01
Introduction
NVIDIA’s next-generation flagship graphics card, the GeForce RTX 5090, has been officially released. Prior to its launch, numerous performance leaks about the card circulated widely, with varied and sometimes contradictory conclusions, leaving the public uncertain.
This article will compare the actual gaming performance of the GeForce RTX 5090 with the GeForce RTX 4090, ultimately providing a relatively “objective” conclusion about the performance of the GeForce RTX 5090 for the reference of interested readers.
02
Parameter Comparison
The GeForce RTX 5090 was released on January 6, 2025. It uses the GB202-300-A1 GPU and is built on TSMC’s 5nm process. It has 21,760 CUDA cores, 176 raster units, 680 texture units, 170 multi-stream processors, 680 tensor cores, 172 ray-tracing cores, and 96MB of L2 cache.
The standard operating frequency is 2017 MHz, with a maximum frequency of 2407 MHz. It features 32GB of GDDR7 video memory, a memory interface width of 512 bits, a memory speed of 28 Gbps, and a memory bandwidth of 1.8 TB/s. The FP32 floating-point performance is 104.8 TFLOPS, with a power consumption of 575W and a suggested retail price of $1999.
The GeForce RTX 4090 uses the AD-102 GPU and is built on TSMC’s 4nm process. It has 16,384 CUDA cores, 176 raster units, 512 texture units, 128 multi-stream processors, 72MB of L2 cache, 512 tensor cores, and 128 ray-tracing cores.
Its standard operating frequency is 2235 MHz, with a maximum frequency of 2520 MHz. It comes with 24GB of GDDR6X video memory, a memory interface width of 384 bits, a memory speed of 21 Gbps, and a memory bandwidth of 1008 GB/s. The FP32 floating-point performance is 82.58 TFLOPS, with a power consumption of 450W.
03
Testing Platform Configuration
The main configuration is as follows:
Processor: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Motherboard: MSI MPG X670E CARBON
Memory: 32GB DDR5 6000MHz
Graphics Cards: GeForce RTX 5080 16GB and GeForce RTX 4090 24GB
Storage: Two Samsung 970 EVO 1TB drives
Operating System: Windows 11
04
Game Tests (GeForce RTX 5090 vs RTX 4090)
The following tests were conducted on seven games, all using 4K graphics settings. In the images below, the left side represents the GeForce RTX 4090 platform, and the right side represents the GeForce RTX 5090 platform.
First Game: God of War
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 124 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 106 FPS, a frame time of 7.9ms, a CPU usage of 31%, power consumption of 68W, a temperature of 59°C, memory usage of 10.7GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 8.3GB, a power consumption of 398W, and a temperature of 52°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 173 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 142 FPS, a frame time of 5.3ms, a CPU usage of 49%, power consumption of 72W, a temperature of 68°C, memory usage of 11.4GB, a GPU usage of 98%, a VRAM usage of 8.6GB, a power consumption of 526W, and a temperature of 57°C.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 18% higher CPU usage than the RTX 4090, 0.7GB more memory usage, almost equal GPU usage, and 0.3GB more VRAM usage.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 49 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.4 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 36 FPS higher, the frame time was about 2ms lower, power consumption was 128W higher, and temperature was 5°C higher.
Second Game: Cyberpunk 2077
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 42 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 37 FPS, a frame time of 23.2ms, a CPU usage of 35%, power consumption of 72W, a temperature of 63°C, memory usage of 12.3GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 12.5GB, a power consumption of 397W, and a temperature of 54°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 58 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 49 FPS, a frame time of 15.1ms, a CPU usage of 41%, power consumption of 89W, a temperature of 68°C, memory usage of 12.6GB, a GPU usage of 97%, a VRAM usage of 13.2GB, a power consumption of 523W, and a temperature of 54°C.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 6% higher CPU usage than the RTX 4090, 0.3GB more memory usage, 2% lower GPU usage, and 0.7GB more VRAM usage.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 16 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.4 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 12 FPS higher, the frame time was about 8ms lower, power consumption was 126W higher, and the temperature was the same.
Third Game: Red Dead Redemption 2
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 120 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 105 FPS, a frame time of 8.1ms, a CPU usage of 32%, power consumption of 63W, a temperature of 44°C, memory usage of 12.3GB, a GPU usage of 94%, a VRAM usage of 6.7GB, a power consumption of 345W, and a temperature of 55°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 150 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 130 FPS, a frame time of 6.5ms, a CPU usage of 41%, power consumption of 75W, a temperature of 57°C, memory usage of 12.1GB, a GPU usage of 93%, a VRAM usage of 6.7GB, a power consumption of 445W, and a temperature of 52°C.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 9% higher CPU usage than the RTX 4090, 0.2GB less memory usage, and the GPU and VRAM usage were almost the same.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 30 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.3 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 25 FPS higher, the frame time was about 2ms lower, power consumption was 100W higher, and temperature was 3°C lower.
