Nvidia (NVDA) is surfing the AI wave into CES 2024 with the debut of its GeForce RTX 40 Super series of desktop graphics cards. The lineup, which is made up of the high-end RTX 4080 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and RTX 4070 Super, is primarily designed for gaming, but Nvidia is also pitching it as cadre of AI powerhouses.
The RTX 4080 Super starts at $999 and is 1.4x faster than the RTX 3080 Ti. The RTX 4070 Ti Super, meanwhile, is 1.6x faster than the RTX 3070 Ti. But, according to the company, those performance gains jump significantly when you add in Nvidia's AI-powered Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS).
With DLSS, the RTX 4080 Super is twice as fast as the RTX 3080 Ti, while the RTX 4070 Ti Super is 2.5x faster than the RTX 3070 Ti with DLSS. Even the RTX 4070 Super gets a big boost with DLSS, with 1.5x better performance than the RTX 3090.
That's a lot of names and numbers, but suffice it to say, these cards are going to offer gamers a sizable upgrade over Nvidia's prior generation of desktop graphics processing units (GPUs).
But Nvidia is also framing these cards as powerful options for AI PCs, the new class of laptops and desktops designed to run AI applications natively rather than in the cloud. Nvidia joins AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC), and Qualcomm (QCOM) in the push to drive AI PCs into the consumer and enterprise landscape.
The idea behind AI PCs is that they will allow consumers and business users to access generative AI apps from their own devices, which should ensure that their private data isn't uploaded to the cloud or used to train AI software. But Intel and AMD have admitted that they're still waiting to see what kinds of programs and platforms developers come up with that take advantage of AI PC features.
Microsoft (MSFT) is so dedicated to the concept of the AI PC that it and its manufacturing partners are adding dedicated Copilot AI assistant keys to Windows laptop and desktop keyboards. The first new keyboard key in nearly three decades, the Copilot button will call up the Windows Copilot assistant similar to how the Windows key brings up the Start menu.
Nvidia has been riding the AI train like no other company, with shares of the chip giant up a staggering 244% over the last 12 months. Shares of rivals AMD and Intel are up 122% and 70%, respectively.
And while you can point to Nvidia's data center business as the main reason for its stock performance, its gaming segment is still an important revenue stream. In its most recently quarterly report, Nvidia's gaming segment accounted for $2.86 billion of its $18.12 billion in total revenue. That said, Data Center took in $14.51 billion.
Read more coverage from CES 2024:
Nvidia debuts RTX 40 Super chips to power gaming and AI efforts at CES 2024
Microsoft is adding an AI button to PC keyboards, their first major change in 30 years
Daniel Howley is the tech editor at Yahoo Finance. He's been covering the tech industry since 2011. You can follow him on Twitter @DanielHowley.
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