The first NVIDIA GeForce graphics card is 25 years old. I compared its performance against an RTX 4090

The GeForce 256 versus the RTX 4090: two eras, two worlds

In 2024, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the GeForce 256. But what does this pioneer really look like if we compare it with NVIDIA’s latest, the RTX 4090? If the GeForce 256 paved the way for modern graphics cards, the RTX 4090 embodies the pinnacle of decades of innovation. Equipped with 24 GB of GDDR6X memory and powered by the Ada Lovelace architecture, the RTX 4090 is a behemoth capable of performance unimaginable in the era of the GeForce 256.

In fact, the GeForce 256, although innovative for its time, would today be incapable of running modern games. For example, a game like Cyberpunk 2077 or Baldur’s Gate 3, which relies on pretty crazy graphics and advanced ray tracing, would simply be unplayable with a GeForce 256. The RTX 4090, on the other hand, allows you to play these titles in high resolution 4K with maximum details, while maintaining high refresh rates.

A graphics card divides the 3D environment into small triangles, larger or smaller depending on the details allocated by the game engine and the computer. In terms of raw power, the GeForce 256 delivered around 15 million triangles per second, a feat at the time. In comparison, the RTX 4090 can process billions of triangles every second thanks to its CUDA Cores.

Games of yesterday and today: a comparison on the ground

Consider two iconic games, each representing a different era: Unreal Tournament for 1999 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS), which continues to be played today.

On Unreal Tournament, the GeForce 256 allowed the game to run at resolutions such as 1024×768 pixels, which was exceptional for the time.

Visual effects like reflections and textures were seen as realistic, but remain rudimentary by today’s standards. On the other hand, if you run Unreal Tournament on an RTX 4090, you can push the graphics to resolutions unimaginable in 1999, like 4K, with vastly higher refresh rates.

Although this game has spanned generations, the difference between a GeForce 256 and an RTX 4090 is abysmal. On the RTX 4090, gaming can run at impressive frame rates, often exceeding 300 frames per second at 1440p, or even 4K. In comparison, the GeForce 256 would struggle to maintain smooth gameplay beyond 30 frames per second at a much more modest resolution.

If the GeForce 256 made it possible to improve graphics and make games more immersive, the generations of GPUs that followed, notably the RTX series, played a major role in the emergence of new forms of entertainment linked to video games .

An often overlooked aspect of the evolution of GPUs is their role in the development of artificial intelligence. If the GeForce 256 revolutionized video games, modern GPUs, like the RTX 4090, are also at the heart of advances in AI, notably thanks to video upscaling (DLSS). The parallel computing power of GPUs makes them ideal for complex tasks.

Today, technologies like DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), present in the RTX 4090, use AI algorithms to improve game performance while maintaining maximum graphics quality.

By comparing the GeForce 256 and the RTX 4090, we realize how far we have come in 25 years. The GeForce 256 laid the foundation for the modern GPU, while the RTX 4090 pushes the boundaries of gaming and computing to levels that could barely have been imagined in 1999. While the two cards belong to distinct eras, they share the same mission: playing Counter Strike ????