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Exciting times for us computer enthusiasts as we can finally showcase the new GeForce RTX 5090 and the next generation of Nvidia GPUs, codenamed Blackwell, with the new flagship graphics card priced at $2,000.It's been two years since Nvidia released the mighty GeForce RTX 4090, an insane $1,600 GPU that smashed the previous-generation flagship by a 60% margin that is, 60% faster on average at 4K. This made it an extremely powerful and exciting option for high-end gaming, even if it was undeniably expensive.So, what's on offer here, and how can Nvidia justify a $2,000 price tag for the RTX 5090?Nvidia has faced some challenges this generation. While the RTX 50 series takes advantage of cutting-edge technologies such as PCI Express 5.0 and GDDR7 memory, the GPU is built using the same TSMC 4N process as the previous generation. Without improvements to the production node, significant performance gains would require an architectural overhaul, which isn't yet on the table.RTX 4090 FE on the left, 5090 FE on the rightGeForce RTX 5090GeForce RTX 4090GeForce RTX 5080GeForce RTX 4080 SuperGeForce RTX 4080Price $US MSRP$2,000$1,600$1,000$1,000$1,200Release DateJanuary 30, 2025October 12, 2022January 30, 2025January 31, 2024November 16, 2022ProcessTSMC 4NDie Size (mm2)750 mm2608.5 mm2378 mm2379 mm2Core Config21760 / 680 / 19216384 / 512 / 17610752 / 336 / 12810240 / 320 / 1129728 / 304 / 112L2 Cache (MB)96 MB72 MB64 MBGPU Boost Clock2407 MHz2520 MHz2617 MHz2550 MHz2505 MHzMemory Capacity32 GB24 GB16 GBMemory Speed28 Gbps21 Gbps30 Gbps23 Gbps22.4 GbpsMemory TypeGDDR7GDDR6XGDDR7GDDR6XBus Type / Bandwidth512-bit / 1792 GB/s384-bit / 1008 GB/s256-bit / 960 GB/s256-bit / 736 GB/s256-bit / 717 GB/sTotal Board Power575 W450 W360 W320 WTherefore, Nvidia's solution was to create a bigger and more powerful GPU. The die is now 23% larger, featuring 33% more cores. It comes equipped with 32 GB of 28Gbps GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit wide memory bus, delivering a bandwidth of 1,792 GB/s a hefty 78% increase over the RTX 4090.The RTX 5090 is a powerhouse, but it comes with an even steeper price tag, making it 25% more expensive than the RTX 4090. Given that price increase, we expect it to deliver performance far beyond what the specs suggest.RTX 4090 vs RTX 5090 ThermalsBefore we dive in and get into the blue bar graphs, let's take a look at how Nvidia's Founders Edition version of the RTX 5090 performs compared to the RTX 4090 FE card. For this comparison, we tested The Last of Us Part 1 at 4K with maxed-out settings.After an hour of load inside an enclosed ATX case, the RTX 5090 reached a peak GPU temperature of 73C, which is remarkable given how quiet and compact the card is. The fan speed peaked at 1,600 RPM and remained inaudible over our case fans, which are already very quiet.The cores averaged a clock speed of 2,655 MHz, while GPU power averaged 492 watts. The memory temperature peaked at 88C, with an operating frequency of 2,334 MHz, providing a transfer speed of 28 Gbps.In comparison, the RTX 4090 FE model peaked at 68C, with a memory temperature of 80C, and its fans spinning just below 1,500 RPM. Clearly, the RTX 5090 runs slightly hotter and louder. However, given that the RTX 5090 consumed, on average, 35% more power during testing and is a significantly smaller card, these results are nothing short of remarkable.We are incredibly impressed with what Nvidia has achieved here. The RTX 5090 might be the most impressive graphics card we've ever seen. You would never guess, just by looking at it, how much thermal load this cooler can handle so efficiently. It's an outstanding achievement. Now, let's see how it performs.Test System SpecsCPUAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3DMotherboardMSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (BIOS 7E49v1A23 - ReBAR enabled)MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 [CL30-38-38-96]Graphics CardsGeForce RTX 4070 GeForce RTX 4070 Super GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super GeForce RTX 4080 GeForce RTX 4080 Super GeForce RTX 4090 GeForce RTX 5090 Radeon RX 7700 XT Radeon RX 7800 XT Radeon RX 7900 GRE Radeon RX 7900 XT Radeon RX 7900 XTXATX CaseMSI MEG Maestro 700L PZPower SupplyMSI MPG A 1000G ATX 3.0 80 Plus Gold 1000WStorageMSI