The RTX 5090 disappoints in terms of raw performance

The RTX 5090 is the fastest consumer graphics card out now, something that was already assumed in advance. As competitor AMD isn’t launching a comparable model in this generation, this shouldn’t change anytime soon either. Tests of the card now show that its increase in raw power compared to previous generations isn’t as great as with earlier models. However, the new upscaling version DLSS 4 actually seems to bring a lot to the table. But the whole thing comes at a high price.

Gaming: a pretty small step in raw performance

Across the 25 games in his test suite, reviewer W1zzard from Techpowerup measured an average increase of 35 per cent in raw performance compared to the predecessor RTX 4090 at a resolution of 2180p. It’s a decent leap in performance, but not as big as the one from the RTX 3090 to the RTX 4090. There it was still 51 per cent. Nevertheless, W1zzard still believes there’s simply nothing comparable at the moment. AMD’s current and future most powerful model, the RX 7900 XTX, lags 75 per cent behind the Nvidia card in classic Rasterizer games.

Wolfgang Andermahr from Computerbase notes a smaller leap in performance. He measures 24 per cent more frames per second (FPS) (test in German), the smallest generation-to-generation performance jump since the GTX 980 Ti in 2015. The only sizeable leap in performance comes with the new DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation feature. Here, artificial intelligence adds up to three intermediate frames, leading to massive frame rate jumps. For example, there are always 80 per cent more FPS compared to the normal frame generation. However, Andermahr points out that a good gaming experience still requires 50 to 70 fps of raw performance.

Steven Walton from Techspot is even less convinced. He ends up with an average 27 per cent FPS increase in 2160p resolution compared to the RTX 4090. However, he calls the RTX 5090 the RTX 4090 Ti – just a more powerful RTX 4090 of the same generation. He accuses Nvidia of only marketing DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation instead of focusing on raw performance.

In terms of ray tracing, W1zzard measures 32 per cent more performance – Andermahr gets 33 per cent. Walton ends up with significantly worse results, 14 to 17 per cent more compared to the RTX 4090.

Efficiency: worse than the predecessor

Both W1zzard and Andermahr criticise the high power consumption in idle mode. The Techpowerup reviewer measures 30 watts, significantly more than its predecessor. Apparently, the RTX 5090 also draws significantly more power under load. Walton from Techspot measures between 37 and 41 per cent more wattage. Computerbase gives an actual average consumption of 474 watts for the RTX 5090 and 377 watts for the RTX 4090. It appears the RTX 5090 is significantly less efficient than the RTX 4090.

Poor price-performance ratio compared to its predecessor

Walton from Techspot puts it in a nutshell: «[…] the RTX 5090 offers only a 1.5% improvement in value per frame compared to the RTX 4090.» So after more than two years, it seems cost per frame hasn’t really changed. Another argument for why the RTX 5090 is really just an RTX 4090 Ti.

W1zzard also criticises the high price. But realise this: if you want the best, this is the only card for you. From this, he also thinks Nvidia will have no problems selling the RTX 5090.

Andermahr says that only enthusiasts with a big wallet should buy the cards, since the Founders Edition costs 2,329 euros. It certainly won’t be selling like hot cakes like the RTX 4090.

Availability in our range: the RTX 5090 will be available from 30 January at 3 p.m. We’ll only have strictly limited numbers of the GPU in stock. This shortage is unlikely to ease in the coming months either, and we can’t provide information about restocks.