A long-awaited moment for gamers and content creators alike has happened. NVIDIA is releasing their 40 Series of RTX GPUs, and they are all you would hope they would be. They’re faster, more efficient, more powerful and a whole lot bigger. OK, maybe you weren’t looking for a GPU larger than the 30 series already was. But the RTX 40 Series promises some big leaps for content creators of all types. We got a peek at the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition GPU to see just what those leaps are.
Our review of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 GPU takes care of the benchmarks and internal details of the new card. Here, we will keep it simple and discuss how this graphics card will bring you joy as a content creator. What have they added? What does it do to make your life easier and your content better?
As would be expected, encoding is at the forefront of the RTX 40 Series for creators. For the first time in their RTX GPUs, NVIDIA supports AV1 encoding. For those of you who are not in the know, AV1 is a more efficient codec allowing higher-quality video to be encoded at smaller bit rates. Perfect for sending over the internet.
Streaming with AV1 on an RTX 4080 will be a saviour to people with less than optimal internet because by using the same bit rate that you use today for x264, H.264 or H.265 encoding, you are providing a higher quality image than you were before. If you have great internet and are happy with the quality you currently send out, then you can maintain that quality while encoding at a lower bit rate, ensuring a smoother stream.
I tested recording content on OBS (it supports AV1 for recording but not streaming yet) with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition GPU, and the content quality jumps considerably when compared to NVENC H.264. The AV1 footage had virtually no artifacting, even when zooming in close on my screen. It’s worth noting that I also managed to play Fortnite with maxed-out graphics settings at 2160p while also capturing my 4K camera (recording at 60 frames per second at 8 MB/s bit rate), and OBS was rendering frames at a consistent speed of 1.2ms.
Even in times when frames tend to drop, like when you are parachuting in and see the whole map, my rendering speeds never spiked and not a frame was lost. NVIDIA did give us the opportunity to stream with AV1 on Discord as well as see a side-by-side comparison of a constantly running stream. While H.264 was degrading over the hours (I checked in a few times during the day), AV1 with the RTX 40 Series was as crisp as ever. My own personal stream was smooth and beautiful, even as just a screen share.
Editors can also rejoice because the RTX 4080 and AV1 encoding means smaller file sizes, faster rendering and exporting of video and faster uploads to YouTube or whatever platform you choose. One of the ways it works so efficiently for you is that it has dual encoders that work in tandem to encode your content. They literally split up the frame to encode it, and then they rebuild the frame to output to a single stream. With the RTX 4080, this codec—which is already 40% more efficient than the H.264 codec—combined with the dual encoders can up to double your encoding speed compared to even the 30 Series RTX GPUs.
“The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series is an incredibly efficient hardware offering…”
Creators of all kinds can benefit from the new RTX 40-series of GPUs with dedicated hardware to accelerate video production, 3D animation and even AI. Over one hundred applications are optimized for RTX GPUs and use features like OptiX, which optimizes ray tracing for game development, DLSS 3, which is an AI graphics accelerator for gaming streamers to provide the best possible picture for supported games like Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, Microsoft Flight Simulator and F1 22. There is also Maxine, which uses AI to optimize video and audio communication, allowing some streamers and podcasters to create crisp, clear content that makes your audience feel like you were all in the same studio.
NVIDIA’s apps further your ability to work even smarter. Omniverse is a real-time collaboration tool for people who want to create 3D worlds. Canvas uses AI to turn a few scribbles into beautiful art, and Broadcast has revolutionized streaming. It allows you to remove your background without a green screen, improve your sound with one of the best AI noise removal applications, and even take the newer step in streaming by becoming a VTuber, using AI to power a virtual avatar for your streams or videos.
Size can potentially be an issue as the thickness of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 with both the RTX 4080 and RTX 4090 both need 3 PCI-E slots, so plan accordingly if you are limited on space. It also requires a lot of power, so ensure your power supply can support it with the appropriate wattage and cables.
The RTX 4080 is a significant investment, and you need a good return on that investment in terms of time and quality to make it worth it. There is no doubt that for a content creator, the switch to the RTX 4080 GPU will be a major upgrade, provided you have the space and budget.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series is an incredibly efficient hardware offering and will give you greater quality at smaller bit rates and opens you up to types of content creation that you may have been interested in but never able to do. If you are using a non-RTX GPU, you are missing out on a massive suite of applications and support to give you limitless possibilities as a streamer, YouTuber, podcaster, artist, animator and more.
