Skip to content

Main Navigation

Puget Systems Logo
  • Solutions
    • Recommended Systems For:
    • Content Creation
      • Photo Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe Lightroom Classic
        • Adobe Photoshop
      • Video Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe After Effects
        • Adobe Premiere Pro
        • DaVinci Resolve
        • Foundry Nuke
      • 3D Design and Animation
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk 3ds Max
        • Autodesk Maya
        • Blender
        • Cinema 4D
        • Houdini
        • ZBrush
      • Real-Time Engines
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Game Development
        • Unity
        • Unreal Engine
        • Virtual Production
      • Rendering
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • OctaneRender
        • Redshift
        • V-Ray
      • Digital Audio
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Ableton Live
        • FL Studio
        • Pro Tools
    • Engineering
      • CAD
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk AutoCAD
        • Autodesk Inventor
        • Autodesk Revit
        • SOLIDWORKS
      • Photogrammetry
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • ArcGIS Pro
        • Agisoft Metashape
        • Pix4D
        • RealityCapture
    • Scientific Computing
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Data Science
      • Machine Learning / AI
      • Scientific Computing
    • More
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Compact Size
      • Live Streaming
      • NVIDIA RTX Studio
      • Quiet Operation
      • Virtual Reality
  • Products
    • Intel Core i7 & i9
      Workstations with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 & i9 processors on Z690 and Z790 chipsets
    • AMD Ryzen 7 & 9
      Workstations with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors on B650 and X670 chipsets
    • AMD Threadripper PRO
      Workstations with AMD Threadripper PRO 5000 WX processors on the WRX80 chipset
    • Intel Xeon W
      Workstations with Intel Xeon W 3300 processors on the C621E chipset
    • Rackmount & Server
      Servers and workstations in rackmount chassis
    • Custom Computers
      Customize a desktop workstation from scratch
    • Custom Servers
      Customize a rackmount server from scratch
    • QNAP Network Attached Storage
      Check out our external storage options as an authorized reseller for QNAP
    • Recommended Third Party Peripherals
      View our list of recommended peripherals to use with your new PC
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • HPC Blog
    • Blog Posts
    • Case Studies
    • Podcasts
    • Press
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Support Articles
    • Warranty Details
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Press Kit
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Talk to an Expert
  • My Account
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Hardware Articles
  4. /
  5. Blender: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Performance
images showing NVIDIA GeForce 40 Series

Blender: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Performance

Posted on February 2, 2023 (March 2, 2023) by Kelly Shipman

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Overall Blender Performance Analysis
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series vs RTX 30 Series
  • NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series vs GeForce RTX 20 Series
  • How Well Do the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Perform in Blender?

Introduction

The NVIDIA RTX 40 Series continues its staggered launch approach with the latest addition to the lineup, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti 12GB. After the debut of the GeForce RTX 4080 16GB in November and the GeForce RTX 4090 24GB in October, the top three GPUs of this series are now readily available. At Puget Systems, we believe it’s an opportune moment to examine the performance of these 40 series cards in various content creation applications, including 3D rendering and video editing. In particular, we’ll be delving into GPU rendering performance in Bender, utilizing the RTX 40 Series.

images showing NVIDIA GeForce 40 Series
Image

For this article, we will use Blender 3.4.0 to examine the GeForce RTX 40 Series performance for GPU rendering. As a comparison, we will include the full lineup from the previous generation GeForce RTX 30 Series, as well as the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti for additional context. We’ve also included the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 6900 XT. GPU rendering is dominated by NVIDIA thanks to their mature CUDA and RTX libraries, but Blender is one of the few rendering engines that fully supports AMD. It’s worth noting that when using an NVIDIA GPU, Blender defaults to Optix, while an AMD GPU defaults to HIP. Though they are different APIs, Blender compares their scores directly in their own database.

If you want to read more about the new GeForce RTX 40 Series cards (including the 4070 Ti, 4080, and 4090) and what sets them apart from the previous generation, we recommend checking out our main NVIDIA GeForce 40 Series vs AMD Radeon 7000 for Content Creation article. That post includes more detailed information on the GPU specifications, testing results for various other applications, and the complete test setup details for the hardware and software used in our testing.

Call to Action
Looking for a Content Creation Workstation?
Call to Action
Looking for a Content Creation Workstation?

Overall Blender Performance Analysis

Chart showing Blender Benchmark results with Nvidia 40 series topping the charts
Image

As we can see, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs are the fastest available for rendering in Blender, taking the top three spots in our performance charts. The newest release, the RTX 4070 Ti 12GB, is faster than even the fastest previous-generation RTX 30 Series GPU. At a quick glance, all three of these video cards will be great options for GPU rendering. Next, we’ll dig into these results to get a more detailed look at how these stack up.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series vs RTX 30 Series

Chart showing direct comparison of NVIDIA 40 series vs 30 Series in Blender
Image

In the above chart, we compare the new generating of cards versus their closest price equivalent in the previous generation. Due to changes in architecture, supply chain, and the like, NVIDIA is not always consistent with its naming scheme, so this gives a better comparison of what performance to expect at a given price point. We added the top-of-the-line RTX 3090 Ti as well, even though it doesn’t have a price equivalent at this point. 

