NVIDIA is set to launch the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 “Blackwell” GPUs on January 30, 2025. Retailers are expected to remove the ropes at 9 AM EST (or 3 PM CET for our UK readers), at which time Founders Edition and custom cards from hardware partners will be available. How long they’re available remains to be seen, and I expect a vast majority of shoppers to be left empty-handed.
Why the doom and gloom? Rumors and leaks from industry insiders point to severe stock limitations, especially for the RTX 5090. An Overclockers UK staff member, for example, claims the retailer has single-digit numbers for the RTX 5090, while the RTX 5080 sits at just a few hundred units.
The stock shortages are rumored to be at least partly caused by NVIDIA’s launch timing, which coincides with the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival in China and Taiwan. No matter the primary cause, it’s not looking good for enthusiasts who want to land NVIDIA’s most powerful GPU ever made on launch day. My condolences.
With the RTX 5090 coming in at an eye-watering $1,999 for the Founders Edition version — custom cards will vary in price — you might already be looking for some good reasons to forget about the flagship GPU. I’m here to supply those reasons, but I’ll also make a few arguments for buying the RTX 5090. Here’s what you need to know.
3 reasons why you should not buy an NVIDIA RTX 5090
Can’t scrape together enough dough to buy an RTX 5090 on launch day? Have the money but remain unsure if it’s the right GPU for your next PC? I have three reasons not to buy the RTX 5090 that will hopefully help you make the right decision.
The RTX 5090 costs as much as complete gaming PCs
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The main deterrent to the RTX 5090 is undoubtedly the $1,999 MSRP. While I’m expecting to see at least a handful of custom cards undercut the Founders Edition pricing set by NVIDIA, you shouldn’t expect any pricing miracles.
In fact, if the rumored stock shortages indeed turn out to be true, you should expect to pay a lot more than MSRP thanks to the handy work of scalpers. A quick search at eBay shows that RTX 5090 custom cards are already topping out at $7,000 despite no hardware actually being released. Who is buying these?
NVIDIA’s RTX 5080 is only looking slightly better in terms of availability at launch, but at least it only costs half as much as the RTX 5090 at $999 for the Founders Edition. Shoppers will undoubtedly suffer at the hands of scalpers here as well, but it’s expected to be a viable alternative to the 5090 if you don’t mind working with a GPU that’s only slightly less powerful.
If you have $1,999 earmarked for a new GPU and don’t manage to land an RTX 5090 — or are simply hesitant about such a large purchase — be sure to check out how much PC hardware you can cram into a case for about the same price. Something like an AMD Ryzen X3D CPU with a powerful NVIDIA RTX 40-series GPU likely won’t cost much more with some savvy shopping. Heck, you can even find pre-built gaming PCs that will keep you gaming for years to come for less money.
To help those hellbent on getting an RTX 5000 GPU, I’ve compiled a list of retailers and stock to help you buy an RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 on launch day.
DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation could eventually work on older NVIDIA GPUs
NVIDIA isn’t ruling out DLSS 4‘s flagship feature — Multi Frame Generation — coming to older RTX GPUs. How long of a wait to expect, if the process is even possible, remains to be seen. Tom’s Hardware interviewed NVIDIA VP of Applied Deep Learning Research Bryan Catanzaro, in which he states:
“I think this is primarily a question of optimization and engineering and then the ultimate user experience. We’re launching this Frame Generation, the best Multi-Frame Generation technology with the 50 Series, and we’ll be able to see what we squeeze out of older hardware in the future.”
Why is Multi Frame Generation such a big deal? It’s ultimately what allowed NVIDIA to make bold performance claims at its CES 2025 keynote presentation. The RTX 5090’s Tensor cores manage 3,352 TOPS of power for AI acceleration, which dwarfs even the RTX 4090’s 1,321 TOPS. This performance allows RTX 50-series GPUs to leverage AI in a newfound way, significantly boosting framerates in compatible titles.
For example, NVIDIA showed off Cyberpunk 2077 running on an RTX 5090 without Multi Frame Gen enabled. It ran at about 30 FPS. With it enabled, that number climbed to 235 FPS and beyond. That’s … not insignificant. NVIDIA also claimed that the RTX 5070 with DLSS 4 Multi Frame Gen can produce the same results as an RTX 4090 without.
As Senior Editor Ben Wilson explained in his NVIDIA RTX 5090 review, the new card offers around a 33% raw performance increase (without DLSS 4’s new tricks) compared to the RTX 4090, which has an MSRP that’s about 25% lower.
While the RTX 5090 is undeniably more powerful than its predecessor, DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation arriving on RTX 40-series GPUs could be a reality before long. And when it happens, there will undoubtedly be a rush to pick up the older GPUs before they’re gone forever.
Your PC can’t handle the power draw or heat
NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 bumps the TGP up to 575W, an increase of 125W compared to the RTX 4090’s 450W. That also affects the PSU in your PC, which NVIDIA now recommends being at least 1,000W. For most users, putting an RTX 5090 in their PC means upgrades in other areas, which means the $1,999 MSRP is just the start.
There’s also a matter of heat, at least in the Founders Edition card. While I’m expecting custom RTX 5090 GPUs from hardware partners to boost cooling abilities, the Founders Edition version we tested comes with a significant increase in heat compared to the RTX 4090.
