NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation, AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 wins 8 of 12 benchmarks, averaging 48.8% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen3 32B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 leads by 71% (44.28 vs 25.88 tok/s); the closest fight is Z-Image Turbo (25% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation runs 10 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 8, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 260.54 | 170.72 | +53% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 171.29 | 103.18 | +66% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 95.12 | 56.66 | +68% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 44.28 | 25.88 | +71% |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 16.28 | 12.74 | +28% |
| Z-Image Turbo images/min | 7.425 | 5.925 | +25% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 0 | 1.286 | n/a |
| FLUX.1 Kontext dev images/min | 0 | 0.793 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| LTX-Video (distilled) frames/s | 4.7 | 3.23 | +46% |
| Wan 2.2 5B (720p) frames/s | 0.43 | 0.32 | +34% |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is faster on 4 of 4; NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24-frame storyboard | 5 min | 5.1 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.03x faster |
| 60-second AI short film | 7.9 min | 9.5 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.19x faster |
| Full codebase review | 10.5 min | 17.6 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.68x faster |
| 10 short social clips | 22.7 min | 27.9 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 1.23x faster |
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 | NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24GB | 32GB |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1008 GB/s | 576 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,520 MHz | 2,550 MHz |
| TDP | 450 W | 250 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,599 | $4,000 |
| Release | 2022-10-12 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 or NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 8 of 12 benchmarks in our suite with an average 48.8% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 has 24GB VRAM and a 450W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation has 32GB VRAM and a 250W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation fits 2 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. 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 4090 and NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation?
- Qwen3 32B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 leads by roughly 71% (44.28 vs 25.88 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 full review · NVIDIA RTX 5000 Ada Generation full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings