GeForce RTX 5090 Founder’s Edition Review – Gamer’s Pricey Dream

GeForce RTX 5090 Founder's Edition - DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation Testing

The first game to be checked out couldn't be anything other than Cyberpunk 2077. CD Projekt RED has constantly paved the way forward for NVIDIA technology, first by delivering several ray tracing options at launch, then by adding DLSS Frame Generation (3.0), Ray Reconstruction (3.5), path tracing, and so on. Now, it's time to see how it fares with the new NVIDIA DLSS 4, which the game was the first to implement thanks to Update 2.21.

 

The transformer model costs little in Cyberpunk 2077. Its performance is 94% that of the previous CNN model, so when you have frames to spare, it is well worth keeping. And you do, thanks to the incredible power of the GeForce RTX 5090. With literally everything set to max, path tracing on, and DLSS set to DLAA (native 4K resolution), we're at 120 frames per second.

Moving onto frame times, FLAT shows 6.10% of stuttering time, 6.08% of 'variable FPS', and 87.82% of consistent FPS. More importantly, the game felt smooth as butter.

When it comes to latency, the new transformer model registers a negligible penalty compared to the CNN model. Overall, the latency is roughly the same when you use Frame Generation in Cyberpunk 2077.

Like CD Projekt RED, Remedy was an early proponent of ray tracing, dating back to the release of Control. With Alan Wake 2, they've stepped it up, providing full-blown path tracing with their proprietary Northlight engine.

On the new GeForce RTX 5090 Founder's Edition, the game looks and runs absolutely great. It should be noted that the tested build features multiple improvements over the public build. There's a new Ultra ray tracing preset (which is not currently selectable when using AMD or Intel GPUs), which adds fully ray traced refractions, fully ray traced transparent reflections, and enhances the quality of the fully ray traced indirect lighting. Moreover, this build already includes RTX Mega Geometry, which NVIDIA says helps reduce CPU, GPU, and VRAM usage when ray tracing is enabled and also improves its quality because all raytracing details are now updated with every frame, reducing artifacts.

Even when enabling the new DLSS transformer model in 4K Quality Mode, the average frame rate stayed well above 150 FPS, keeping 92% of the performance registered with the CNN model. However, I do have to say that even the new DLSS model does not completely remove some ghosting trails that can be seen when quickly moving the camera, such as in the embedded video.

There is a tiny bit more stuttering than in Cyberpunk 2077 (8% instead of 6%), but the in-game experience is still very smooth, thanks to the updated Flip Metering.

Once again, the latency does increase a little when switching NVIDIA DLSS 4 to the transformer model, but not to a degree that could be actually felt when playing.

Out of all the games that NVIDIA made available to press members when reviewing the GeForce RTX 5090 Founder's Edition, Marvel Rivals is by far the least taxing. Sure, it is powered by Unreal Engine 5, but it is an arena-based shooter designed for fluidity.

With the new beastly GPU made by NVIDIA, users can reach ridiculous average FPS results even with the game maxed out (including Lumen GI) and DLAA enabled. We're talking over 300 frames, though admittedly, I was strolling in the Practice Range map during the test to achieve consistency. It might be a little lower during more chaotic multiplayer matches, but the experience is nonetheless top-notch and can fully take advantage of the latest high refresh rate displays.

Here, the transformer model stays at 96% of the average FPS registered by the CNN model.

Only 4% of the frame time is reported under stuttering, 4% under FPS variability, and nearly 92% falls under the average FPS label.

With such high frame rates, it's no wonder to see low latency. Here, CNN and transformer models are essentially tied.

BioWare's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, powered by the Frostbite engine, ran fairly well at launch with NVIDIA DLSS Super Resolution and Frame Generation. However, the ray tracing effects were a bit heavy even on an RTX 4090, and Super Resolution had to be dropped down a few notches to make things smoother.

The GeForce RTX 5090 Founder's Edition levels up the whole experience. With DLAA enabled, ray tracing enabled, and the new DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation set to x4, the game broke 250 average frames per second when roaming through Tevinter's Old Town map in an impressive performance display.