Spatium 1TB M470 PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2Operating SystemWindows 11 24H2Display DriverNvidia GeForce Game Ready 566.36 WHQL AMD Radeon Adrenalin 24.12.1Gaming BenchmarksMarvel RivalsStarting with Marvel Rivals at 1440p, we see that the RTX 5090 delivers 30% more performance than the RTX 4090. While this is a decent performance improvement, factoring in the 25% price increase makes it considerably less exciting.At 4K resolution, the margin increases slightly to 33%. This is a solid uplift, but the extreme price premium dampens the enthusiasm.S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 isn't the most optimized game, and as a result, the RTX 5090 maxes out at 94 fps at 1440p. This makes it only 22% faster than the RTX 4090, offering a very mild performance gain.At 4K, however, the RTX 5090 achieves a more reasonable 42% performance gain, rendering an average of 71 fps.Counter-Strike 2Next, we have Counter-Strike 2. At 1440p, the RTX 5090 is slightly slower than the RTX 4090, although the 1% lows are notably stronger. It's worth mentioning that the RTX 5090 was slower than the RTX 4090 at 1080p in multiple instances. This suggests a possible overhead issue with the Blackwell architecture, or perhaps the RTX 5090's large core count isn't being efficiently utilized at lower resolutions. Further investigation is needed here.Even at 4K, the RTX 5090 only offers an 8% performance increase over the RTX 4090. The issue doesn't appear to be a CPU bottleneck, given the higher frame rates observed at 1440p.God of War RagnarkPerformance in God of War Ragnark is outstanding at 1440p, hitting 268 fps on the ultra preset. However, this is only 22% faster than the RTX 4090, which is disappointing given the 25% higher cost.At 4K, the RTX 5090 scales better, achieving a 36% performance improvement with 195 fps compared to 143 fps on the RTX 4090 a much more favorable result.Delta ForceIn Delta Force, the RTX 5090 provides just 17% more performance than the RTX 4090 at 1440p. However, frame rates here are extreme and likely approaching a CPU bottleneck.At 4K, the margin extends to 27%, rendering 160 fps. While this is an improvement, it's still not an impressive uplift, especially considering the 25% higher price and the two-year gap between releases.Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2Space Marine 2 is a very CPU-limited game, and at 1440p, we appear to be hitting the limits of the 9800X3D processor. Oddly, the RTX 5090 is 4% slower than the RTX 4090 here. As observed in other instances at 1080p, this could indicate an overhead issue or inefficiencies in workloads that limit the RTX 5090's performance.At 4K, the RTX 5090 resolves this problem, delivering a 30% performance increase over the RTX 4090. While this is a decent uplift, it is undercut by the 25% price hike.Star Wars Jedi: SurvivorIn Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the RTX 5090 delivers just a 14% improvement over the RTX 4090 at 1440p. However, with an average of 191 fps, performance remains impressive overall.At 4K, the RTX 5090 crosses the 100 fps threshold with 102 fps, making it 21% faster than the RTX 4090. Still, this is a disappointing margin given the higher cost.A Plague Tale: RequiemIn A Plague Tale: Requiem, the RTX 5090 delivers a 21% performance improvement over the RTX 4090 at 1440p. The results are partly CPU-limited, as suggested by similar 1% lows between the two GPUs.At 4K, the RTX 5090 pulls ahead with a 42% performance uplift, making this one of the better margins seen in the benchmarks.Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom LibertyIn Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, the RTX 5090 struggles to deliver noteworthy gains at 1440p, with just a 19% improvement over the RTX 4090. The 1% lows are also similar, indicating other system limitations may be at play.At 4K, the margin improves to 32%. While the overall performance is excellent, this result remains underwhelming. It's worth noting that the second-highest preset was used, and ray tracing was not enabled for this test.Dying Light 2 Stay HumanFrame rates in Dying Light 2 using the high preset are extreme at 1440p, reaching 198 fps with the RTX 5090. However, this makes it only 24% faster than the RTX 4090.Even at 4K, the performance gain remains modest at 25% over the RTX 