Nvidia RTX 5000 series vs RTX 4000 series: Which is the better GPU lineup? 

The Nvidia RTX 5000 series made its debut on January 6, 2025, at the CES 2025 event. When introducing the new GPUs, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang claimed that the new RTX 5070 can provide the same performance as the RTX 4090. However, that was only possible due to the power of DLSS 4.

How do the rest of the RTX 5000 series cards compare to the RTX 4000 series? Well, that's what we plan to find in this article. We will analyze the two RTX series and explain which one delivers the better result.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinion.

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Nvidia RTX 5000 series vs RTX 4000 series

The Nvidia RTX 5000 series is the successor to the RTX 4000 series. It is designed on top of the Blackwell architecture, which brought significant improvements to the memory system and the ray tracing performance. On the other hand, the RTX 4000 series is based on the Ada Lovelace architecture, which delivers higher performance-per-watt and better power efficiency.

Here's the complete comparison of the two Nvidia RTX series:

Specs comparison

Nvidia Blackwell vs Ada Lovelace architecture (Image via Nvidia)

Let's begin this comparison with the specs of the Nvidia RTX 5000 series and RTX 4000 series to get a better idea of what's powering them.

Here's the list of GPU specs of the two series:

Specifications	Nvidia RTX 5090	Nvidia RTX 4090	Nvidia RTX 5080	Nvidia RTX 4080	Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti	Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti	Nvidia RTX 5070	Nvidia RTX 4070
Architecture	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace	Blackwell	Ada Lovelace
Shader cores	21760	16384	10752	9728	8960	7680	6144	5888
RT cores	170	128	84	76	70	60	48	46
TMUs	680	512	336	304	280	240	192	184
ROPs	192	176	128	112	128	80	64	64
Base core clock speeds	2017 MHz	2235 MHz	2295 MHz	2205 MHz	2300 MHz	2310 MHz	2160 MHz	1920 MHz
Boost core clock speeds	2407 MHz	2520 MHz	2617 MHz	2505 MHz	2475 MHz	2610 MHz	2510 MHz	2475 MHz
Memory capacity	32GB GDDR7	24GB GDDR6X	16GB GDDR7	16GB GDDR6X	16GB GDDR7	12GB GDDR6X	12GB GDDR7	12GB GDDR6X
Memory bus width	512-bit	384-bit	256-bit	256-bit	256-bit	192-bit	192-bit	192-bit
Memory bandwidth	1.79 TB/s	1.01 TB/s	960.0 GB/s	716.8 GB/s	896.3 GB/s	504.2 GB/s	672.2 GB/s	504.2 GB/s
Manufacturing node	4nm	5nm	4nm	5nm	4nm	5nm	4nm	5nm
Thermal design power (TBPs)	575W	450W	360W	320W	300W	285W	250W	200W

Eager eyes among you may have noticed the lack of the RTX 4060 cards in the list above. We intentionally omitted them since Nvidia has yet to reveal the RTX 5060 series. Apart from that, we have covered the specs of the rest of the GPUs in both lineups.

According to the specs above, the Nvidia RTX 5000 series brings significantly higher shader cores and memory performance compared to the 4000 series, which helps deliver better performance. This is the case with all the GPUs in the RTX 5000 series.

Furthermore, the latest graphics cards are designed on the new Blackwell architecture, bringing even more improvements in the form of higher gen-on-gen performance and better ray tracing capabilities.

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Performance comparison

Nvidia RTX 5080 vs RTX 4080 (Image via Nvidia)

The new Nvidia RTX 5000 series cards, from RTX 5080 to 5070, deliver double the performance over their RTX 4000 series counterparts in games that support the new DLSS 4 technology.

However, the RTX 5000 series GPUs provide only about 10 - 20% more performance in games that don't support DLSS 4 yet, such as Resident Evil 4, Horizon Forbidden West, Far Cry 6, and A Plague Tale.

The only exception is the RTX 5090, which has a 32% higher shader count, and the performance it delivers is also a lot higher. In DLSS 4 titles, this graphics card delivers double the performance of RTX 4090. However, even in non-DLSS4 games, the 5090 still provides around 40 - 50% more FPS.

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GPU size comparison

The Nvidia RTX 5090 (Image via Nvidia)

The most powerful graphics card in the Nvidia RTX 5000 series is a 2-slot card compared to the 3.5-slot design of the RTX 4090 from the 4000 series. The thinner design of the former allows it to be used in small-form-factor (SFF) PC builds.

People who prefer small and compact PCs should lean toward the 5000 series. Besides, the new cards also have a better dual-flow cooling design, which will keep them cooler than the 4000 series in SFF PCs.

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Price comparison

The Nvidia RTX 5000 series pricing (Image via Nvidia)

Here's the price list of all the RTX 5000 and 4000 series GPUs:

Graphics card	Pricing
Nvidia RTX 5090	$1,999
Nvidia RTX 4090	$1,599
Nvidia RTX 5080	$999
Nvidia RTX 4080	$1,199
Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti	$749
Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti	$799
Nvidia RTX 5070	$549
Nvidia RTX 4070	$599

The new RTX 5000 series GPUs are generally cheaper than the RTX 4000 series, except for the RTX 5090. The flagship RTX 5000 series graphics card actually costs 25% more, but then again, it delivers around 40 - 50% more performance.

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Power consumption

Here's how much power each GPU in the RTX 5000 and 4000 series consumes:

Specifications	Nvidia RTX 5090	Nvidia RTX 4090	Nvidia RTX 5080	Nvidia RTX 4080	Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti	Nvidia RTX 4070 Ti	Nvidia RTX 5070	Nvidia RTX 4070
Power Consumption (TBPs)	575W	450W	360W	320W	300W	285W	250W	200W

The new graphics cards consume more power than their predecessors. The RTX 5090 has the highest power consumption rating, and you will surely need a new PSU if you are considering buying one.

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Nvidia RTX 5000 series vs RTX 4000 series: Final thoughts

The Nvidia RTX 5000 series graphics cards deliver more performance while costing slightly less than the RTX 4000 series, except the RTX 5090. The latest GPUs will also perform better in ray tracing, run cooler, and easily fit in most SFF PC builds.

Considering the performance benchmarks provided by Nvidia, we recommend choosing the RTX 5000 series. The only caveat is their higher power consumption.