Let’s chat with Paul’s Hardware about Nvidia’s RTX 5090 and more

Hey, did you know there are new Nvidia graphics cards on the way? It’s a pretty big deal. Such a big deal, in fact, that we’re still processing what we saw at CES 2025 (along with a lot of the videos we recorded, sorry).

After Nvidia’s big reveal of the RTX 5090 and other cards, PCWorld’s Adam Patrick Murray pulled his old buddy Paul of Paul’s Hardware aside to chat and get his expert impressions.

There are two shocking things about the RTX 5090. First, it’s a true two-slot card — no 2.5-slot fuzziness — thanks to some remarkable new engineering that shrinks the primary circuit board. That means it’ll fit far more easily into every PC build, though its pass-through cooling fan setup might create some problems with the smallest SFF designs.

Second, the RTX 5090 costs $2,000. A lot of money for a graphics card (and $400 more than the RTX 4090 from two years ago). But it’s also less than a lot of people were expecting, considering the rapid rise in secondary prices for Nvidia cards due to the crypto and AI booms. Frankly, if Nvidia had priced it at $2,500 as many expected, it would still sell every single one it could make.

Paul also takes very particular exception to Jensen Huang’s claim that the less powerful RTX 5070, at a $550 price point, will give you “4090 performance.” Nvidia’s marketing rests on the new card’s more powerful DLSS 4 and AI-powered frame generation… which is undeniably cool, and also undeniably not the same thing as “performance” in the general sense. If all you want is 4K/60FPS in Spider-Man 2, it’s great. If you want 1080p/500FPS in Counter-Strike 2, not so much.

Check out the full video for all the nuanced takes between Adam and Paul, including ways AMD could counter with a win for consumers. And for the latest PC news (and a lot more stuff from CES 2025), be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube.