Nvidia has revealed that its new flagship gaming GPU, the RTX 5090, is only 30% faster than the RTX 4090 in ray-traced game performance if you don’t engage its multi-frame generation DLSS 4 tech. That corresponds roughly with the 33% increase in CUDA cores on the new card, but points to its architecture not offering any extra hidden performance gains.
With the Nvidia RTX 5090 all but a nailed-on certainty to be the fastest and ultimately best graphics card you’ll be able to buy this year, it will still be a hugely tempting option for anyone seeking the latest and greatest. However, those hoping a 33% CUDA core count increase and corresponding price increase would result in an even larger performance improvement might be a bit disappointed.
These figures fly in the face of the 2x performance increase Nvidia claimed for the card at its launch. Nvidia was clear that those figures referred to performance with DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, but potential buyers might have been hoping the unsaid raw performance boost was higher.
DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is the latest addition to the company’s DLSS suite that boosts game frame rates by generating new frames using AI. This was available already with DLSS 3 Frame Generation, but DLSS 4 extends its capability further by offering improved image quality and the ability to generate up to three frames per pair using AI, rather than just the extra one frame with DLSS 3.
Our DLSS 4 hands on experience had us very impressed with how much it can boost frame rates and how good it can look, but its performance and quality aren’t guaranteed across all games. Plus, based on our past experience of DLSS 2 and 3, there will be games where it isn’t a desirable choice to leave the feature turned on due to its impact on image quality, during particularly fast motion.
Meanwhile, when taken in isolation, a 30% increase in performance for a new flagship gaming GPU isn’t a bad return. We’ve seen new card releases before when the increase was far lower. However, it’s the fact that Nvidia is bumping up the price of this card by 33% that’s potentially the kicker. If the RTX 5090 were the same price as the RTX 4090 – or, say, only 10-20% more expensive – it would feel like a better value return with this performance, but as it stands, it doesn’t look set to be a particularly great value proposition.
All that and Nvidia has been notably quiet about the RTX 5090 rasterization performance, its gaming performance without ray tracing. Nvidia has noted the improved capabilities and performance of its ray tracing cores, and its much more capable AI processing power in its latest architecture – the latter being the reason the company now has the highest value in the world – but next to nothing about the rendering method still used by the vast majority of modern games. Time and our testing will tell when it comes to that side of the story.
For now, it’s clear the RTX 5090 will remain the go-to choice for those looking to simply have the best card available. AMD’s upcoming RX 9070 XT isn’t set to challenge Nvidia at the top end of the market and the RTX 5090 is set to offer more performance across the board than the RTX 4090. However, there a few warning signs that, for some gamers, the RTX 5090 might not be the complete upgrade for which they were hoping.
One final reason you might want to consider the RTX 5090, though, is that Nvidia’s own RTX 5090 FE card is actually surprisingly small and conforms to the company’s SFF-Ready small form factor case scheme. That means it can fit in compact cases such as the tiny Fractal Mood, that you can buy here. Meanwhile, you can read more about SFF-Ready here.