NVIDIA has lifted the review embargo for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. And, since the green team has provided us with a review sample, we can benchmark it and compare it against the mighty NVIDIA RTX 4090.
For our benchmarks, we used an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D with 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz. We also used Windows 10 64-bit, and the GeForce 571.86 driver. Moreover, we’ve disabled the second CCD on our 7950X3D. That’s the ideal thing you can do for gaming on this particular CPU.
Since we are a PC gaming site, we have access to A LOT of PC games. So, for our benchmarks, we used the 20 most demanding PC games that are currently in the market. Some of them are rasterized, some of them are ray-traced and some of them are path-traced. As such, you can get a pretty clear image of how fast the RTX 5090 can be over the RTX 4090.
The “rasterized” games we tested were A Plague Tale Requiem, Dead Space Remake, The Last of Us Part I, Starfield, and Final Fantasy 16. The performance uplift in those games was between 30-42%. The only outlier was Starfield which was CPU-limited, even at Native 4K with Max Settings.
For Ray Tracing, we used games like Hellblade 2, Star Wars Outlaws, STALKER 2, Silent Hill 2 and more. The performance improvement over the RTX 4090 was between 23% and 47%. Do also note that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was CPU-limited. For this title, we tested the Koboh area. And, even with Ray Tracing at Native 4K, the game was bottlenecked by our AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU.
As for Path Tracing, we tested Cyberpunk 2077, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Black Myth: Wukong, Alan Wake 2 and Portal RTX. Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong ran significantly faster on the RTX 5090 than the RTX 4090 (38% and 37%, respectively). Alan Wake 2 with Path Tracing also got a big performance boost. On the other hand, the performance boost in Indiana Jones and Portal RTX could have been better.
Overall, the NVIDIA RTX 5090 is 33% faster than the RTX 4090 in these 20 games. Depending on the game, you can expect from a 23% to a 47% performance boost over the RTX 4090.
So, the big question now is: Should you buy an RTX 5090? Well, if you already own an RTX 4090, there is no reason at all to upgrade to the RTX 5090. Unless you want the best of the best and you don’t really care about money. As for everyone else, the RTX 5090 has a better value right now than the RTX 4090. And as you all know, I’ve been highly recommending the RTX 4090 these past couple of years.
But let the numbers talk. NVIDIA has raised the price of its XX90 GPU model by 25%, offering 30-40% better performance. So yes, the RTX 5090 has a better value than the RTX 4090. There is no doubt about that.
It’s crucial to note that you’ll also need a high-end CPU to take full advantage of it in games that are lite on Ray Tracing effects. That’s where DLSS 4 comes into play, but we’ll talk about DLSS 4 in a separate article.
Overall, the RTX 5090 is a beast of a GPU and my impressions are positive. It’s faster than the RTX 4090, and the FE model comes in a 2-slot form. This is another thing that will please some gamers. The FE model of the RTX 5090 is no longer as bulky as the one used for the RTX 4090. It’s more elegant. And I know, some of you would have loved to see a new GPU that is 50% faster than its predecessor. However, we can only judge what we have in our hands and not imaginary GPUs. And, the performance improvement of the 5090 is not small. In fact, it’s what we normally get per generation.
So there you have it. The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is the best gaming GPU that you can buy right now. So, if you are looking for the best PC gaming GPU and if you can find it at its MSRP, I highly recommend getting it. If you own an RTX 4090, you can simply skip the RTX 5090. Your RTX 4090 will not become obsolete. Yes, you will not have access to DLSS 4 (which is really cool by the way), but the RTX 4090 still remains the second-best gaming GPU.
Be sure to also check out our “DLSS 4 Benchmarks & Impressions” article!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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That benchmark graph is so bad to read. Why do you keep using it ?
Yeah, John if you could use similar colors for the same card it would help the readability.
