Is it worth upgrading?

A newer card winning every row of a comparison table does not make it worth buying. This works out how much faster it actually is at your resolution, what that improvement costs per percentage point, and whether a cheaper card would get you most of the way there.

Both cards have to be ones CompareYourGPU tracks. The database currently covers current and recent desktop cards, so if you are coming from something older it may not be listed yet. See what is covered.

The card you have now

The card you are considering

What resolution do you play at?

Which of these do you play? Optional. Sizes the estimate against the most demanding one.

RX 7900 XT → RTX 5090 at 1440p

Worth considering, but you are paying a premium

Marginal

Performance gain: +66.7%; Estimated, native
Measured cross-check: +74.8%; Third party, upscaled
Upgrade cost: $1,999; Price of the new card
Cost per 1% gained: $30

What you gain

In favour: Estimated 66.7% more performance at 1440p.
In favour: Third-party measured suite ratings put the gain at 74.8%, which is an independent check on the estimate above.
In favour: Estimated frame rate moves from roughly 110-155 FPS to 180-260 FPS.
In favour: 12 GB more memory.
In favour: 143.9% stronger in ray-traced workloads.
In favour: Adds DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, DLSS 4 Super Resolution, DLSS Ray Reconstruction.
In favour: Works out at about $30 per percentage point of performance gained.

What it costs you

Caution: Board power rises by 260 W, from 315 W to 575 W. Check your power supply before ordering.
Caution: At $30 per percentage point this is above the $25 CompareYourGPU treats as poor value for an upgrade.

Compare them side by side About the RTX 5090

The two cards side by side

Key differences between the RX 7900 XT and the RTX 5090
Measure	RX 7900 XT	RTX 5090	Change
Estimated FPS at 1440p	110-155	180-260	+66.7%
VRAM	20 GB	32 GB	+12 GB
Board power	315 W	575 W	+260 W
Ray tracing index	41	100	+143.9%
Price on record	$899	$1,999	+$1,100
Launched	December 13, 2022	January 30, 2025	2.1 years apart

Where these numbers come from

Performance gain: CompareYourGPU estimated index, native resolution, no upscaling.
Measured cross-check: third-party suite rating, run with vendor upscaling at Quality. Not directly comparable with the native estimate, which is why both are shown.
VRAM, board power and features: manufacturer specifications.
Prices: launch MSRP. CompareYourGPU holds no verified street price for these cards, so the cost per percentage point is a reference figure rather than what you would pay today.
The cost of the upgrade is the price of the new card. CompareYourGPU does not model what your current card might sell for.