Nvidia’s Shift to RTX: Need an RTX Upgrade?

Quick Links

• How Long Will GTX Support Last?
• How the Death of GTX Will Affect You
• When Should You Upgrade to RTX? Or Should You Go With AMD or Intel?
• You Might Want to Upgrade Your GTX Graphics Card Soon

Key Takeaways

• Nvidia has reportedly stopped shipping GTX 16-series cards, focusing on RTX instead.
• Support for GTX 10 and 16-series cards will end by 2026 and 2029.
• Upgrading to RTX is recommended for better performance, or you can move to AMD for competitive pricing. But your GTX card will probably have a few more years of support.

Nvidia has reportedly stopped shipping out 16-series GTX graphics cards, marking the end of the GTX line of products. Does this mean it’s time to upgrade to an RTX card instead?

How Long Will GTX Support Last?

In a news post on VideoCardz , Chinese sources reported that GTX GPUs are no longer being shipped out, and that all remaining stock will be allocated to custom card manufacturers. Once these last few GTX 16-series cards are out of stock, they will no longer be replenished, leaving the RTX 30 series as the lowest-tier dedicated graphics cards you can buy from stores.

Checking the support statuses of GTX GPUs on endoflife.date , we can see that GTX 900 series GPUs are still being supported. However, after nine years and counting, the end of life looms closer. We can also expect this for the GTX 10 and 16 series. This means that the GTX 10 series cards will most likely lose support by 2026 and the GTX 16 series will lose support in 2029.

However, that doesn’t mean your graphics card will be unusable. Despite not having the latest updates, you can still play games, especially older ones. However, you will start to run into compatibility and stability issues for newer games, or titles that get constant updates.

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How the Death of GTX Will Affect You

Besides the eventual performance issues due to the lack of driver support, there are some long-term drawbacks to sticking with GTX.

First, you might suffer lower fidelity in newer games. For example, Forza Motorsport, released in 2023, relies heavily on ray tracing. Many players have complained about how terrible the textures look because ray tracing is required for them to look good. While there’s even evidence of old car models being used in the game, ray tracing makes them look good enough at first glance.

You’ll be stuck with those old card models without the ray tracing to make games like this look great. If there’s a shortcut to take for better graphics, there’s no doubt big game companies will take it.

Meanwhile,the new Nvidia app is also focused on RTX features like the various DLSS technologies .

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Used GTX cards will also have unstable pricing. Whether you’re selling or buying, it will be difficult to get the right timing. The limited stock will drive the prices up, but eventually the imminent end of driver updates will drive those prices down. And by then, GTX cards won’t be worth it unless it’s for a specific use case.

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When Should You Upgrade to RTX? Or Should You Go With AMD or Intel?

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The RTX line of products has had pricing issues since its inception. The last time Nvidia provided amazing value for money was with the GTX 10 series, especially the GTX 1080 Ti, which was priced well while being way more powerful than the previous generation.

However, there is a used RTX market now. If you went with an RTX, a used RTX 3060 Ti for around 30% lower than the recommended retail price would be a decent step up from any GTX card.

Of course, you don’t have to go RTX if Nvidia’s extra features and software aren’t a priority for you. AMD’s RX 6000 and 7000 series are pretty solid and often better priced than RTX cards, while having competitive performance.

You Might Want to Upgrade Your GTX Graphics Card Soon

If you’re someone who doesn’t play the latest and most graphically demanding games, then your GTX card will serve you well for many more years. However, upgrading now will help you appreciate an incredibly significant jump in performance. Going from a GTX 1660 Ti to an RTX 4060 would give you almost double the performance, making it worth it if you get it for a low price.

There’s no need to panic and upgrade immediately. If your current GTX graphics card plays the games you want to play, then you can save your money for an even bigger upgrade in the future.