RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Is Nvidia’s Bold Claim True?

At CES 2025, Nvidia boldly claimed that the affordable new RTX 5070 GPU delivers RTX 4090 levels of performance. In case you are unaware, RTX 5070 is priced at one-third of what RTX 4090 costs. So the claim by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is pretty bonkers. In order to dissect the claim, we have compared the Nvidia RTX 5070 with RTX 4090 to draw a definitive conclusion. On that note, let’s begin.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Specs Comparison

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Architecture

Starting with the architecture, the new Nvidia RTX 5070 GPU is based on the cutting-edge “Blackwell” architecture, the same as the RTX 5090. The older RTX 4090 GPU is developed on the “Ada Lovelace” architecture which is over two years old now. RTX 5070 is manufactured on TMSC’s improved 4nm (N4P) process node whereas RTX 4090 is fabricated on TSMC’s 5nm (4N) node.

Currently, there is no information on RTX 5070’s transistor density, but RTX 4090 packs close to 76.3 billion transistors. So far, RTX 5070 looks more advanced on paper, but as we move towards the raw hardware numbers, things start to change.

In terms of streaming multiprocessors (SMs), RTX 5070 has only 48 SMs whereas RTX 4090 packs 128 SMs. Next, RTX 5070 houses 6,144 CUDA cores while the beefy RTX 4090 has 16,384 such cores, almost 3x more than 5070. RTX 5070 comes with 192 5th-gen Tensor cores, but RTX 4090 packs 512 4th-gen Tensor cores.

Finally, RTX 5070 has 48 Ray Tracing cores while RTX 4090 gets 128 RT cores. It’s clear that in terms of raw horsepower, the older RTX 4090 GPU is 2x-3x more capable than the RTX 5070.

During the presentation at CES 2025, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang kept repeating “impossible without AI”. So with AI-powered DLSS 4 features, Nvidia is claiming that RTX 5070 can match the performance of flagship GPUs like the RTX 4090.

However, that’s all AI-driven rendering. In terms of raw specs, the RTX 5070 doesn’t come close to matching the RTX 4090. Let’s now look at the performance numbers to understand the difference between RTX 5070 and RTX 4090.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Performance

The Shader cores on RTX 5070 can deliver 31 TFLOPS of performance at FP32 precision. The RTX 4090 can output up to 83 TFLOPS, again nearly three times more than the RTX 5070. In terms of AI operations, the 5th-gen Tensor cores on RTX 5070 can perform up to 988 TOPS whereas the 4th-gen Tensor cores on RTX 4090 can process 1,321 TOPS.

Here, the credit must be given to the new 5th-gen Tensor cores on RTX 5070 as it uses only 192 cores (vs 512 on RTX 4090) to come within the striking distance of RTX 4090. However, in Ray Tracing performance, RTX 4090 again takes a substantial lead by delivering 191 TFLOPS whereas RTX 5070 does only 94 TFLOPS.

The numbers speak for themselves, but Nvidia is relying heavily on AI-based optimizations to claim that RTX 5070 matches RTX 4090’s performance. Indeed, Nvidia has introduced DLSS 4 this time on all RTX 50 series cards. It brings a groundbreaking Multi Frame Generation feature that “predicts the future” by generating three additional frames and multiplying frame rates by 8x over traditional rendering.

It uses a special AI model, powered by the 5th-gen Tensor cores on RTX 50 series GPUs, to generate additional frames. Apart from that, DLSS 4 replaced a CNN-based model with a Transformer-based neural network for improved upscaling/Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction. And this feature is also coming to older RTX 40, 30, and 20 series cards.

While Nvidia has not disclosed benchmark numbers comparing the RTX 5070 with the RTX 4090, it seems with all the AI-powered features available with DLSS 4, the RTX 5070 may come closer to RTX 4090, in terms of frame rate and resolution improvements. Of course, we will wait for an independent review before drawing a conclusive judgment.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Memory Bandwidth

Now, let’s talk about memory bandwidth. Nvidia RTX 5070 operates on a 192-bit memory bus and features 12GB of ultra-fast GDDR7 VRAM. It clocks a memory bandwidth of 672 GBps. On the other hand, RTX 4090 comes with 24GB of GDDR6X memory, and operates on a 384-bit memory bus, achieving a bandwidth of 1,008 GBps.

Put simply, RTX 4090 has almost 2x faster memory, compared to RTX 5070. And having just 12GB of memory may become a bottleneck in the future for high-resolution games.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Power Consumption and TDP

In terms of power consumption, the RTX 5070 is indeed more power-efficient. It has a TDP of 250W whereas the RTX 4090 can draw power up to 450W. Since RTX 5070 has much lower cores across various units, it uses less power, compared to RTX 4090.

Nvidia RTX 5070 vs RTX 4090: Initial Impressions

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 has an affordable price tag of $549 while the flagship RTX 4090 costs $1,599. After all, the RTX 4090 brings 2 to 3 times more SMs, CUDA, Tensor, and Ray Tracing cores, delivering significantly higher performance. It also has access to a larger and faster pool of memory. To sum up, there is simply no comparison between the RTX 5070 and RTX 4090, as far as the raw horsepower is concerned.

That said, as Nvidia claims, with AI-powered DLSS 4 features such as Multi Frame Generation, and Transformer-based upscaling/ray reconstruction, you might be able to enjoy some games, comparable to that of an RTX 4090 GPU. But keep in mind that game developers must adopt Nvidia’s new AI features in order to leverage the full potential of DLSS 4. All in all, gamers should wait for in-depth gaming benchmarks before jumping the gun.