The march of progress grinds on, and NVIDIA’s 50-series of GPUs are upon us, including its $2,000 RTX 5090. While the 5090 is the top dog of GPUs for now, I think it’s appeal to gamers is rather limited. If you’re a professional however, this could be the GPU for you.

The RTX 5090 Is the Fastest GPU in the World

Let’s not beat around the bush: the RTX 5090 is the fastest consumer GPU. Period. If you simply want the biggest, baddest GPU money can buy, then there is only one choice. At least for the time being.

With an MSRP of $2000 and an actual street price well above that, this is a true halo product just like the RTX 4090 before it. Well-heeled gaming enthusiasts have been champing at the bit for a new pinnacle GPU and at first glance this may seem like it fits the bill. Then, if you look more closely, the shine wears off quickly.

It’s a Terrible Upgrade for 4090 Owners

While I haven’t had the chance to try an RTX 5090 in person (NVIDIA, you know where to find me!) there are plenty of great third-party benchmarks on the web that paint a very clear picture of how the 5090 fares against previous cards.

On average, it seems, you’re looking at a 30% bump in performance in core processing power. By and large, this seems to scale in benchmarks compared to the RTX 4090. The price difference, especially if you look at what cards are actually selling for, also scales more or less the same as the performance improvement.

So, if you have a 4090, you are getting a 30% upgrade for a commensurate additional amount of money. However, compare that to the performance difference between the 3090 and 4090, and it’s a dire result.

Have a look at this comparison video by Daniel Owen, and you’ll see that in the heaviest workloads, the 4090 can be twice as fast as the 3090.

So, upgrading from the 3090 to the 4090 was absolutely worth it based on raw performance alone, before you factor in new features such as frame generation. A 30% bump in performance? That’s certainly not worth it for current RTX 4090 owners.

It’s a Great Deal as a Workstation or AI Card

While $2000+ for a GPU is a lot of money to spend on video games, it’s a pittance in the world of professional GPU work. Workstation GPUs are incredibly expensive, largely because of their focus on being precise and error-free, with high-level of aftermarket support. Also, consumer GPUs are generally unsuitable for workstation tasks because they lack VRAM, but cards like the RTX 5090 are packed with the stuff.

If you’re doing AI work, or pre-rendering CG video, then a card like the RTX 5090 is an absolute bargain. Basically, if you use a GPU to make money, and you don’t actually need the various assurances that come with a workstation card, then the 5090 is worth it. Why? Because when time is money, finishing a job 30% faster is a big advantage.

Gamers Are Better Off Picking Up a Last Gen Deal

If you currently own a 4090, sticking with it for another generation or two is the most sensible thing to do. While NVIDIA’s multi-frame generation technology is cool, if you own a card like the 4090 you don’t actually need it. Just regular frame generation is more than enough given that your base frame rates will already be quite high.

If you have an RTX 3090 or older card, it also doesn’t make sense to buy an RTX 5090. That’s because you can likely get a deal on a 4090, used or new, which will boost your performance immensely. The additional money you have to pay for another 30% on top of that just wouldn’t make sense from a dollar-per-frame standpoint.