4090, which scales directly with the 25% price increase.Dragon Age: The VeilguardIn Dragon Age: The Veilguard, frame rates are limited to just under 130 fps at 1440p using the ultra preset, which selectively applies some ray tracing effects. While the focus of this portion of the review is on rasterization performance, ray tracing plays a role here.When increasing the resolution to 4K, the RTX 5090 averages 96 fps, only 10% faster than the RTX 4090. This is a very disappointing result.War ThunderWar Thunder runs at extremely high frame rates, even with the highest quality preset enabled. At 1440p, the performance is clearly CPU-limited, which we confirmed by testing at 1080p.Moving to 4K removes the CPU bottleneck, but even then, the RTX 5090 is only 15% faster than the RTX 4090. Granted, with frame rates well over 300 fps, performance is more than sufficient for gameplay, but in terms of relative performance, the RTX 5090 is underwhelming here.Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredMarvel's Spider-Man Remastered is heavily CPU-limited at 1440p, with both the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 capped at 222 fps.At 4K, the CPU bottleneck is mostly removed, but the RTX 5090 still appears slightly limited, averaging 212 fps. As a result, the RTX 5090 is just 26% faster than the RTX 4090.Hogwarts LegacyHogwarts Legacy is another title that is mostly CPU-limited at 1440p, resulting in similar performance between the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090.Increasing the resolution to 4K allows the RTX 5090 to pull ahead, delivering a 31% performance improvement. While the performance is excellent overall, the value remains questionable.The Last of Us Part IIn The Last of Us Part I, the RTX 5090 provides a solid performance uplift at 1440p, where it is 28% faster than the RTX 4090, averaging 204 fps. This results in excellent overall performance.At 4K, the RTX 5090 offers a 40% performance increase, averaging 125 fps. This is a strong result, especially when compared to most other titles.Star Wars OutlawsThe RTX 5090 achieves over 100 fps in Star Wars Outlaws at 1440p using the ultra preset. With ray tracing forced on, the RTX 5090 is 22% faster than the RTX 4090.Oddly, the margin decreases at 4K, where the RTX 5090 is just 19% faster than the RTX 4090. Typically, we expect the RTX 5090 to show greater advantages at higher resolutions, but that isn't the case here.StarfieldFinally, in Starfield, the RTX 5090 is only 4% faster than the RTX 4090 at 1440p using ultra-quality settings, limiting performance to 125 fps.At 4K, the RTX 5090 improves slightly but is still just 7% faster than the RTX 4090. There seems to be a limitation in this title that prevents the RTX 5090 from delivering the margins seen in other games at 4K.Performance SummaryAlthough we did not include 1080p data for individual games, here are the average results across the 17 games tested. As seen, both the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 are heavily CPU-limited at this resolution, making them ideal for CPU benchmarking rather than GPU evaluation.Even at 1440p, the RTX 5090 is often heavily limited by the CPU, resulting in just a 12% performance improvement over the RTX 4090 across the 17 games tested.Now at 4K we can see the potential of the GeForce RTX 5090 where it delivers an average performance improvement of 27%, which looks solid on raw numbers but it's somewhat disappointing from a value perspective considering it costs 25% more than the 4090. This is why we've been joking internally, calling it the 4090 Ti as it really feels like that's what it is.Even if the RTX 5090 maintained the same $1,600 MSRP as the RTX 4090, it would still feel underwhelming as a next-generation flagship GPU. For comparison, the RTX 4090 was on average 60% faster than the RTX 3090 Ti, while launching at a lower price. It was also 73% faster than the RTX 3090 with only a 7% price increase. By comparison, the RTX 5090's performance and value fall far short of expectations for a generational leap.Power ConsumptionNow, let's look at power consumption. Most of our power data was recorded at 1440p, which is not ideal for measuring the full power usage of the RTX 5090, but we supplemented this with additional tests for clarity. In Starfield at 1440p, the RTX 5090 increased power consumption