NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
Side-by-side benchmark comparison, specs, pricing, and value analysis.
Benchmark Comparison
Gaming figures are average frames per second, measured by Tom's Hardware GPU hierarchy. Geometric mean of 15 games, ultra settings, no upscaling. Ray tracing figures are DXR-enabled at 1440p. A dash means the card was not tested at that resolution. Productivity and Steel Nomad are synthetic scores on their own scales and are not comparable to the fps columns.
Specifications
| Spec | GeForce RTX 5090 | Radeon RX 7900 XT |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 32GB GDDR7 | 20GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 1792 GB/s | 800 GB/s |
| Shaders | 21760 | 5376 |
| Boost Clock | 2407 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| TDP | 575W | 300W |
| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | RDNA 3.0 |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 14,480 | 5,616 |
| Best Price | $1,999 | $680 |
| Value Score | 28/100 | 56/100 |
Verdict
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is faster but costs more. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT offers better value for money. Your choice depends on budget vs. performance priority.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 vs AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT: Which Should You Buy?
This is not a close race. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 delivers 170.5 fps at 1440p ultra to the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT's 125.9 fps, a 35% gap. Only pick the slower card if it is dramatically cheaper or you need it for a lower resolution.
You pay a 194% premium for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 ($1,999 against $680) to get 35% more frames. The extra frames do not keep up with the extra cost — the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT is the better value here.
Two things beyond raw speed: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 carries 32GB against 20GB — the deciding factor at 1440p and above with ray tracing or texture packs, and the reason 20GB cards age badly; and the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT draws 275W less (300W versus 575W), which can mean a smaller PSU and a quieter case; and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is 3 years newer (2025 versus 2022), so it gets longer driver support and newer upscaling and frame generation features.