Testing with a FLIR camera and the same 3DMark Speed Way stress test, Wilson measured 52.9°C on the RTX 4090 FE and 66.4°C on the RTX 5090 FE. The latter card is, of course, significantly thinner than its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean much if your PC can’t handle the extra heat. If you have a compact build that only just fits the RTX 5090, you might discover before long that it’s not able to keep its cool without a new case or extra fans.
2 reasons why you should buy an NVIDIA RTX 5090
Determined to buy an RTX 5090 on launch day? Don’t care how much it costs? I have three reasons that will help you avoid buyer’s remorse and, perhaps, prove to your significant other why it’s such a good investment.
It’s the most powerful GPU you can buy
If there’s one thing that you can’t take away from the RTX 5090, it’s the fact that it’s the most powerful consumer GPU ever made. Even if you’re only shopping for bragging rights among your enthusiast pals, the RTX 5090 represents a significant hardware update even compared to its RTX 4090 predecessor (previously the most powerful card). Here’s a quick look at the raw specs of the two GPUs.
| Specs | NVIDIA RTX 5090 | NVIDIA RTX 4090 |
|---|---|---|
| CUDA cores | 21,760 | 16,384 |
| Shader cores | ~125 TFLOPS | 83 TFLOPS |
| Ray tracing cores | 318 TFLOPS | 191 TFLOPS |
| Tensor cores | 3,352 TOPS | 1,321 TOPS |
| Boost clock | 2.41GHz | 2.52GHz |
| Base clock | 2.01GHz | 2.23GHz |
| VRAM | 32GB GDDR7 | 24GB GDDR6X |
| Memory bus | 512-bit | 384-bit |
| Architecture | Blackwell | Ada Lovelace |
| TGP | 575W | 450W |
| Recommended PSU | 1,000W | 850W |
| Dimensions | 304mm (L) x 137mm (W) | 304mm (L) x 137mm (W) |
| Slots | 2 | 3 (61mm) |
Hardware specs are one thing, but thanks to Senior Editor Ben Wilson’s hard work testing the RTX 5090, I also have some in-game metrics to share. As mentioned, you can expect about a 33% performance improvement compared to the RTX 4090 in synthetic benchmarks, with about a 25% increase in real-world game testing.
Here’s a look at some comparison charts between the RTX 5090 and RTX 4090.
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There’s not much else to say. If you want the best, you have to get the RTX 5090 no matter the cost. This advice also applies to those shopping for a GPU with next-gen AI capabilities.
With TOPS for AI acceleration nearly tripling that of the RTX 4090’s Tensor cores (3,352 TOPS vs. 1,321 TOPS), the RTX 5090 is a stellar option for pros and amateurs alike working with AI. To put those numbers into perspective, Microsoft’s Copilot+ tools built into Windows 11 require an NPU with just 40 TOPS of power for AI acceleration. The RTX 5090’s 3,352 TOPS from the Tensor cores alone should make it extremely popular in the AI field.
It has all of the DLSS 4 perks on day one
DLSS 4’s Multi Frame Generation is new AI tech exclusive to RTX 5000 GPUs. It’s capable of producing more frames than ever before, and it’s a big reason why NVIDIA can claim that the RTX 5070 is as fast as the RTX 4090 when gaming.
As I explained, DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation could be coming to older RTX GPUs in the future. However, the only assurance I can offer right now is that the RTX 5090 is the most capable GPU for DLSS 4 thanks to the greatly improved power from its Tensor cores. If you’re a fan of cranking up in-game settings to the max and hate seeing framerates dip, the RTX 5090 should be a great GPU for you.
Do keep in mind that the RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5070 are all launching with full DLSS 4 perks, so you don’t necessarily have to spend $1,999 on a new GPU to land the features. The sibling GPUs might not offer the same level of performance, even with DLSS 4 enabled, but they’ll still offer more than enough power for most PC gamers.
What to expect on launch day
If the rumors and leaks I’ve seen surrounding the RTX 5090 launch turn out to be true, a vast majority of potential buyers are going to be left empty-handed. How long might the rumored stock shortage last? It could be weeks. It could be months. It could be years.
NVIDIA is targeting a select cadre of users with the RTX 5090, to the point where it’s sort of bordering on a novelty purchase. My colleague Ben Wilson sums up the current GPU landscape in his RTX 5090 review:
“Bottom line? NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 FE is a monster GPU that’s available at a high price, and unless you’re gaming at 4K or even 8K with thousands of dollars of other hardware on the side, you shouldn’t need to splurge. Something else — even the RTX 5080 at $999 — will be a much better fit for most enthusiast-level gamers. As for professionals, the benefit of the RTX 5090 for AI work is only just being discovered, and it’s otherwise going to satisfy most needs. It’s an expensive card, but if it can speed up your workflow, it will likely pay for itself in a professional environment if you aren’t led astray by scalpers and price gouges.”
Unless you have money to burn or are involved in a specialized field where you can benefit from the massive AI potential, NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 should likely be replaced by an RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, or RTX 5070 on your shopping list.
Keep in mind that AMD’s RDNA 4 GPUs are expected to launch sometime this year — the latest news is March 2025 — though it’s unclear how they’ll compare to NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 cards in terms of performance or price.