by 12% compared to the RTX 4090.In Star Wars Outlaws, we observed a 17% increase in power usage at 1440p, rising from 532 watts to 624 watts. Interestingly, in Space Marine 2, where the RTX 5090 performed worse than the RTX 4090 at 1440p, power consumption decreased by 15%, demonstrating that the RTX 5090 is highly efficient when not operating at full load.To better evaluate power usage, we re-tested the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, RTX 4090, and RTX 5090 at 4K in three games where the RTX 5090 performed well: Dying Light 2, Cyberpunk 2077, and A Plague Tale: Requiem.In these tests, the RTX 5090 increased power consumption by 37 41%, depending on the game. These results align more closely with the performance gains seen in these titles. Note that this data combines both CPU and GPU power usage, as GeForce GPUs are known to increase CPU load in certain scenarios, which can reduce GPU load and, in turn, lower power consumption.Finally, we re-ran those same power tests with a 60 fps cap, which yielded some interesting results. In A Plague Tale: Requiem, power consumption for the RTX 5090 was nearly identical to the RTX 4090, with just a 2% increase. In Cyberpunk 2077, the RTX 5090 showed an 8% increase, while in Dying Light 2, it consumed 15% more power.Ray Tracing PerformanceRT - Metro Exodus EnhancedMetro Exodus Enhanced remains one of the few ray tracing games that provides a truly transformative experience with ray tracing enabled, so we felt it was important to include.As a side note before we show you the results, we've encountered issues testing Metro Exodus Enhanced with Radeon GPUs as of late. While the game has worked in the past, enabling ray tracing now causes system crashes with Radeon GPUs, regardless of whether AMD or Intel systems are used. AMD has replicated the problem and is aware of the issue, but unfortunately, a fix was not available in time for this review. As a result, we decided to exclude Radeon data and focus solely on the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 performance.At 1080p, the RTX 5090 was 21% faster than the RTX 4090, and at 1440p, the margin increased to 33%. We did not test 4K ray tracing performance, as most titles deliver poor and often unplayable performance at that resolution, even with upscaling. However, Metro Exodus Enhanced would likely perform well on both the RTX 4090 and RTX 5090.RT - Alan Wake IIIn Alan Wake II, with quality upscaling enabled, the RTX 5090 was just 19% faster than the RTX 4090 at 1080p. Moving to 1440p did not significantly improve the results, with the RTX 5090 showing only an 18% performance gain.Overall, these are weak gains for the RTX 5090, and even with ray tracing enabled, the performance only just breaks the 100 fps barrier.RT - Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom LibertyUsing the ultra ray tracing preset with quality upscaling, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty shows the RTX 5090 performing comparably to the RTX 4090 at 1080p, likely due to CPU limitations.At 1440p, the RTX 5090 pulls ahead slightly, offering an 11% performance increase with an average of 129 fps.RT - Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredIn Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered, performance is heavily CPU-limited at both 1080p and 1440p. This is problematic, as frame rates are capped at 128 fps at 1440p, which is a limit achieved even by the RTX 4080 Super.While 4K benchmarks might provide more insight, the 128 fps cap at lower resolutions is concerning. Although this is solid performance overall, for those with high-refresh-rate monitors, it may not be enough. Furthermore, it's unlikely that many users spending $2,000 or more on a graphics card would settle for gaming at 60 fps, which is what would likely occur at 4K without upscaling.RT - Dying Light 2 Stay HumanIn Dying Light 2 using the high ray tracing preset with quality upscaling, the RTX 5090 achieved an average of 208 fps at 1080p, making it 18% faster than the RTX 4090.At 1440p, where CPU limitations are not a factor, the RTX 5090 was only 22% faster than the RTX 4090, making this an underwhelming result given the price premium.RT - Black Myth: WukongWith the very high ray tracing preset, the RTX 5090 delivered 123 fps at 1080p with quality upscaling, providing a 34% performance