NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 vs NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation), AI & Machine Learning Comparison
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 wins 6 of 8 benchmarks, averaging 269.2% faster.
Both cards were measured first-party on our bench, same suite, same test rig.
What the numbers say
The gap is widest in Qwen2.5-Coder 14B, where NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 leads by 312% (149.75 vs 36.34 tok/s); the closest fight is Stable Diffusion XL (221% apart); VRAM decides part of this one: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 runs 7 of our 12 AI workloads while the other card runs 6, models that don't fit score zero.
Benchmark results head-to-head
| Benchmark | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3 4B tok/s | 375.6 | 110.18 | +241% |
| Llama 3.1 8B tok/s | 268.14 | 66.59 | +303% |
| Qwen2.5-Coder 14B tok/s | 149.75 | 36.34 | +312% |
| Qwen3 32B tok/s | 71.15 | 0 | n/a |
| Llama 3.3 70B tok/s | 0 | 0 | n/a |
| Stable Diffusion XL images/min | 21.08 | 6.56 | +221% |
| FLUX.1 dev images/min | 2.036 | 0 | n/a |
| Qwen-Image-Edit images/min | 0 | 0 | n/a |
Whole-job comparison
How long each card takes to finish a complete pipeline, not just one model. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is faster on 1 of 1; NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) on 0.
| Workflow | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | Difference | Cost per run |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full codebase review | 6.7 min | 27.5 min | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 4.12x faster | $0.036 vs $0.092 |
Renting by the hour, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 finishes 1 of 1 cheaper. The quicker card is not automatically the cheaper way to get the work done.
Cost to rent
| Card | Per hour |
|---|---|
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | $0.321 |
| NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | $0.200 |
NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) is 1.61x cheaper per hour. Cheapest on-demand rate we see across RunPod and Vast.
Specifications compared
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 | NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) | |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 32GB | 20GB |
| Architecture | Blackwell (GB202) | Ada Lovelace |
| Memory bandwidth | 1792 GB/s | 360 GB/s |
| Boost clock | 2,407 MHz | 2,175 MHz |
| TDP | 575 W | 130 W |
| Launch MSRP | $1,999 | $1,250 |
| Release | 2025-01-30 | 2023-08-09 |
FAQ
- Which is better for ai & machine learning: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 or NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 performs better for ai & machine learning, winning 6 of 8 benchmarks in our suite with an average 269.2% advantage.
- What are the main hardware differences between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 has 32GB VRAM and a 575W TDP, while NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) has 20GB VRAM and a 130W TDP.
- Does VRAM matter more than speed between NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- For AI, yes, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 fits 3 more of our 12 workloads than NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation). 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 5090 and NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation)?
- Qwen2.5-Coder 14B: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 leads by roughly 312% (149.75 vs 36.34 tok/s) in our testing.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 full review · NVIDIA RTX 4000 (Ada Generation) full review · All AI & Machine Learning rankings