NVIDIA Unveils Performance Metrics for RTX 5000 GPUs

NVIDIA took CES 2025 by storm with the unveiling of its 50-series RTX graphics cards. Among their impressive claims, the company suggested that the RTX 5070 could deliver performance comparable to the RTX 4090, but at a much lower cost.

Although these assertions hinged heavily on the advanced AI capabilities of DLSS 4, specifics about performance were sparse. This raised eyebrows among PC enthusiasts, many of whom remain skeptical about relying too much on features such as super-resolution and frame generation. Until the event, I was all set on upgrading to the RTX 5070. But after writing an article exploring next-gen Radeon cards, I’m starting to think AMD might be the better choice for my system.

Nonetheless, NVIDIA’s Editor’s Day at CES was informative, shedding light on the native performance of the RTX 5000 series compared to previous iterations. Tom’s Hardware got the scoop, providing great insights into what we can expect from the RTX 5090, 5080, 5070 Ti, and 5070.

As anticipated, NVIDIA’s ambitious performance claims during CES hinged on the new DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation technology. Specific to the innovative Blackwell cards and their improved neural rendering prowess, questions lingered about native performance without DLSS in play.

The RTX 5070, a card that’s likely to attract many buyers with its $549 price tag, has been compared to its RTX 4070 predecessor. These tests, conducted at 1440p with max settings, underscore that without DLSS, the RTX 5070 shows a 20% improvement over the RTX 4070. This percentage stays consistent when DLSS 3 is involved without ray tracing. However, enabling DLSS 4 results in a substantial boost in frame rates, even with full ray tracing.

Considering the RTX 4070’s original $599 price, enjoying a 20% hike in performance along with a price cut makes the RTX 5070 a compelling choice.

Turning to the RTX 5070 Ti, it shows similar performance enhancements when compared to the RTX 4070 Ti. Notably, with DLSS 4, performance in some instances, like with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, jumps to 2.9 times that of the earlier model.

The original RTX 4070 Ti was priced at $799; the RTX 5070 Ti will come in with a $50 reduction.

Focusing on the more powerful cards, NVIDIA shifted to 4K resolution comparisons for the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090. The RTX 5080 improves by about 15% over the RTX 4080 without DLSS. Meanwhile, with DLSS 4, the performance in selected games doubles. Though launching at the same $999 price as its predecessor, the 5080’s advances are not as pronounced as the upgrades seen in the 5070 range.

Finally, the RTX 5090 caps off the comparisons with a 30% uptick over the RTX 4090 in native performance, the most significant leap within this series. However, it arrives with a price tag of $1,999, a 22% increase from the RTX 4090’s launch price. Yet, the enhancements it brings, including improved Tensor Cores, new Streaming Processors, enhanced RT Cores, and a jump to 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM, make it a technological marvel.

With DLSS 4 in play, many are concerned about potential latency issues, given the increased frame generation. But NVIDIA eased these worries by demonstrating how latency dramatically decreases—plummeting from approximately 135ms to 30ms in games like Cyberpunk 2077—with DLSS 4 active.

While NVIDIA has managed to quell some concerns and provide promising insights, only full reviews will tell the whole story of how these new RTX 5000 cards perform in real-world scenarios.