The RTX 4090 stands as the top consumer desktop GPU within the RTX 40 series. With AMD not offering a rival to the RTX 4090, as the RX 7900 XTX is more aligned with the RTX 4080, Nvidia has maintained its dominance in the high-end gaming segment. Looking ahead, Team Green is expected to keep this top spot with the upcoming RTX 5090, especially since AMD has opted out of competing in the premium market with its RDNA 4 architecture.
Performance Comparison
Now, the big question is how does the RTX 5090 stack up against the RTX 4090? Nvidia has shared some performance figures for the RTX 5090, but didn’t provide in-depth insights into its raw rasterization or ray tracing performance. Instead, the focus has been on DLSS 4 and its impressive 4x Frame Generation.
Benchmark Insights
Fortunately, the RTX 5090 might already be in the hands of some reviewers, leading to the emergence of synthetic benchmark scores. Two notable results indicate that the RTX 5090 outperforms the RTX 4090 in both rasterization and ray tracing tests.
According to a thread on Chiphell, which is likely to be taken down soon, the RTX 5090 achieved scores exceeding 24,000 in the 3DMark Time Spy Extreme test and over 13,500 in the Speed Way benchmark.
Detailed Score Analysis
Focusing on the Time Spy Extreme score, the RTX 4090’s results from 3DMark show values ranging from about 22,800 to 23,300. If we take a score of 22,800 for the RTX 4090 and 24,000 for the RTX 5090, it suggests that the Blackwell GPU is around 5.3% faster than its earlier version. Of course, results may vary with different high scores, but for our discussion, we can assume lower figures for both GPUs.
When considering the 3DMark Speed Way test, which evaluates ray tracing, the RTX 5090’s reported score of 13,500+ positions it 8% ahead of the best RTX 4090 recorded in the 3DMark database. Again, since the RTX 4090 has scores that fall between about 11,430 and 12,489, the performance difference in favor of the RTX 5090 could be significantly larger if we base it on the lower RTX 4090 scores. For example, using the 11,430 Speed Way score for the RTX 4090, the RTX 5090’s performance is 18% superior.
Conclusion
Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that the RTX 5090 could deliver nearly a 20% improvement in ray tracing capabilities compared to the RTX 4090.
In summary, if the rasterization performance of the RTX 5090 is indeed less than 10% faster than the RTX 4090 as noted earlier, this raises questions about the $400 price hike. Such a slight improvement in rasterization might also clarify Nvidia’s strong emphasis on DLSS 4 during the RTX 50 launch.
Nonetheless, we should hold off on forming any conclusions until we see third-party reviews for the RTX 5090. Until then, take any performance speculations regarding the RTX 5090 with a hefty dose of skepticism.
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