Whether you call this a win or not depends on your refresh rate. People with 4K monitors with a 60Hz refresh rate will probably be happy with most of this, but I can imagine some people with 120Hz displays will need to tweak the settings to stay above 100fps consistently. It certainly seems like true 4K gaming at the highest level isn’t quite achievable with current hardware yet, at least not without the help of technologies like frame generation that sidestep the problem.
My primary gaming monitor is a 1440p ultra-wide monitor with a 120Hz refresh rate, and I know many of my friends have gone that route as well. It’s easier to achieve a consistently high frame rate, but it’s also a cinematic experience on a single screen that easily handles two windows for non-gaming tasks.
Screenshot of diagram by Brad Burke
It’s safe to expect 90-120fps performance in most games at this resolution, which is good news for gamers looking to get the most out of their current monitor. Single player, heavy cinematic games like Cyberpunk 2022 and Star Wars Outlaws Still on the cutting edge of graphical fidelity, so I’m not necessarily disappointed that they have room to grow, especially when they already look so good. Online games and shooting like Marvel rivals run without much help, and it’s arguably more important to have a consistent frame rate in those games.
Is it worth it to you?
Anyone considering the RTX 5090, Founders Edition or otherwise, should really consider their budget first. The FE version of the card will set you back $2,000 if you buy it directly from Nvidia, and partner cards with overclocking and liquid cooling are likely to be more expensive. You’ll also need to spend around $1000 on a monitor that will really take advantage of your new graphics power, and possibly a new 1000W or 1200W GPU. That means you could be looking at a $3,500 bill before you have any other parts, and regardless of performance, I have a hard time imagining starting a build like that.
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Photo: Brad Burke
The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will hit the market at the end of January, with more affordable cards coming soon. Without spending time with the other RTX 50 series cards, I can’t speak to their relative performance, but I do know that their price tags look much more attractive. I expect these cards to support multi-frame output out of the box, which is great news if you want to sit back and watch some smooth gameplay.
Previous Founders Editions didn’t stay in stock for long, so you might have to wake up early on the 30th to grab one if you want one. This whole situation makes the RTX 5090 look less like a top of the line 50 series and more like a display.
This is the GPU I configure when dreaming up a new rig, not the first part I pick on PCPartPicker in an actual build. If the price tag doesn’t give you pause, then enjoy your new GPU anyway. For everyone else, I’d have to wait and see what the other new GPUs are like before jumping in.
