Whether you call that a win or not will depend on your refresh rate. People with 4K monitors that have a 60-Hz refresh rate will probably be happy with most of this, but I can imagine that some people with 120-Hz screens will need to adjust settings to stay above 100 fps consistently. It certainly feels like true 4K gaming at the highest end is still not entirely achievable with current hardware, at least without the help of technology like frame generation that sidesteps the issue.

My main gaming monitor is a 1440p ultrawide with a 120-Hz refresh rate, and I know that 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 experience, on a single display, that easily handles two windows for non-game work.

Chart screenshot courtesy of Brad Bourque

It’s safe to expect 90- to 120-fps performance across most games at this resolution, which is great news for gamers looking to max out their existing monitor. Single player, cinematic heavy 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 games and shooters like Marvel Rivals runs smoothly without much help, and it’s probably more important to have consistent framerates in those games.

Is it worth it to you?

Anyone considering the RTX 5090, the Founders Edition or otherwise, really needs to consider their budget first. The FE version of the card will set you back $2,000 if you buy it directly from Nvidia, and the partner cards with overclocking and liquid cooling are likely to be even more expensive. You’ll also need to spend around $1,000 for a monitor that really takes advantage of your newfound graphics power, and possibly a new 1,000 watt or 1,200 watt PSU. That means you could be looking at a $3,500 bill before you have any other parts, and regardless of performance, I have trouble imagining starting such a build.

Photo: Brad Bourque

The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 will hit the market at the end of January, with more budget-friendly cards arriving soon after. Without spending time with the other RTX 50 series cards, I can’t speak to their relative performance, but I do know their price tags look much more attractive. I expect these cards to support multiframe generation out of the box, which is great news if you just want to sit down and see smooth gameplay.

Previous Founders Edition releases didn’t stay in stock for long, so you might have to wake up early on the 30th to get one of these if you want one. The whole situation makes the RTX 5090 feel less like the top end of the 50 series, and more like a showpiece.

This is the GPU I’d configure while daydreaming about a new rig, not the first part I’d pick in a realistic build on PCPartPicker. If the price tag doesn’t give you a moment of pause, then by all means enjoy your new GPU. For everyone else, I’d wait and see what the rest of the new GPUs look like before jumping.