Is the 4090 overkill for beam vs. 4080 Super?

It's time to treat myself to a new computer after 6 years.

Would it make any sense to spend the extra $500 on a 4090 vs. the 4080 Super, all else being equal?

 

If you are getting this PC primarily for Beam, then go for the 4080 Super.

4090 is just way overkill unless you want to play at 8K or something.

 

Thanks! I'm trying to future proof this purchase a little and wasn't sure how far to go.

 

I'm just finishing up a bunch of comparison videos, if you play at 4K, and can afford the 4090, get it. I compared a 3090 to a 4090 on 2 systems, 1 with a 7800X3D and the other a 14900K, the difference in frame rates in some cases is 50% higher on the 4090 if you are on maps which are GPU limited, if you are CPU limited the the gains are not as great. Go with what you can afford, but also don't forget beam is very CPU heavy and a good CPU is a must.
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Its not overkill even if you play at 4K and not 8K

Crash hard 2.0 Map, very GPU heavy



100fps difference

Same thing if you use a 14900K



On the other hand if you are on a GPU limited map you don't see any performance increase with a much greater CPU, but keeping the same GPU

 

except a 3090 is the equivalent to a 4070 Super, NOT a 4080 Super.

It really doesn’t matter what map you play; A 4090 is way overkill for this game

 

I beg to differ on a GPU being overkill...........Crash hard 2.0 map, which i've been playing for years. VERY GPU heavy.

52fps vs 102 fps........I know which GPU i want.



Also.........Can't compare a 4070 super to a 3090, similar in performance, but I'll take my 3090 with 24GB of ram because some maps can use 16GB + of Vram so 12GB on a 4070 super isn't going to cut it.

 

Thank you SO much; this was fantastic feedback.

I agree on the CPU comment; as I've seen that for a while. I don't think you can get better from Intel thank the 14900KF, correct?

I ended up going with the 14900KF/4090 combo. @WhatNot98 may be right that it's overkill, but I ended up getting an additional $330 off of the 4090 build, so I went with it.

 

Glad you liked the feedback, Once I find time to sort though and put in a format that people will understand it will be an eye opener for sure. Basically the 4090 makes Beam entirely CPU dependent. I don't have an 8K monitor and maybe at that resolution the GPU might be an issue but in every map i've played at 4K ultra settings with dynamic mirrors and reflections i've gotten over 100FPS, the lower frame rates closer to 100fps are CPU limited as per the in-game performance monitor. So in reality for this game, buy as much CPU as you can and then buy as much GPU as you can. I also tested my 14900K and 7800X3D with both the 3090 and 4090, and a 3090 is almost enough for most maps to still bring out a CPU bottleneck.

 

Also here is another example of why getting a good graphics card is important

Endless highway, a map I use for making vehicles go way too fast.

7800X3D & RTX 4090 @4k



Mid 300's for FPS

Change to 1080p



Now its almost 1000fps!

Now lets use that same map with a 14900K and RTX 3090

At 4K



FPS is now around 160fps

at 1080p



400fps

Yes 400fps is fast enough than anyone every needs, but a 3090 is no slouch of a graphics card but you can very easily see how the game taxes the GPU even in what most would think is an easy map to render