Unfortunately, since Dragon Age: The Veilguard was tested with the NVIDIA app Override functionality (the game itself hasn't been updated yet with the new features), I couldn't compare the old CNN model with the new transformer one.

The improved frame pacing also diminishes the stuttering instances. The data shows only 6.56% stuttering time, 3.42% variable FPS, and 90% stable FPS.

NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation does increase latency a little when set to x4 compared to x3 or x2, but the amount is practically imperceptible, whereas the average frame rate benefits of using x4 are vast.

Star Wars Outlaws by Ubisoft Massive is one of the most visually impressive games you could play at this point in time. It's an excellent showcase of the Snowdrop engine and delivers a fantastic rendition of Star Wars.

While not path traced, the game offers multiple ray tracing options, the most expensive of which is RTX Direct Illumination. When I played the game with my RTX 4090 back at launch, I had to disable RTXDI and turn DLSS down to Performance mode. The RTX 5090, however, allowed me to activate DLAA, re-enable RTXDI, and just enjoy Star Wars Outlaws in its peak visual splendor at over a hundred average frames per second.

Out of all the games, Star Wars Outlaws performed the best when measuring frame times. Stuttering was practically non-existent at just 2.43%, with 93% stable FPS and 4.5% variable FPS. It really felt incredible when playing it without all the hitches that I first experienced just a few months ago.

On the flip side, Star Wars Outlaws recorded the worst latency of all at over 80 milliseconds. The controls still felt quite responsive, though, enough for a single player game that doesn't rely on reflex that much.

The best-selling game of 2023, Hogwarts Legacy, is getting a fairly significant tech update. Not only is it adding support for DLSS Multi Frame Generation and the new DLSS 4 transformer models, but the game's iffy default ray tracing (which various mods tried to improve, as you might recall) is being enhanced by the addition of Ray Reconstruction. Moreover, all ray traced reflections are now rendered at a higher fidelity, resulting in more detailed visuals, and the reflections have also been enabled on water bodies, including the Black Lake.

Needless to say, the game has never looked this good. It also runs at very high frame rates, at least when looking at the average FPS. However, the difference between average FPS and 1% Low FPS is huge, particularly for the x4 MFG mode.

In practice, this means there's more stuttering in this game than in any other we've tested for this review. This is confirmed by the FLAT pie chart below - 13% of the frame time is reported under stuttering.

Now, it should be noted that Hogwarts Legacy, just like many Unreal Engine 4 games released at that time, has always been prone to heavy stutters, particularly when roaming within the school itself. This is valid to this day with any configuration, and not even the combination of GeForce RTX 5090 and DLSS Multi Frame Generation can fix that issue. It needs to be resolved from the developer's side. I certainly hope they'll do it for the rumored Definitive Edition.

This wasn't the only issue I encountered with Hogwarts Legacy, which also exhibited noticeable ghosting around the main character's head. The transformer model is an improvement, to be sure, but there's definitely room for further refinements.

When it comes to measured latency, Hogwarts Legacy's latency is around 70ms, which is a similar value to Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2.

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9.5

WCCFTECH RATING

With the release of the GeForce RTX 5090 Founder's Edition, NVIDIA has once again proved why it's the leader in the desktop GPU segment. The new graphics card features potentially groundbreaking new future-facing technologies like RTX Neural Shaders, but even in the here and now, it delivers extremely high performance even when testing the most taxing PC games with the maximum settings. DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation is another great advancement that is sure to keep the upscaler well ahead of the increasing competition, though perhaps the most impactful improvement is the hardware flip metering that greatly improves frame pacing and, therefore, smoothness. Once again, the only real downside is the pricing, which has received a sizable bump over the Ada generation, when the RTX 4090 cost $1,599. If money is no object, though, this is the GPU to get to realize all your 4K@200+Hz path traced gamer's dreams.

Pros

• The GeForce RTX 5090 delivers excellent performance in all tested PC games, even without DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation
• The hardware Flip Metering is a game-changer for how much it improves smoothness
• The RTX Neural Shaders ensure the graphics card will remain relevant for years to come

Cons

• The pricing is unfortunately quite a bit higher than last generation

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