Starting with the RTX 4090 24GB, it doubles the score of the RTX 3090 for only a modest 7% price increase. It even outpaces the much more expensive RTX 3090 Ti by 97%, a GPU less than a year old. For those looking for the best-performing GPU for rendering, the RTX 4090 24GB is hands down the best option.

Moving on to the RTX 4080 16GB. This GPU costs the same as the RTX 3080 Ti yet delivers 56% faster renders. It also increases the available VRAM from 12GB to 16GB, allowing for larger and more complex renders. Again, this is an excellent gen-over-gen improvement. 

Lastly, we look at the latest release, the RTX 4070 Ti 12GB. This GPU is $100 more than the RTX 3080 10GB (roughly 14% more expensive). It returns 40% faster rendering performance for that extra cost and brings an additional 2GB of VRAM. While this is still a welcome upgrade over the RTX 3080, it’s not quite as impressive as the RTX 4090 and 4080. If we compare by product name, the new RTX 4070 Ti is 81% faster than the RTX 3070 Ti but also 33% more expensive. However we compare it, the RTX 4070 Ti provides more performance than the cost increase but is overshadowed by the gains seen by it’s more powerful siblings.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series vs GeForce RTX 20 Series

Chart showing direct comparison of NVIDIA 40 series vs 20 Series in Blender
Image

Most users don’t upgrade every generation, so we thought we’d take a moment to compare the new GPUs to the rendering king from only a few years ago. This is less of a price comparison and more just to show how much improvement a user could expect if they think it is time to upgrade. As the chart shows, if someone were to upgrade from a 2080 Ti, they would see improvements from 118% (more than 2x) on the low end to just shy of 4x faster renders on the top end, depending on which RTX 40 Series GPU you pick. 

Call to Action
Looking for a Content Creation Workstation?
Call to Action
Looking for a Content Creation Workstation?

How Well Do the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Perform in Blender?

These results show significant enhancements in rendering performance with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series compared to the previous 30 Series. The RTX 4090 24GB shines as the top performer, showcasing a staggering 105% (more than 2x) improvement in rendering performance compared to the last generation. The RTX 4080 16GB, on the other hand, posts a more modest 56% speed boost over the similarly priced RTX 3080 Ti. Despite being 14% more expensive, the RTX 4070 Ti 12GB also offers 41% faster performance than the RTX 3080, allowing it to outperform even the RTX 3090 Ti. Although this performance increase may not be as impressive as the RTX 4090 or 4080, the 4070 Ti offers more performance relative to its cost increase.

It is worth noting that these tests do not take into account the amount of VRAM available and only examines straight GPU rendering performance. With GPU rendering, VRAM can become constrained somewhat easily as scenes become larger and more detailed. This can lead to “out of memory” errors or defaulting back to CPU rendering and losing out on GPUs’ speed advantages. Also, note that NVLink is not offered on any of these GPUs, so pooling the VRAM of two GPUs is no longer an option. 

Keep in mind that the benchmark results in this article are strictly for Blender and that performance will vary widely in different applications. If your workflow includes other software packages, we highly recommend checking out our NVIDIA GeForce 40-Series vs AMD Radeon 7000 for Content Creation article, which includes results and links to in-depth testing for a range of other applications, including Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Unreal Engine, and Octane.

Tower Computer Icon in Puget Systems Colors

Looking for a Blender workstation?

We build computers tailor-made for your workflow. 

Configure a System
Talking Head Icon in Puget Systems Colors

Don’t know where to start?
We can help!

Get in touch with one of our technical consultants today.

Talk to an Expert

Related Content

  • Intel Xeon W-3400 Content Creation Preview
  • NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada vs RTX A6000 for Content Creation
  • GPU Rendering: NVIDIA RTX 6000 Ada Performance
  • NVIDIA GeForce 40 Series vs AMD Radeon 7000 for Content Creation
View All Related Content

Latest Content

  • Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2022
  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
View All
Tags: AMD, Blender, NVIDIA, RTX 3060, RTX 3060 Ti, RTX 3070, RTX 3070 Ti, RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, RTX 3090, RTX 3090 Ti, RTX 4070 Ti, RTX 4080, RTX 4090

Who is Puget Systems?

Puget Systems builds custom PCs tailored for your workflow

Extensive in-house testing
making you more productive and giving you more performance for your dollar

Reliable workstations
with fewer crashes and blue screens means more time working, less time waiting on your computer

Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up and running ASAP

Proven track record
check out our customer testimonials and Reseller Ratings

Get Started

Browse Our Workstations

Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis with Puget Systems Logo

Select your workflow:

Content Creation
Engineering
Scientific Computing
More

Latest Articles

  • Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2022
  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
  • Case Study with Lost Boys Interactive
View All

Post navigation

 Unreal Engine: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series PerformanceRedshift: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series Performance 
Puget Systems Logo
Build Your Own PC Site Map FAQ
facebook instagram linkedin rss twitter youtube

Optimized Solutions

  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Solidworks
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Machine Learning

Workstations

  • Content Creation
  • Engineering
  • Scientific PCs
  • More

Support

  • Online Guides
  • Request Support
  • Remote Help

Publications

  • All News
  • Puget Blog
  • HPC Blog
  • Hardware Articles
  • Case Studies

Policies

  • Warranty & Return
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Times
  • Accessibility

About Us

  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© Copyright 2023 - Puget Systems, All Rights Reserved.