RTX 3090 or 4080 for fairly simple 2 figure scenes and Solo Portraits

zerodayjay

I'm aware that in general you want the most vram and cuda cores that you can get. Which tells me I want a used 3090.

However, is this still the case as of today (18/6/23) with driver updates, studio updates and the newer technology on the 4000 series?

Are there any benchmarks to support getting a 4080 over a 3090?

I should mention that I will also be gaming but I only play at 1440p.

Any input would be appreciated.

TimberWolf

The 4080's benchmark for V-Ray and Octane is knocking on to 50% faster than the 3090. Neither of those engines is *exactly* the same as iRay in terms of how the results are achieved (V-Ray is a hybrid biased/unbiased renderer, Octane is unbiased but works very differently to iRay in terms of memory management) but I think you could expect roughly similar benchmarks. Speeds will, of course, vary from scene to scene.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4080-16gb-content-creation-review/

However.... the 4080 has 16GB of VRAM and the 3090 has 24GB. Which is more important to you - VRAM or speed and efficiency - because that's essentially the choice you're making.

I don't like the 3090 as a pure rendering GPU but that's a personal opinion based on experience of only one card but we're not the only users who have found it doesn't work as expected for long periods of use. It runs very, very hot (and throttles itself) when it's pushed for extended periods and it is not the most energy efficient thing on the planet, that's for sure. The 40xx architecture is much, much better in both those regards - cooler, lower power useage. We had a 3090 for a few months and sold it. Too hot, too power hungry. However, a lot of people on these forums have one and they seem quite happy with them. If you're doing the odd render here and there, a couple of hours at a time, I think it would be fine.

At 1440p there is nothing to separate them for gaming.

Given your useage, unless you regularly produce enormously complex scenes that would require the extra 8GB of VRAM on the 3090, I'd get the 4080. If you think you will regularly be over ~20GB of VRAM useage for rendering then the 3090 (with the best cooling solution you can find!) would suit you better, but I can't see you hitting that limit. As a suggestion, the 4070 is worth a look as it's a fraction of the price of either of the two you are looking at. Only 12GB of VRAM, though,  which may mean you have to dive into optimization of your renders, but it might suit if you're doing exactly as you say - 2 figures or portraits. Even the humble 3060 will happily do that scenario but it's not the fastest GPU you can buy.

Edited to add: I also wouldn't touch a used GPU with a barge pole these days unless I absolutely, 100% knew its provenance. Plenty of them have been thrashed to within an inch of their lives in crypto operations and are then offered, complete with box and packaging and all the things that make them look loved, online at the usual sites.