Fourth Game: Ghostwire Tokyo
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 85 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 75 FPS, a frame time of 11.2ms, a CPU usage of 14%, power consumption of 60W, a temperature of 47°C, memory usage of 12.0GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 9.8GB, a power consumption of 357W, and a temperature of 56°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 116 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 99 FPS, a frame time of 8.7ms, a CPU usage of 14%, power consumption of 60W, a temperature of 61°C, memory usage of 10.5GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 9.8GB, a power consumption of 536W, and a temperature of 55°C.
In this game, both platforms had the same CPU usage, but the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 1.5GB less memory usage, and GPU and VRAM usage were equal.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 31 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.4 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 24 FPS higher, the frame time was about 3ms lower, power consumption was 179W higher, and the temperature was almost the same.
Fifth Game: Silent Hill 2
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 60 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 57 FPS, a frame time of 16.7ms, a CPU usage of 14%, power consumption of 51W, a temperature of 44°C, memory usage of 11.2GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 8.9GB, a power consumption of 353W, and a temperature of 54°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 76 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 69 FPS, a frame time of 12.8ms, a CPU usage of 16%, power consumption of 55W, a temperature of 49°C, memory usage of 9.7GB, a GPU usage of 97%, a VRAM usage of 8.9GB, a power consumption of 450W, and a temperature of 49°C.
In this game, the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 2% higher CPU usage than the RTX 4090, 1.5GB less memory usage, 2% lower GPU usage, and similar VRAM usage.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 16 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.3 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 12 FPS higher, the frame time was about 4ms lower, power consumption was 97W higher, and temperature was 5°C lower.
Sixth Game: Black Myth: Wukong
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 45 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 40 FPS, a frame time of 21.2ms, a CPU usage of 14%, power consumption of 46W, a temperature of 50°C, memory usage of 11.8GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 8.8GB, a power consumption of 363W, and a temperature of 52°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 59 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 52 FPS, a frame time of 16.7ms, a CPU usage of 14%, power consumption of 51W, a temperature of 51°C, memory usage of 11.8GB, a GPU usage of 98%, a VRAM usage of 9.0GB, a power consumption of 470W, and a temperature of 51°C.
In this game, both platforms had nearly the same CPU usage, memory usage, and GPU usage, with the GeForce RTX 5090 platform using 0.2GB more VRAM.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 14 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.3 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 12 FPS higher, the frame time was about 5ms lower, power consumption was 107W higher, and the temperature was the same.
Seventh Game: Hogwarts Legacy
The GeForce RTX 4090 platform had an average frame rate of 57 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 40 FPS, a frame time of 17.0ms, a CPU usage of 21%, power consumption of 55W, a temperature of 50°C, memory usage of 19.3GB, a GPU usage of 99%, a VRAM usage of 11.9GB, a power consumption of 354W, and a temperature of 55°C.
The GeForce RTX 5090 platform had an average frame rate of 76 FPS, a minimum frame rate of 59 FPS, a frame time of 13.7ms, a CPU usage of 21%, power consumption of 59W, a temperature of 55°C, memory usage of 19.6GB, a GPU usage of 98%, a VRAM usage of 12.1GB, a power consumption of 462W, and a temperature of 52°C.
In this game, both platforms had equal CPU usage, but the GeForce RTX 5090 platform had 0.3GB more memory usage, and the GPU usage was almost the same, with the RTX 5090 using 0.2GB more VRAM.
The average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 5090 platform was 19 FPS higher than the RTX 4090, about 1.3 times faster, the minimum frame rate was 19 FPS higher, the frame time was about 3ms lower, power consumption was 108W higher, and temperature was 3°C lower.
05
Comparison Conclusion
Overall, even without enabling DLSS4, the performance improvement of the GeForce RTX 5090 over the previous generation is quite significant, roughly 1.3 times. In other words, the performance is nearly 30% higher than that of the GeForce RTX 4090 (this conclusion is on the conservative side), which is the final takeaway from this article, for reference only.
On the other hand, the power consumption of the GeForce RTX 5090 is indeed a major downside, which is quite astonishing. In this case, ensuring adequate power supply and cooling is crucial.
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