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NVIDIA L4

NVIDIA L4: The Perfect Balance for Gamers and Professionals

Overview of the 2025 Graphics Card

Architecture and Key Features

Blackwell: A New Era of Efficiency

The NVIDIA L4 graphics card is built on the Blackwell architecture, inheriting technologies from Ada Lovelace. The chips are manufactured using TSMC's 4nm process, ensuring high transistor density and energy efficiency. The primary focus is on optimization for hybrid tasks—ranging from gaming to professional software.

Key features of the L4:

- RTX 4.0 Acceleration: Enhanced RT cores (30% faster than Ada Lovelace) for realistic ray tracing.

- DLSS 4: Artificial intelligence boosts resolution with minimal quality loss, supporting 8K/60 FPS with dynamic scaling.

- FidelityFX Super Resolution 3+: Compatibility with AMD's open technologies for cross-platform optimization.

- AV1 Encoding: Hardware video encoding for streamers and editors.

Memory: Fast and Ample

GDDR6X and 16 GB for Multitasking

The NVIDIA L4 comes with 16 GB of GDDR6X memory, featuring a 256-bit bus and bandwidth of 672 GB/s. This is sufficient for:

- Rendering complex 3D scenes in 4K.

- Simultaneous operation of multiple applications (e.g., video editing + streaming).

- Gaming at ultra texture settings at resolutions up to 4K.

Important: For professional tasks (e.g., neural network computations), the memory capacity is adequate, but models with 24 GB (like the L40) will be preferable.

Gaming Performance: 4K Without Compromises

FPS, Ray Tracing, and the Magic of DLSS

In 2025 tests, the L4 demonstrates the following results (with DLSS 4 in "Quality" mode):

- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (with ray tracing):

- 1080p: 142 FPS

- 1440p: 98 FPS

- 4K: 64 FPS

- Alan Wake 2:

- 1440p: 120 FPS (without RT), 78 FPS (with RT).

- Starfield Next-Gen Update:

- 4K: 85 FPS (DLSS 4 + FSR 3.1).

Tip: For 4K gaming with ray tracing, it is advisable to use DLSS 4 or FSR—native 4K/60 FPS is achievable only in less demanding titles.

Professional Tasks: Not Just Gaming

CUDA, Rendering, and Neural Networks

The L4 is optimized for workloads:

- Video Editing: In Premiere Pro, rendering an 8K video takes 25% less time than with the RTX 4060 Ti.

- 3D Modeling: In Blender, the BMW Render test completes in 1.4 minutes (compared to 2.1 minutes with the RTX 4070).

- AI Computations: Support for CUDA 12.5 and 4th generation Tensor Cores accelerates neural network training (e.g., in TensorFlow).

Hack: For working with Machine Learning, choose the NVIDIA Studio Driver—it's more stable in professional applications.

Power Consumption and Heat Dissipation

TDP 175W and Quiet Cooling

With a modest TDP of 175W for its class, the L4 does not require exotic cooling:

- A 2-fan system (reference design) or a hybrid solution (e.g., ASUS Dual) is sufficient.

- Recommended case: with 3-4 fans for stable airflow.

Issues: In compact SFF cases, temperatures can reach 75°C under load. The solution is undervolting via MSI Afterburner.

Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT and Intel Arc A770

- NVIDIA L4 ($549): The best choice for hybrid use. DLSS 4 and CUDA provide an advantage in gaming and work.

- AMD RX 7700 XT ($499): Better in "native" rendering (without upscaling) but lags behind in ray tracing.

- Intel Arc A770 16GB ($399): Cheaper, but drivers are still less stable in professional tasks.

Conclusion: The L4 outperforms competitors in versatility, but for pure gaming, the RX 7700 XT offers the best price-to-FPS ratio.

Practical Tips

How to Avoid Mistakes When Building

1. Power Supply: Don’t skimp—minimum 550W with an 80+ Gold certification (e.g., Corsair RM550x).

2. Platform: The L4 is compatible with PCIe 5.0 but also works on PCIe 4.0 without losses.

3. Drivers: Use Game Ready Driver for gaming and Studio Driver for work. Don’t mix!

4. Monitor: Use DisplayPort 2.1 for 4K/144 Hz or HDMI 2.1 for TVs.

Pros and Cons

Why L4 Isn’t for Everyone?

Pros:

- Ideal for streamers and editors.

- Support for DLSS 4 and FSR 3.1.

- Low power consumption.

Cons:

- Price is higher than purely gaming counterparts.

- 16 GB of memory may be insufficient for some professional tasks.

Final Conclusion

Who is the NVIDIA L4 Suitable For?

This graphics card is the ideal choice for:

1. Hybrid users who work in Blender or DaVinci Resolve and then jump into Cyberpunk.

2. Streamers who appreciate AV1 encoding and stability.

3. Enthusiasts seeking maximum technology (DLSS 4, RTX 4.0) without spending $1000+ on flagship models.

If you’re looking for a GPU strictly for gaming, consider the RTX 5060 or RX 7700 XT—they'll provide higher FPS for the same price. But for those who want "two in one," the L4 is the no-alternative option in the spring of 2025.

Prices are current as of April 2025. Check availability in your region!

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Professional

Launch Date

March 2023

Model Name

Generation

Tesla Ada

Base Clock

795MHz

Boost Clock

2040MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 4.0 x16

Transistors

35,800 million

RT Cores

Tensor Cores

Tensor Cores are specialized processing units designed specifically for deep learning, providing higher training and inference performance compared to FP32 training. They enable rapid computations in areas such as computer vision, natural language processing, speech recognition, text-to-speech conversion, and personalized recommendations. The two most notable applications of Tensor Cores are DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and AI Denoiser for noise reduction.

240

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

240

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

5 nm

Architecture

Ada Lovelace

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

24GB

Memory Type

GDDR6

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

192bit

Memory Clock

1563MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

300.1 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

163.2 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

489.6 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

31.33 TFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

489.6 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

30.703 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

7680

L1 Cache

128 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

48MB

TDP

72W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 Ultimate (12_2)

CUDA

8.9

Power Connectors

1x 16-pin

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

250W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

30.703 TFLOPS

Blender

Score

994.53

Vulkan

Score

120950

OpenCL

Score

140467

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

GeForce RTX 4070 10 GB

36.853 +20%

RTX 5000 Embedded Ada Generation X2

33.344 +8.6%

30.703

RTX A5000-12Q

27.215 -11.4%

GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8 GB

23.47 -23.6%

Blender

GeForce RTX 3070 Ti Mobile

3350 +236.8%

RTX A2000

1821.91 +83.2%

994.53

Radeon Pro W5500

512 -48.5%

Radeon RX 7700S

266.8 -73.2%

Vulkan

GeForce RTX 5090 D

382809 +216.5%

RTX A5000

140875 +16.5%

120950

Radeon RX 5700

61331 -49.3%

T1000

34688 -71.3%

OpenCL

GeForce RTX 5090 D

385013 +174.1%

A10G

167342 +19.1%

140467

Quadro RTX 6000

74179 -47.2%

GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER

56310 -59.9%