Nvidia RTX graphics cards: Price, availability, specs

NVIDIA

• NVIDIA announced three new additions to its graphics card lineup Monday — the RTX 2070, RTX 2080, and RTX 2080 Ti. 
• The new RTX series, powered by Turing GPU architecture, is designed to provide better lighting and shadow effects through ‘ray tracing’ technology. 
• As usual, they’re expected to be an upgrade from previous cards, and should give better performance — particularly for gamers, graphic artists, and special effects wizards. 
• The two higher-end cards are available for presale on NVIDIA’s website, starting at $799. The cheapest, the $599 RTX 2070, isn’t yet available for preorder. 

After a wave of leaks and speculation, NVIDIA has revealed the three latest additions to its graphics card lineup. 

During a livestreamed event before Gamescon 2018, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang announced the new RTX series and 2000 generation of cards, detailing the RTX 2070, RTX 2080, and RTX 2080 Ti.

The cards, two of which are available for presale on NVIDIA’s website, are designed to provide better rendering of shadows and lighting, and are expected to be an upgrade from the previous generation of cards — as usual. 

Jensen highlighted the ‘ray tracing’ technology within the new cards, which NVIDIA says will provide faster and better lighting effects in games and renders. 

‘Ray tracing’ is something NVIDIA says it has been working on for 10 years. It’s a process that simulates light in real time, which is supposed to result in more accurate and realistic reflections, refractions, and lighting effects. In theory, it could push computer graphics way forward. 

Here’s what each card looks like, their specs, and their prices: