60 FPS. Moving to 1440p will result in one-third the performance as compared to when RTX is turned off.

RTX 2070 Is Not Enough For Real-time Ray Tracing

The RTX 2070 might be the bare minimum requirement for real-time ray tracing according to Nvidia but I think the bar is set very low. The card is unable to run Battlefield V a 1080p 60 FPS when RTX is turned on. This remains to be the case even when RTX is set to low.

The RTX 2070 is able to hit 110 FPS with RTX turned off. When RTX is set to ultra the FPS drops to 53 on average and when it is turned down to low, then the average FPS is 32. That is really low performance with RTX on keeping in mind that this is a $500 graphics card.

Graphics Cards Are Dying

We have got plenty of reports that the Nvidia RTX series graphics cards are dying after a few days of use. This was initially only true for the RTX 2080 Ti model but later on we also got similar reports for the RTX 2070.

Nvidia has confirmed that there is indeed an issue with the initial batch of graphics cards that have been released but the general consumer that is in the market for a new graphics card will not know which card is part of the initial batch unless Nvidia does a recall. Keeping in mind that RMA requests are not high, I don’t think that Nvidia is going to recall all the cards that have been sold so far.

Final Thoughts

RTX works well in areas where there are reflective surfaces. In a game like Battlefield V where you are focused on shooting people rather than the environment, it will be hard to tell the difference between RTX off and RTX on. Having that said, the RTX graphics cards are very powerful indeed but the major selling point is real-time ray tracing.

Real-time ray tracing is headed in the right direction and this could work in the future but as of right now this is not what I can recommend. I am sure that no one is going to get a $1100 graphics card and then kill the performance by two-thirds just to have better reflection effects at 1080p 60 FPS.

If you are interested in getting a new graphics card then you are better off sticking to Pascal. You should wait for the next-generation graphics cards that are supposed to release in 2020, based on the 7nm process.

Sarmad is our Senior Editor, and is also one of the more refined and cultured among us. He's 25, a finance major, and having the time of his life writing about videogames.