improvement over the RTX 4090.At 1440p, the RTX 5090 maintained a similar margin, being 36% faster and rendering an average of 98 fps. While this is a reasonable step forward relative to past products, the overall performance remains less impressive, especially since upscaling is required.Ray Tracing Performance SummaryWe used a five-game average for the ray tracing data since Metro Exodus Enhanced had to be excluded due to the issues with Radeon GPUs. On average, the RTX 5090 was 14% faster than the RTX 4090 at 1080p with upscaling.At 1440p, the RTX 5090 showed an average performance increase of just 17%. Notably, even with upscaling, the average frame rate at 1440p was just 123 fps far from impressive for a graphics card priced at $2,000.Cost per FrameHere's how the current and previous-generation mid-range to high-end GPUs compare in terms of value, based on MSRP. At $2,000, the RTX 5090 offers only a 1.5% improvement in value per frame compared to the RTX 4090.In other words, after more than two years, there's no meaningful improvement in cost per frame. The RTX 5090 is essentially just a faster RTX 40 series GPU.If we consider the best retail pricing for mid-2024 and assume the RTX 5090 will sell for $2,000, the value proposition looks slightly better. However, realistically, do we believe the RTX 5090 will actually sell for $2,000? Probably not.If anything, the retail price is likely to climb higher, making the value situation even worse. At $2,000, the RTX 5090 already represents poor value, and anything higher would make it an even tougher sell.What We Learned: It's the World's Fastest Gaming GPU, But...The GeForce RTX 5090 is now the world's fastest gaming GPU no surprise there. What is shocking, however, is that in our testing, it was on average just 27% faster than the RTX 4090 at 4K, while costing at least 25% more.This is why we've referred to it as the RTX 4090 Ti because, let's be honest, that's exactly what it is. Nvidia has tried to disguise this by marketing DLSS 4 multi-frame generation as a game-changing feature, akin to dangling a shiny set of keys to distract gamers.Speaking of DLSS 4, we haven't mentioned frame generation much in this review, despite Nvidia heavily promoting it as a key feature of the GeForce 50 series. This omission might seem odd, but we believe frame generation deserves a separate, dedicated analysis.We're already working on an in-depth DLSS 4 review, which will explore the technology in greater detail soon. The reason we tackle topics like frame generation and upscaling separately is that testing these features properly is complex. It's less about frame rates and more about image quality and, in the case of frame generation, latency.The reason we tackle topics like frame generation and upscaling separately is that testing these features properly is complex. It's less about frame rates and more about image quality and, in the case of frame generation, latency.To summarize briefly, frame generation doesn't deliver what Nvidia's marketing claims. It's not a true performance-enhancing feature; you're not genuinely going from 60 fps to 120 fps. Instead, you're getting the appearance of smoother gameplay, albeit with potential graphical artifacts, but without the tangible benefits of higher frame rates such as improved input latency.That doesn't mean frame generation is useless or that it's not a good technology. It can be helpful in certain scenarios, but Nvidia has weaponized the feature to mislead consumers, making claims like the upcoming RTX 5070 being faster than the RTX 4090, which is fundamentally untrue.We also strongly believe that showcasing frame generation performance in benchmark graphs is misleading. And while Nvidia would love for us to do just that, we see this as a slippery slope for gamers a race to the bottom, where winning benchmarks would become about who can spit out the most amount of interpolated frames... input and visual quality be damned.As it stands, DLSS 3 and DLSS 4 frame generation are best described as frame-smoothing technologies. Under the right conditions, they can be effective, but they don't truly boost FPS performance. Moreover, they're entirely unsuitable for competitive shooters or fast-paced games where the goal of high frame rates is to reduce input latency. Nvidia's narrative that all gamers will or should use frame