Two generations of the fastest consumer card. The RTX 5090 is the clear winner on every measure, but it launched $400 higher and draws 125 W more. For most players the question is whether the extra speed and memory justify the premium.
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The previous flagship, now out of production. It remains a top-tier 4K card with 24 GB of memory, but it lacks DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation and is only worth considering at a genuine discount on the second-hand market.
The fastest consumer graphics card on the market and the only one that treats 4K at high refresh rates as routine. It also asks for a 575 W power budget, a large case and flagship money, which is why it only makes sense at the very top of a build.
RTX 4090 comes out ahead of RTX 5090.
The score blends performance at 1440p (50%), performance per dollar (30%) and memory headroom (20%), each against every card CompareYourGPU tracks. Fewer than three points apart counts as level. How verdicts are calculated.
Performance, memory, power and value rows, ranked by how far apart RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 are. The full sheet below has every row.
| Difference | RTX 4090 | RTX 5090 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance per $100 | Better: 5.1 | 1.5 | RTX 4090238% higher |
| Memory bandwidth | 1,008 GB/s | Better: 1,792 GB/s | RTX 509078% higher |
| VRAM | 24 GB | Better: 32 GB | RTX 509033% higher |
| Performance index, 4K | 78 | Better: 100 | RTX 509028% higher |
| Ray tracing index, 1440p | 78 | Better: 100 | RTX 509028% higher |
| Board power | Better: 450 W | 575 W | RTX 409028% lower |
Open any area to see every row. Rows where a card wins are marked; rows where the two match, or where a figure is not published, say so.
| Specification | RTX 4090NVIDIA | RTX 5090NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Launch MSRP | Best in this row: $1,599 | $1,999 |
| Current priceNot compared: data missing for at least one cardCompareYourGPU does not publish a price it has not verified. | Check current price | $6,592 |
| Performance per $100Performance index at 1440p per $100 of a mix of verified prices and launch MSRP, which are not directly comparable. | Best in this row: 5.1 | 1.5 |
| Specification | RTX 4090NVIDIA | RTX 5090NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 88 | Best in this row: 100 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 82 | Best in this row: 100 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 78 | Best in this row: 100 |
| CompareYourGPU estimate, 100 = fastest card here. | 78 | Best in this row: 100 |
| Measured suite average at 1440pThird-party geometric mean across their game suite, run with vendor upscaling at Quality. A different test from the estimated row below, not a check on it. | 122.7 FPS (ComputerBase) | Best in this row: 142.4 FPS (ComputerBase) |
| Estimated FPS at 1440pModelled estimate for a typical modern AAA game at High settings with no upscaling. Not a measurement. | 150-215 FPS | Best in this row: 180-260 FPS |
| Specification | RTX 4090NVIDIA | RTX 5090NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Blackwell |
| GPU die | AD102 | GB202 |
| Only comparable within one manufacturer. | 16,384 | Best in this row: 21,760 |
| Data unavailable | Data unavailable | |
| 128 | Best in this row: 170 | |
| 512 | Best in this row: 680 | |
| 2,235 MHz | 2,017 MHz | |
| 2,520 MHz | 2,407 MHz | |
| Game clockAMD only. | Data unavailable | Data unavailable |
| Specification | RTX 4090NVIDIA | RTX 5090NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| Best in this row: 450 W | 575 W | |
| Vendor figure where published, otherwise board power plus 300 W of headroom. | Best in this row: 850 W | 1,000 W |
| Performance per 100 W | Best in this row: 18.2 | 17.4 |
| Power connectors | 1x 16-pin (12VHPWR) | 1x 16-pin (12V-2x6) |
| Specification | RTX 4090NVIDIA | RTX 5090NVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd-generation RT cores | 4th-generation RT cores | |
| DLSS 4 Super Resolution, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, FSR 3.1, XeSS | DLSS 4 Super Resolution, DLSS Ray Reconstruction, FSR 3.1, XeSS | |
| DLSS 3 Frame Generation | DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation | |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Video encoder | 8th-generation NVENC with AV1 and HEVC encode (dual encoder) | 9th-generation NVENC with AV1 and HEVC encode |
| Video decoder | 5th-generation NVDEC with AV1, HEVC and H.264 decode | 6th-generation NVDEC with AV1, HEVC and H.264 decode |
Each price carries its source and date, or is labelled as a launch MSRP. The retailer page is the authority on today's price.
Launch MSRP in US dollars, as set by the manufacturer at release. CompareYourGPU has no verified street price for this card, so this is a reference point rather than what it sells for today. The Amazon store the link opens depends on your location and charges in its own currency (US dollars, euros or pounds): expect a different figure there, and treat that page as the authority on what the card actually costs.
This card is out of production, so street prices are especially unpredictable.
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MSRP $1,999
Expensive
Amazon.es · ES · new · price checked (40 days ago)
This price is getting old. It was last checked 5 weeks ago, and graphics card prices move week to week.
This price was checked on a specific listing, not necessarily the one linked below — treat the retailer’s own page as the authority on what it costs today.
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Each category is decided by the same numbers used everywhere else on the site. A category with no clear leader says so rather than picking one.
Performance at 1440p
Performance index 100
Ray tracing
Ray tracing index 100
Price
$1,599
Performance per dollar
5.1 index points per $100
VRAM
32 GB
Memory bandwidth
1792 GB/s
Efficiency
18.2 index points per 100 W
Lowest power draw
450 W board power
All six axes are normalised to a 0-100 scale so they can share one chart. Performance and ray tracing are CompareYourGPU’s estimated indices; value, VRAM, efficiency and features are each card’s standing relative to every other card tracked here.
| Criterion | RTX 4090 | RTX 5090 |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 82 | 100 |
| Ray tracing | 78 | 100 |
| Value | 48 | 0 |
| VRAM | 100 | 100 |
| Efficiency | 47 | 40 |
| Features | 90 | 100 |
CompareYourGPU estimate aggregated from public review coverage, not a measurement.
Modelled from the performance index. Not a measured benchmark. Real results vary widely by title.
Capacity alone is not the whole story: memory bus width and bandwidth decide how much of it the GPU can actually use.
The short version: the RTX 5090 is faster, but the RTX 4090 offers better value at the prices on record. Which of those matters more is the decision.
Based on the specifications, estimated performance indices and prices on record for these cards. How verdicts are calculated.
Highest estimated performance index at 1440p of the cards compared here, at 100. It is the right answer if frame rate is the only thing you are optimising for.
Delivers the most performance per dollar of the cards compared, at $1,599. Choose this if the difference in price matters more to you than the difference in frame rate.
Strongest ray-traced performance here, with an estimated ray tracing index of 100 at 1440p. It also carries DLSS 4 Super Resolution, which is how ray tracing becomes practical.
Carries 24 GB, the most headroom of the cards compared at 1440p. Memory is usually what dates a card before raw speed does.
Best performance per watt of the cards compared, drawing 450 W. That means less heat, quieter fans and less pressure on your power supply.
Best balance of speed, price and memory of the cards compared: 50% performance at 1440p, 30% performance per dollar, 20% memory headroom. Not necessarily the fastest.
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