For example blue 4090 average, light blue 4090 min, red 5090 average, light red 5090 min
"The FE model of the RTX 5090 is no longer as bulky as the one used for the RTX 4090."
just like the 4060's goal was to reduce size and power consumption and heating, the goal of the 5090 is the same including ai. Its not about performance anymore its about reducing size, heat but not cost.
Pathetic.
he may call you an idiot now, he couldnt right a better marketing matteria for nvidia really. if I and you get to agry on something john must go and look for a doctor urgent!
Is there a reason why you used windows 10 instead of windows 11?
Yes he is one these people bad in maths and bad in software
Windows 10 is more stable than Win11. It offers the same performance, and it doen't suffer from all the ridiculous issues of Win11 (from "bad installs" to the issues introduced by the 24H2 Update).
Right John !
hhhhmmmm just no
Your math for value is on onother level. I bet your are a fanatic of the 1+1=3 theory. Find your math teachers and beat them or sue them, just do something about it.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d5c97e3faa11407abb8078d0831a2da9a631803c14795def569643fcad4e1604.jpg When a prober review know how to do value comparisons. Ffs john
And DF (as well as GamersNexus) has the same opinion with us. The RTX 5090 has better value than the 7900XT, the NVIDIA RTX 4080 and the RTX 4090. Hell, even your image shows the RTX 5090 having better value than the RTX 4090 (hint: lower is better in this graph). So, no matter how you cut it, you are clueless and an idiot.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9a1b2debd4a798fbae8d4c995d32f27beaf005abf5a53e5218a512dd26114d50.jpg
Hahahaha you are nvsomething gianni. Proti fora vlepo na diavazi kapios toso lathos data. To review sou opos kai na exi ine irrelevant. Ite ime idiot ite oxi den exi simasia. Enjoy you free card ala san constructive kritiki asta card reviews den to exis. Asxolithou me U5.
https://media1.giphy.com/media/aVBcwz1jd28A8/giphy-downsized-small.mp4
https://media0.giphy.com/media/lVFaP1LfwOcyIaiSux/giphy-downsized-small.mp4
it will never have better value than the 7900 XTX its 4000 dollars and 7900 XTX is only 800.
I'm not picking sides,but…I had an offer of RX 7900XT,not XTX,just XT,with 400 euros ! 400 EUROS ! for an 7900XT SH ! No Joke ! Problem is I need a freacking OLED 4K montior for that baby ! And I have 1440p LED 60FPS hdr 🙂 That's why I declined the offer 🙂
DF ine nvidia sposor gianni edo kai xronia, kai opos esi ine nvidia bias kai to paradektikan para poles fores se video. Ektos apo game analysis ta reviews tous ine irrelevant sorry. Den ime AMD fun den ime me kamia eteria ala afto pou ekanes den ine review para mono product show demo, sorry. Review ekanan i hardware unboxed. Apexis poli sto na onomasis afto ta pragma review epidi exis agenda kai vgazis kai dedomena pou den iparxoun. Prosthetis kai ena manufactured opinion kai vazis titlo review. Hmmm den ine sorry
better value ? are serious ? comparing 2 gens of gpu , and the cost per frame of 5090 is 0.2$ cheaper than the 4090 which is 0.01% cheaper while consuming more than 30% more power .
man you have no idea what you are talking about
Let him dream ! He is the bo$$,it's his site 🤣 Johnnie,nowadays is price/performance my friend…As Metallica said…Nothing else matters 😅 Quick example and I'm out my Rx6800OC 16GB,i paid foe it 275 euro SH (yes) and yet it's only half rasterized performance of 5090🤣🤣😶 Anyway and I'm out,cause the trolls will start screamin'…Should I mention peak 185w from the OC 6800 16gb or you need pyshical proof ! OOO! I FORGOT about 600w PSU only for 5090….A super FAIL card,in all regards ! Planning of upgrading to a 5070 but when i farcking see 12gb instead of minimum 16 and everything relying on feaking upscaling bulljiet technologies I must wait another 3 years for pure rasterization…No offence ! YOU like fake frames,upscaling 4x times and shiet go buy with 2400 euros in Romania 🤣😅 It's just like fake boobs ! They are pretty,but fake ! 🤣😅
Nice to see some Tekken 8 benchmark thanks !
