RTX 5090 laptop review claims GPU is a performance dud, but outshines the 4090 in power efficiency | Tom’s Hardware

(Image credit: Nvidia)

New benchmarking figures appear to reveal that the NVIDIA RTX 5090 laptop GPU may not be all that it’s cracked up to be, revealing some disappointing performance figures when compared to the 5090.

The RTX 5090 laptop GPU arrived in late March 2025, but its launch was plagued by several issues, including delayed review units. A few reviews were available soon after the GPU became available, like Tom’s Hardware’s review of the Razer Blade 16, but it took some time for us to see an RTX 4090 vs. RTX 5090 comparison on nearly identical units. Jarrod’s Tech has released a video evaluating two XMG Neo 16 laptops that were equipped with both GPUs, and the results are interesting, to say the least.

The XMG Neo 16 (2024) used an Intel Core i9-14900HX paired with 32 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and an RTX 4090, while the newer XMG Neo 16 (2025) is equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX with 32 GB of DDR5-6400 RAM and an RTX 5090 GPU. Because of these specifications, one would expect the newer laptop to run faster, especially as it has a newer top-of-the-line laptop CPU, faster memory, and the RTX 5090. More than that, the newer GPU uses faster VRAM and has 50% more memory than the RTX 4090. Unfortunately, Jarrod’s Tech’s test results tell a different story.

The YouTube channel tested 24 titles on both laptops and found that the average FPS results between the two GPUs were negligible. The RTX 5090 outperformed the 4090 by just 1.23% at 4K, with the performance gap dropping to just 0.02% at 1440p. And if you prioritize FPS over quality, the older GPU was found to hit a higher average FPS by 0.04% at 1080p gaming. The only silver lining the reviewer noticed is that the RTX 5090 ran cooler and at a lower GPU clock speed than the RTX 4090. This meant that it used less power and allowed gamers to play on battery for much longer.

Even though the MSI Titan 18 HX (another 5090 beast) is the best gaming laptop on the market right now, with the egregious pricing on laptops and GPUs, upgrading to an RTX 5090 is just not worth it yet. Unless you consider yourself an on-battery laptop gamer, need 24 GB of VRAM, or love Nvidia’s Frame Gen tech, you’re much better off getting the slightly older RTX 4090 when it comes to FPS per dollar.

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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.