generation couldn't be further from reality.Notes about CPU Pairing with the RTX 5090 and Ray TracingMoving on to another topic, about CPU performance, it's clear from the 1440p data we gathered that anyone investing in an RTX 5090 needs a high-end CPU, such as the 9800X3D. Even with the Zen 5 3D V-Cache processor, you'll frequently encounter CPU bottlenecks, especially if you aim for high refresh rates with ray tracing enabled.Speaking of ray tracing, you're almost certainly going to find reviews where the RT performance of the RTX 5090 relative to the 4090 is more impressive than what we saw for the majority of our testing, and this will come down to the quality settings used.Our testing focused on real-world scenarios that prioritize frame rates above 60 fps, as we believe most gamers spending $2,000 on a GPU won't settle for console-like frame rates.But in an effort to provide a bit more context, for example, in Black Myth: Wukong, we tested at 1440p using DLSS quality upscaling, where the RTX 5090 delivered 98 fps a 24% improvement over the RTX 4090. But if we disable upscaling, which we feel most gamers using ray tracing won't do, the frame rate of the 5090 drops to 64 fps, but this also meant that it was now 45% faster than the 4090, so a far more impressive margin here.This is comparable to what we see at 4K using DLSS upscaling, though again we're only gaming at around 60 fps, which some gamers will find acceptable, but I personally find it less than desirable, especially when spending so much money.Ultimately, the point is that the RTX 5090 can be 40-50% faster than the RTX 4090, depending on the game and settings. However, as demonstrated in this review, when targeting high frame rates, the difference is typically much smaller.Bottom LineAll things considered, the GeForce RTX 5090 is an impressive performer that falls short of meeting the expectations for a next-generation flagship GPU. It doesn't move the needle forward in terms of value or innovation and could easily fit into the GeForce 40 series lineup. If Nvidia had launched this as an RTX 4090 Ti, few would have batted an eye.We understand that Nvidia couldn't do much given the limitations of the current process node. However, they still could have delivered a more exciting product series. Even at $1,600, the RTX 5090 would have been far more appealing still not amazing, but much better than it is now.Without a process node upgrade, this release doesn't come close to the leap we saw from the RTX 3090 to the RTX 4090, which was vastly more significant. It's also clear that as Nvidia cements its position as the leader in AI hardware, GeForce seems to have taken a back seat to the big money in AI(just check out this graph, it's insane).We still expect the RTX 5090 to age well. While today's 27% average performance gain over the RTX 4090 is underwhelming, this margin will likely increase over time, potentially reaching 40% in more games.Unfortunately, this also means the more affordable models in the GeForce RTX 50 series will probably be underwhelming, offering only minor performance gains over the GPUs they replace. Nvidia could have addressed this by providing better VRAM configurations.For example, 12 GB on the RTX 5070 is simply unacceptable it should have at least 16 GB. If Nvidia had done this, the RTX 5070 might have been a worthwhile upgrade over the RTX 4070 and a much more significant step up from the RTX 3070.For those looking for a more positive take, the good news is that the RTX 5090 is faster than the RTX 4090, pushing 4K gaming closer to high-refresh-rate experiences. If you already had oodles of money to blow on a graphics card and missed out on the RTX 4090, the RTX 5090 could be a great addition to your gaming setup.In summary, the RTX 5090 is 25% more expensive than the RTX 4090, delivers an average of 27% more performance, includes 33% more VRAM, and consumes around 30% more power. Interpret that as you like. For now, our review is complete with a closer look at DLSS 4 coming soon let us know your thoughts on Nvidia's new flagship graphics card in the comments.Shopping Shortcuts:Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 5080 on Amazon (soon)AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super on AmazonAMD Radeon RX 7800 XT on AmazonAMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon
