Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 Review: A Video Card with AI

Whether you call this a win or not will depend on your refresh rate. People with 4K monitors that have 60-Hz refresh rates will probably be happy with most of this, but I can imagine that some people with 120-Hz displays will need to tweak the settings to stay consistently above 100 fps. It definitely feels like true 4K gaming at the highest end isn’t quite achievable with current hardware yet, at least without the help of technology like frame generation that gets around the issue.

My primary gaming monitor is a 1440p ultrawide with a 120Hz refresh rate, and I know many of my friends have gone in the same direction. It’s easier to hit consistently high frame rates, but it’s also a cinematic experience, on a single display that easily handles two windows for non-gaming work.

Screenshot of diagram courtesy of Brad Burke

It’s safe to expect 90 to 120 fps performance in most games at this resolution, which is great news for gamers looking to maximize their existing monitor. Single player games as heavy as cinema games Cyberpunk 2022 and Star Wars Outlaws they’re still on the cutting edge of graphical fidelity, so I’m not necessarily disappointed that they have room to grow, especially since they already look so good. Online games and shooting like Marvel Rivals run smoothly without much help, and it’s probably more important to have consistent frame rates in these games.

Is it worth it to you?

Anyone considering the RTX 5090, Founders Edition or otherwise, should really consider their budget first. The FE version of the card will set you back $2,000 if you buy it directly from Nvidia, and overclocked, liquid-cooled partner cards are likely to be even more expensive. You’ll also need to spend around $1,000 for a monitor that really takes advantage of your newfound graphics power, and potentially a new 1,000-watt or 1,200-watt GPU. That means you could be looking at a $3500 bill before you have any other parts, and regardless of performance I have a hard time imagining starting each build so.

Photo: Brad Burke

The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will hit the market at the end of January, with more budget cards arriving soon after. Not having spent time with the other RTX 50 series cards, I can’t speak to their relative performance, but I do know that their price tags seem much more attractive. I expect these cards will support multiframe generation out of the box, and that’s great news if you just want to sit back and see smooth gameplay.

Previous Founders Editions didn’t stay in stock for long, so you might have to wake up early on the 30th to get one of these if you want one. The whole situation makes the RTX 5090 feel less like the top end of the 50 series and more like a showpiece.

This is the GPU I’d configure while dreaming up a new rig, not the first part I’d choose in a realistic upgrade PCPartPicker. If the price tag doesn’t give you a moment of pause, then by all means enjoy your new GPU. For everyone else, I’d wait and see what the rest of the new GPUs look like before jumping in.