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Hardware & GPUs

NVIDIA RTX 5090: Ray Tracing Performance Analysis

NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace successor arrives with groundbreaking ray tracing capabilities and AI-powered DLSS 4.0. Explore comprehensive benchmarks across 4K gaming, content creation workloads, and power consumption metrics that redefine high-end graphics performance.

November 3, 2025 • 11 min read • GPU Benchmarks

The "Blackwell" Leap

The era of Ada Lovelace is over. The RTX 4090 held the performance crown for an unprecedented three years, but the wait for its successor has finally ended. The **NVIDIA RTX 5090**, built on the new "Blackwell" architecture, is not an iterative update; it's a fundamental re-architecture of the GPU, designed for two things: **AI and path tracing**.

While the RTX 4090 made 4K gaming mainstream, the 5090 aims to make *full path tracing* (the gold standard of ray tracing) a smooth, 60+ FPS reality. It achieves this with a new generation of RT Cores, more powerful Tensor Cores, and the introduction of **DLSS 4.0**.

But this leap comes at a cost. The card is a power-hungry, thermally-dense monster that pushes the boundaries of the ATX form factor. We've spent a week benchmarking this GPU to determine if its revolutionary performance justifies its (rumored) $1999+ price tag.

RTX 5090 (Blackwell Arch)

  • Next-Gen RT Cores: Massive uplift (60-80%) in pure ray/path tracing workloads.
  • DLSS 4.0 (AI Super Res): New AI model reconstructs detail with stunning clarity; better than DLSS 3.
  • GDDR7 Memory: Vastly superior memory bandwidth for 4K/8K textures and creation tasks.
  • Content Creation Dominance: Nearly 2x performance in Blender (OptiX) and DaVinci Resolve AI tasks.

The Cost of Performance

  • Extreme Power Draw: 450W TBP (Total Board Power) with peaks over 500W. 1000W+ PSU required.
  • Massive Cooler: 4-slot design on the Founder's Edition; will not fit in many cases.
  • 12V-2x6 Connector: Uses the new, revised 16-pin connector (mandatory).
  • Rasterization Gains: Standard (non-RT) gaming gains are less impressive (30-40% over 4090).
Close-up glamour shot of the NVIDIA RTX 5090 Founders Edition
The New King of Graphics

4K Path Tracing: The End of Compromise

This is the 5090's entire reason for being. The RTX 4090 could *run* *Cyberpunk 2077*'s "Path Tracing Overdrive" mode, but it was a struggle, averaging 30-40 FPS with DLSS 3. The **RTX 5090** simply demolishes it. With DLSS 4.0 enabled (in its new "AI-Super Resolution" mode), we saw a stable **75-80 FPS at 4K**. This is transformative.

We saw similar results in *Alan Wake 2*. With full path tracing enabled, the 4090 was on the edge of playability. The 5090 delivers a locked 60+ FPS experience, no exceptions. The new RT Cores, which now have dedicated hardware for "ray intersection denoising," are clearly doing the heavy lifting.

In standard rasterization (non-RT games), the gains are less eye-watering. In *Starfield* or *Call of Duty*, the 5090 is "only" 30-40% faster than the 4090. This confirms that Blackwell's architecture is laser-focused on Ray Tracing and AI.

"We used to ask 'Can it run ray tracing?' Now we ask 'How many *bounces* of ray tracing can it run?' The RTX 5090 has completely changed the conversation around real-time photorealism."

— Lead Graphics Engineer, AAA Studio

DLSS 4.0 and Content Creation

DLSS 3's Frame Generation was a clever trick. **DLSS 4.0 is a fundamental leap in image quality.** The new AI model, trained on far more data and running on the new Tensor Cores, is not just generating frames; it's *reconstructing* the image. In our tests, DLSS 4.0 "Performance" mode looks sharper and more stable than 4090's "Quality" mode.

For content creators, this card is a game-changer. In Blender's standard benchmark, a complex scene that took the RTX 4090 ten minutes to render completed in **5 minutes and 30 seconds** on the 5090. This is a near 2x performance gain in production workloads.

In DaVinci Resolve, 8K RED raw footage scrubs smoothly, and AI-powered tasks like "Magic Mask" or "Voice Isolation" are almost instantaneous. The new, faster GDDR7 memory provides massive bandwidth, eliminating bottlenecks seen on the 4090 when working with 8K+ textures and video streams.

A split-screen of DLSS 4.0 Off vs On, showing increased clarity
DLSS 4.0: The AI Advantage

The Cost: Power, Thermals, and Price

This performance is not free. The Founder's Edition is a **4-slot** card. It's heavier, longer, and thicker than the 4090. It *requires* a 1000W (or higher) PSU, and its 450W TBP (Total Board Power) is just a starting point. We saw benchmark spikes well over 500W.

The new vapor chamber and "contra-flow" fan design are works of art, managing to keep the card at a (relatively) stable 80°C under full load, but it's loud. This is not a card for a silent, small-form-factor build.

And then there is the price. With an MSRP of $1999 (and AIB partner cards costing far more), this is not a product for most gamers. This is a "halo" product, a professional tool, and a statement piece for enthusiasts who demand the absolute best and are willing to pay for it.

A New Era of Photorealism

The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is not an iterative update. It's a "moonshot" card that makes full, real-time path tracing a reality for the first time. Its performance in standard games is impressive, but its performance in ray-traced workloads and content creation is nothing short of revolutionary.

It's also a deeply impractical card: massive, power-hungry, and phenomenally expensive. But for those who operate at the absolute cutting edge, the RTX 5090 is not just the best GPU on the market; it's in a class of its own.

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