RTX 5090 laptop GPU disappoints vs RTX 4090 laptop in 25-game benchmark
We found out in our analysis of the RTX 5090 laptop and the RTX 5080 laptop GPU that the boards bring a good performance lead over their last-gen counterparts in synthetic tests. For instance, the RTX 5090 laptop performs up to 20% better than the RTX 4090 laptop in the 3DMark test suite. However, this synthetic performance doesn’t really translate to gaming in the case of the RTX 5090.
Where the RTX 5090 laptop was 20% faster than the RTX 4090 laptop at 4K in individual games like Cyberpunk 2077 2.2 Phantom Liberty in our testing, the new GPU reportedly has no advantage over the RTX 4090 when we look at the bigger picture.
Jarrod’sTech’s 25-game benchmark shows that the RTX 5090 laptop and the RTX 4090 laptop perform largely the same.
Before we move on to discuss the actual performance, it is important to mention that we are overlooking the 1080p results. At lower resolutions like 1080p, CPU performance becomes much more of a factor, which makes ascertaining the actual GPU performance rather difficult.
RTX 5090 laptop vs RTX 4090 laptop at 1440p and 4K
At 1440p, the RTX 5090 laptop GPU is a disappointing 0.6% faster than the RTX 4090 laptop GPU. This incudes the RTX 5090 laptop's strangely bad Red Dead Redemption 2 result. Even without the Red Dead Redemption 2 score, the RTX 5090 laptop shows an equally bad 1.6% lead over the RTX 4090 laptop GPU.
The difference in gaming performance between the RTX 5090 laptop and the RTX 4090 laptop isn’t much better at 4K. Both laptop GPUs perform roughly identically, as JT’s testing shows just 3% better performance for the RTX 5090 laptop GPU. This is with the Red Dead Redemption 2 in the mix. However, just like 1440p, it won’t do the RTX 5090 laptop much good even if we remove Red Dead Redemption 2 from the comparison.
Looking at the frame rate, the RTX 5090 laptop GPU plays the 25 tested games at 66 FPS on average at 4K. The RTX 4090 laptop is virtually identical at 64.5 FPS. The 1440p numbers also paint a similar picture, as the RTX 5090 laptop GPU and the RTX 4090 laptop GPU perform the same at 107 and 106 average FPS, respectively.
In the end, the only things the RTX 5090 laptop GPU has going for it are the 24 GB VRAM, better efficiency, and DLSS Multi-Frame Generation (MFG). But it is unlikely that someone who is splurging more than $3,000 or $4,000 for a top-of-the-line gaming laptop is going to be concerned about efficiency that much. People who pay top dollar for flagship gaming laptops expect the best performance.
So, if you aren’t planning to utilize MFG and don’t have any use for 24 GB of VRAM, last-gen RTX 4090 gaming laptops are clearly the better buy.
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