MONOLITHIC TRASH OUTDATED LIKE 9900K
NEXT GEN DOESNT START UNTILL MCM ARCHITECTURE RADEON UDNA.
Damn, ShatMD dumbnatics already losing it this badly.
Comical.
IM NOT LOSING IT RAY TRACING @ 20 FPS ISNT NEXT GEN! DUAL COMPUTE DIES ACTUALLY ABLE TO DO MORE THAN 20 FPS WITH FULL PATH TRACING MCM UDNA IS THE ONLY REAL NEXT STEP IN GRAPHICS TECHNOLOGY. NVIDIA IS AT THEIR 9900K MOMENT ABOUT TO FALL BADLY BEHIND AMD WHEN IT COMES TO MCM.
MCM = Loss in performance, always has, always will
MCM = cheaper to manufacture but the tradeoff is a hit to performance
A whopping 5 FPS in Portal RTX for your $2000
1 FPS UPGRADE FOR 400$ Noycee ! 'Cause almost nobody will buy your sh crap for the MIGHTY 5090 ! Yammm !
Without MFG the 5090 is roughly 30% faster while being 30% more expensive and 30% more power hungry.
The 5000 series is one of the worst NVIDIA releases in a long time. Which is to be expected since there was no node/process size shrink this generation.
The 6000 series will likely be built on 2nm TSMC, where we can expect to see much bigger gains.
He may call you an idiot now because you dont see the "value"
Why don't you just get happy with 1440p and a rasterized competent videocard (NO DLSS,FSR bullshiet) and shadows toggle instead of Ultra – > High…You will see nothing is changed and you get the full experience? HM?
The new DLSS 4 transformer model has some sort of weird artifacting when looking up and down. I noticed it when looking at the smooth flooring at night outsider of Embers where you're supposed to meet Hanako, and I could see it without my contact lenses in, so I'd hate to see how bad it is when I can see clearly.
Disappointing.
he may call you an idiot because you dont see his "bias point of view and his manufactured possitive marks", he call me an idiot the idiot. if there should ever be a guide of how bad a review is I will link them here, its a casestudy of a really bad review of a product.
Yet there is still performance left on the table due to CPUs falling behind in single-core IPC.
I'll stick with my 3090 for a while more.
no dont, get this value for money card and sent nvidia this link as the reason you bought it. nvjohn needs to suck nvidia d*ck a bit more
it's still a fantastic card ! Do not be fooled by "fake frames" 🙂
The RTX 3090 will soon be a 1080p card with too much VRAM relative to it's performance.
I haven't seen a game it can't run in 4K with okay performance.
The Medium is finally optimized. We just had to wait 4 years to buy the optimization patches.
The Medium's premise of dual reality was completely farcked ! From the beginning ! 'Cause nobody freakin' wants to see half resolution Soy and other half,of course soy, and your framerate halved ! That UE4 needed in "single reality" without freaking RT reflections soy only a GTX 1070 ! But everyone got spooned 🙂
this makes the 5080 and 5070 even less attractive. No point in buying them since they are still slower then the 4090
I Have the upmost feeling that this generation will be the end of Nvidia 🤣
Performance Upgrade (FPS) ? It's just like "fake boobs" ! They're pretty but fake ! 🙂
4090 was 65-80% stronger than 3090(no fg) but the 5090 is barely 20% stronger than the 4090 the additional vram is good but largely unneeded unless you want to do machine learning
Enjoy this CPU bottlenecked powerhouse.
Isn't it to be expected that the performance of the RTX 5090 will improve as drivers mature?