RTX 5090 Benchmarks Show Modest Gains Over RTX 4090
Nvidia’s latest flagship GPU, the RTX 5090, has begun to reveal its performance through early benchmarking, and the results are stirring mixed reactions. While it certainly delivers improvements over its predecessor, the RTX 4090, the generational leap appears more measured than many enthusiasts anticipated.
Performance Numbers
The RTX 5090 achieved impressive scores in early Vulkan. On Geekbench 5, it posted 367,740 points in the OpenCL test—15% higher than the RTX 4090. Meanwhile, the Vulkan test showed a 37% improvement, with the card scoring 359,742 points. Similarly, in the CUDA API test, the RTX 5090 managed 542,157 points, representing a 27% gain over the RTX 4090’s 424,332 points.
The GPU was also put through its paces in Blender 3.6.0, where it recorded a median score of 17,822.17, making it roughly 36% faster than the RTX 4090’s score of 13,064.17. Even the China-exclusive RTX 5090D showed similar improvements, eclipsing its RTX 4090D counterpart by 40% in the Blender benchmark.
Context and Expectations
These numbers might sound impressive, but they’ve sparked discussions about whether they meet the expectations of a next-generation flagship GPU. The RTX 5090 boasts 32% more CUDA cores than the 4090, so many anticipated a more significant leap in performance. However, the improvements seen, ranging from 15% to 37% across benchmarks, feel relatively modest compared to the bold advancements some were hoping for.
It’s important to note that these scores come from synthetic benchmarks, which don’t always reflect real-world gaming or application performance. A true sense of the GPU’s capabilities will only emerge once gaming benchmarks and comprehensive reviews are released.
What Comes Next
The RTX 5090 is part of Nvidia’s RTX 50 Series lineup, which also includes the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070. The 5090 and 5080 are set to launch on January 30, 2025, with the other models following soon after. Priced at $1,999, the flagship comes with higher expectations not only in performance but also in value for gamers and professionals.
While the early benchmarks highlight decent gains, the real-world applications will decide if the RTX 5090 can justify its hefty price tag. For now, the GPU world waits eagerly to see how this card performs under practical workloads and whether Nvidia can truly redefine gaming and productivity with its latest offering.
