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Nvidia has been releasing graphics playing cards for the reason that GeForce 256 in 1999, which was marketed because the world’s first GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), a time period that’s now synonymous with graphics playing cards at this time. Since that point, Nvidia has launched many years of video playing cards which have pushed gaming ahead. As its product traces elevated and started to separate, the corporate needed to discover methods to let the patron know what kind of video card they had been shopping for. Enter the GTX branding, brief for Giga Texel Shader eXtreme.
Launched in 2008, the GTX labeling is much less about describing the internals of a video card and extra so a advertising time period. An Nvidia graphics card with the GTX branding signified that buyers had been trying on the top-of-the-line product from a given product vary. This was an efficient advertising instrument aimed toward avid gamers, as they often search highly effective video playing cards with a purpose to energy the newest titles.
This title additionally helped to distinguish it from Nvidia’s GT graphics card line, the corporate’s then entry-level video card line that wasn’t designed with gaming in thoughts. As know-how superior, the corporate would use the GTX line of playing cards to combine new and rising applied sciences, ultimately giving the Ti branding to the most powerful cards. The road’s last main replace was the GTX 16-series, which used the fashionable Turing structure. Nevertheless, these playing cards notably lacked the devoted cores for real-time ray tracing and AI upscaling that outlined the RTX 20-series.
GTX playing cards took the trade by storm
Nvidia noticed elevated reputation with its GTX collection of video playing cards, with the GTX 1080 graphics card being one of the crucial influential playing cards ever launched. As we speak, the GTX model has been solely outdated by the newer RTX line of graphics cards. This new RTX line of playing cards leans closely into ray tracing, having devoted RT cores. It additionally helps DLSS body technology and upscaling, making it the brand new chief within the video card house by way of specs.
Whereas the time of the GTX line of video playing cards is now behind us, it is turn out to be an iconic branding that dominated the late 2000s and 2010s. However even with RTX playing cards getting all of the information and a spotlight, older GTX video playing cards have begun to make a comeback previously few years. These older GTX playing cards had been as soon as Nvidia’s flagship playing cards, which means they’ve turn out to be nice decisions for gaming PC builds on a funds.
The GTX 1660 Tremendous continues to be an older, however first rate card in 2025 for budget-minded shoppers constructing a 1080P gaming PC. It is able to dealing with older AAA video games, esports titles, and indie video games. In case you are one of many many individuals nonetheless utilizing an older GTX video card, you should still be capable of squeeze a number of extra years of life out of it earlier than leaping onto the RTX bandwagon. However with the budget RTX 5050 now being round $250, getting these new RTX options is likely to be a worthwhile funding.