Nvidia ’s Modern flagship is here . TheRTX 5090 is real , in the flesh , and it ’s asbonkers as Nvidia ’s early declaration — even if the utmost performance claim come with a few new caveat . But is the generational uplift enough to warrant the increased Leontyne Price ? And is it worth upgrading from the last - generation king , theRTX 4090 ? That card is no slouch , and until now , it was the immobile nontextual matter card the cosmos had ever seen , and it will remain a marvelous gambling GPU for many years to come .

So , how do these two behemoth graphics cards equate ? permit ’s take a feeling .

Pricing and availability

The Nvidia RTX 5090 was announced at CES 2025 , with availableness starting on January 30 . Its recommend retail price is an heart - watering $ 2,000 , however — more like the GPU - shortage pricing for the RTX 4090 than that card ’s debut price . When that carte debuted in October 2022 , its launch price was a comparativelyaffordable$1,600 .

Today you may retrieve Nvidia Founders Edition 4090s for that same price , with third - political party choice range from $ 1,500 up to $ 2,000 for those with the most modern cooling resolution . Nvidia has defended the cost , of course , but we wo n’t know for certain how much extra value it offers until we ’re able to see it more in activity .

Specs

If we went by the specifications alone , the RTX 5090 should hold a commanding confidential information over its predecessor in just about any scenario , but all those additional cores and faster memory cells come at the toll of mogul .

The RTX 5090 is a big generational upthrust in a number of shipway . It ’s contract 33 % more CUDA cores , which should lead to a strong melioration in ecumenical rasterization execution over the 4090 .

There are more of a new - propagation of RT and Tensor core , too , which will work well with the novel CUDA heart and soul to verify irradiation trace does n’t bear upon this plug-in quite as much as its herald . Tensor cores are free-base on a new 5th - generation design . With more of them , too , we can assume even greater FPS upthrust from DLSS , but those cores are also there to deal the new multi frame generation technology that is currently an single feature film of the RTX 50 - series .

On the memory front , the RTX 5090 sports a raw contemporaries of GDDR7 TV memory , and 50 % more of it , with 32 GB . It ’s much faster , at 30Gbps , delivering a near 80 % melioration in overall memory bandwidth . That ’s massive overkill for gaming , perhaps betraying this batting order ’s design as more of a Titan - esque placard , than a flagship back GPU — even if it is potential to be the truehearted card of its generation .

All of that come at the toll of force , though , as this flagship Nvidia card once again requires far more than its predecessor . Nvidia claims you ’ll need 575W of power for the GPU alone . That ’s more ability than some pocket-size gaming PCs call for in their entireness .

Performance

Nvidia made somegrandioseclaims about the performance of all its RTX 50 - serial notice , and while they may be some expert truth to them , it ’s not as clear gash as Team Green would have you believe . When we prove the cardfor our review , we found that Nvidia ’s claims of 200 % 4090 carrying out were overblown outside of very specific DLSS and frame propagation - supporting titles . In reality , the crude public presentation upthrow is more like 30 % when you do n’t constituent multi systema skeletale generation .

There ’s no denying that the RTX 5090 is by far the most potent notice we have ever seen , though . It is the first add-in to be able to playCyberpunk 2077at over 100 FPS in Ultra preferences without upscaling , and up to 60 FPS with ray tracing enabled . We also saw saw giving uplifts in performance over the 4090 inReturnal , Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered , andDying Light 2 , among others .

This is way off the double performance claims that Nvidia made at CES , but it ’s a ample advance and without a doubt secures the 5090 as the best of the two batting order .

It ’s also important to note just how incredible multi frame genesis can be in the right setting . When combined withDLSS 4 upscaling , it can deport a 200 - 300 % increase in frame rates , which would have been unheard of just a year ago . And yet , the drop in optical quality at those setting rarely justifies such a bounce , leaven head about the rightful usefulness of multi frame gen for now , even if it seems likely to play a big part in encourage frame rate in next games for all manner of GPUs .

The RTX 5090 is the best for some

The RTX 5090 is n’t quite on cut-rate sale yet , but it ’s very close . Certainly close enough that it ’s worth waiting for if you ’re in the securities industry for thebest graphics card money can purchase , because that ’s what it is . It ’s quicker than the RTX 4090 and its multi frame generation support gives it a unique lineament that will really help smooth out frame rates as the technology improves . Its Modern RT and Tensor cores make raytracing a toggleable pick as and when you desire it , rather than a frame rate killer , too , which is really decent to see after so many generations of lacklustre RT performance .

However , is it worth $ 2,000 ? Not if you already have an RTX 4090 . That card is still very , very fast and more than capable of playing any game today at great detail and frame rate . Just not quite as many as the RTX 5090 . If you have a top 40 - series add-in , there ’s not a tonne on offer with this latest discharge .

The value suggestion is different if you ’re run an older lineup , though . If your 2080 Ti is evince its long time , or your RTX 3080 does n’t have the VRAM you need anymore , the RTX 5090 is the fastest choice out there . If you ’re even consider a $ 2,000 nontextual matter bill of fare , you plausibly do n’t need to speak flush for buck . It ’s the best there is , but you have to yield for it . If you have some AAA game you have n’t played yet because you were waiting for them to be smoother on modern hardware , the 5090 is the bill of fare to do it .

Just do n’t ask it to revolutionize your gaming experience .