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I’m not here to convince you not to buy an RTX 5000 GPU.
you could spend your money any way you want.
NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 were the first 50-series GPUs to arrive, and the launch has been anything but smooth.
The reasons are, frankly, low-hanging fruit.
NVIDIA’s pricing What happened to MSRP?
NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 GPUs or at least everything except the RTX 5090 were introduced with tempting MSRPs.
A look at prices for the RTX 5080 ($999 MSRP) at Newegg on February 25, 2025.
However, the effect seems to be a lot more pronounced this time around.
Melting power cables Worth the risk?
It didn’t take long after the RTX 5090’s launch for early adopters toreport melted 12VHPWR cables.
Youtuber der8auermade a great analysis video that highlights the issue.
Things start to melt down.
Even high-quality power cables have been spotted melting.
If you want to avoid the problem entirely, skip the RTX 5090 until NVIDIA figures out a solution.
No 32-bit PhysX support Do you enjoy certain well-aged games?
NVIDIA dropping 32-bit PhysX support in its RTX 50-series GPUsisn’t a big deal formostpeople.
A screenshot from Reddit user gingeraffe90 demonstrating their RTX 5080 lacks ROPs.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t a big deal forsomepeople.
Performance suffers significantly, to the point where it’s better to shut down the effects.
Standout titles with PhysX effects includeBorderlands 2,Batman: Arkhamgames, the originalMetrogames, andMirror’s Edge.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE vs. RTX 4090 FE performance in 3DMark.(Image credit: Windows Central | Ben Wilson)
Missing ROPs Is your RTX 5000 GPU complete?
I wonder how many people will never spot the defect.
What happened to quality control?
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE vs. RTX 4090 FE performance in Blender 4.3.0.(Image credit: Windows Central | Ben Wilson)
Mild performance gains Is it worth it if you have an RTX 40-series GPU?
NVIDIA’s RTX 5000 GPUs are more powerful than their direct predecessors.
If that’s all you’re gonna wanna know, go forth and attempt to buy.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 FE vs. RTX 4090 FE performance in Geekbench 6.(Image credit: Windows Central | Ben Wilson)
However, the new GPUs aren’t suited for everyone.
Where your GPU has to work to create one frame, MFG can then create multiple extra frames.
This can significantly improve frame rates in games that support the feature.
Every GPU needs to retire eventually, and upgrading to an RTX 5000 card from a GPU that’s a few generations behind will be a massive improvement.
It wasn’t lying, either.
It just wasn’t upfront with what was going on behind the claim.
With MFG enabled, performance climbed to 228 FPS.
That’s frankly incredible, and I applaud the NVIDIA engineers who cooked it up.
If there’s no major drawback, does it matter how the frames are created?
For now, you’ll need the latest hardware to see those triple-digit frame rates.
Cyberpunk 2077 with Multi-Frame Gen set to 4x and no DLSS scaling.(Image credit: Windows Central | Ben Wilson)
Cyberpunk 2077 with Multi-Frame Gen off and no DLSS scaling.(Image credit: Windows Central | Ben Wilson)
The RTX 5090 is the most powerful GPU on the market today.
