Whether or not you call this a win will depend on your frame rate. People with 4K monitors that have 60Hz refresh will probably be happy with most of this, but I imagine some people with 120Hz displays will need to tweak the settings to consistently stay above 100fps. It really seems like true 4K gaming at the highest level still isn’t entirely achievable with today’s hardware, at least without the help of technologies like frame generation that sidestep the problem.
My primary gaming monitor is a 1440p ultrawide with a 120Hz refresh rate, and I know many of my friends have gone in the same direction. It’s easier to achieve consistently high frame rates, but it’s also a cinematic, single-screen experience that easily handles two windows for non-gaming work.
We can expect 90-120fps performance on most games at this resolution, which is great news for gamers looking to optimize their existing monitor. Cinema-rich single-player 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 already look so good. Online shooting games and games like Marvel Rivals run smoothly without much help, and it’s arguably more important to have consistent frame rates in these games.
Is it worth it for you?
Anyone considering the RTX 5090, Founders Edition, or otherwise should consider their budget first. The FE version of the card will cost you $2,000 if you buy it directly from Nvidia, and partner cards with overclocking and liquid cooling will likely be even more expensive. You’ll also need to spend around $1,000 on a monitor that actually takes advantage of your new graphics power, and potentially a new 1,000 or 1,200 watt GPU. That means you could be looking at a $3,500 bill before you get any other parts, and regardless of performance, I have a hard time imagining start any construction like that.
The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will hit the market in late January, with more budget-friendly cards arriving shortly after. Without having spent time with the other RTX 50 Series cards, I can’t speak to their relative performance, but I do know that their prices seem much more attractive. I expect these cards to support multiframe generation out of the box, and that’s great news if you just want to sit back and see smooth gameplay.
Previous Founders Edition releases didn’t stay in stock long, so you might have to wake up early on the 30th to pick one up if you want one. The whole situation makes the RTX 5090 feel less like the top of the line 50 series and more like a showpiece.
This is the GPU I would configure when dreaming of a new platform, not the first part I would select in a realistic build. PCPartPicker. If the price doesn’t give you pause, then enjoy your new GPU. For everyone else, I’d wait to see what the rest of the new GPUs look like before jumping in.