NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins 7 of 9 benchmarks, averaging 243.3% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Stable Diffusion XL, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 leads by 404% (4.18 vs 21.08 images/min); the closest fight is Qwen3 4B (153% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 runs 7 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 3, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 148.46 | 375.6 | -60% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 98.34 | 268.14 | -63% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 0 | 149.75 | n/a |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 0 | 71.15 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 4.18 | 21.08 | -80% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 0 | 10.725 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 2.036 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 11GB | 32GB |
| Transistors | 18,600M | 92,200M |
| Die size | 754 mm² | 750 mm² |
| Transistor density | 24.7 M/mm² | 122.9 M/mm² |
| Architecture | Turing (TU102) | Blackwell (GB202) |
| Memory bandwidth | 616 GB/s | 1792 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 1,545 MHz | 2,407 MHz |
| TDP | 250 W | 575 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,199 | $1,999 |
| Release | 2018-09-20 | 2025-01-30 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition or NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 7 of 9 benchmarks in our suite with an average 243.3% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition has 11GB VRAM and a 250W TDP, while NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has 32GB VRAM and a 575W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 fits 7 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition. A model that exceeds VRAM doesn't run slower, it doesn't run at all, so the card that fits the model wins that workload outright.
- Where is the biggest performance difference between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090?
- Stable Diffusion XL: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 leads by roughly 404% (4.18 vs 21.08 images/min) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition full review · NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings