Whether or not you call this a victory will depend on your refresh rate. People with 4K monitors that have a 60-Hz refresh will probably be happy with most of this, but I can imagine some folks with 120-Hz displays will have to tweak settings to consistently stay above 100 fps. It definitely feels like true 4K gaming at the highest end still isn’t quite achievable with current hardware, at least without the help of tech like frame generation that side-steps the issue.
My main gaming monitor is a 1440p ultrawide with a 120-Hz refresh rate, and I know a lot of my friends have gone the same direction. It’s easier to achieve consistently high frame rates, but it’s also a cinematic experience, on a single display, that easily handles two windows for nongaming work.
Chart screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque
It’s safe to expect 90- to 120-fps performance across most games at this resolution, which is great news for gamers looking to max out their existing monitor. Single player, cinematic-heavy games like Cyberpunk 2022 and Star Wars Outlaws are still on the cutting edge of graphical fidelity, so I’m not necessarily frustrated that they have some room to grow, especially when they look so good already. Online games and shooters like Marvel Rivals run smoothly without much help, and it’s arguably more important to have consistent frame rates in those games.
Is It Worth It for You?
Anyone considering the RTX 5090, the Founders Edition or otherwise, should truly consider their budget first. The FE version of the card will set you back $2,000 if you buy it directly from Nvidia, and the partner cards with overclocking and liquid cooling will likely be even more expensive. You’ll also need to spend around $1,000 for a monitor that truly takes advantage of your newfound graphical power, and potentially a new 1,000-watt or 1,200-watt PSU. That means you could be looking at a $3,500 bill before you have any other parts, and regardless of performance, I have trouble imagining starting any build like that.
Photograph: Brad Bourque
The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will hit the market at the end of January, with more budget-friendly cards arriving soon after. Without having spent time with the other RTX 50 Series cards, I can’t speak to their relative performance, but I do know their price tags look a lot more appealing. I expect these cards will support multiframe generation out of the box, and that’s awesome news if you just want to sit down and see smooth gameplay.
Previous Founders Edition releases didn’t stay in stock for long, so you might have to wake up early on the 30th to snag 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.
It’s the GPU I’d configure while daydreaming of a new rig, not the first part I’d select in a realistic build on 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 you leap.