CES 2025 was filled with all types of techie bulletins, however for me the spotlight was all the brand new graphics playing cards. Nvidia and AMD each performed their arms with next-generation merchandise, with some caveats.
Nvidia actually stole the present, with the GeForce RTX 50 Collection announcement serving as the important thing opening message in CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote speech. AMD was a lot softer in its discuss, with sparse particulars on its new RDNA 4 graphics playing cards, leading to equally sparse enthusiasm.
Let’s go over what we realized from each firms about their GPUs and the place your consideration needs to be in 2025.
The great and the virtually good…
Proper off the bat, right here’s the excellent news for us: We’re undoubtedly getting some new GPUs, beginning with Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 50 Collection. The highest-dog in that group would be the RTX 5090, that includes a staggering 32GB of quick GDDR7 VRAM. In response to Nvidia, it could be as a lot as twice as quick because the outgoing flagship RTX 4090.
Whereas that’s actually spectacular, Nvidia is probably going basing its claims on its DLSS 4 numbers, which characteristic a number of new applied sciences that assist it obtain all this. Chief amongst them is Multi Body Technology, utilizing the facility of AI to achieve larger peaks in efficiency with little to no obvious drawbacks.
Nvidia
Much more spectacular is the declare by Nvidia that the brand new RTX 5070 could have comparable efficiency to the RTX 4090. That’s a daring assertion contemplating that the RTX 5070 could have an MSRP of $549 whereas the RTX 4090 bought with an MSRP of $1,599. (Extra on this later, as as soon as once more AI is an enormous consider these outcomes.)
The excessive finish GPUs — such because the RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5080 — additionally look promising, with each having 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM. The RTX 5080 seems to be half of what the RTX 5090 is, each in {hardware} specs together with its $999 MSRP.
That’s the place the excellent news is. Pricing. The GeForce RTX 5080 has caught with the revamped $999 worth level of its RTX 4080 Tremendous predecessor, a marked enchancment over the unique RTX 4080’s unpopular $1,199.
The RTX 5070 fares even higher at $549, a $50 discount in comparison with the present RTX 4070 Tremendous’s $599 price ticket. Couple with {that a} respectable efficiency enhance and it’s clearly a very good worth for the cash. The RTX 5070 Ti additionally sees a worth drop to $749, which is nice information should you’re procuring within the excessive finish.
However then now we have an outlier within the group: the mighty RTX 5090, which climbed 25 p.c of the RTX 4090’s worth, as much as $1,999. But whereas which may appear steep, early rumors pinned the value of the RTX 5090 at nicely over this quantity. We gained’t know for certain till we evaluate this GPU, however the worth enhance could possibly be justified on paper. Not solely does it characteristic a first-ever 32GB of VRAM in a gaming GPU, however the remainder of the spec sheet additionally reads like a superhero comedian guide. It will likely be a stellar GPU for not simply gaming, however productiveness and different workloads, too.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
The brand new applied sciences embedded inside these GPUs will produce some beautiful video games sooner or later. Nvidia’s neural rendering seems very promising, using the the fifth technology tensor cores. Upgraded RT cores may also have a major influence on ray tracing, one thing that fanatic players have began to seek out virtually needed for probably the most visually pleasing eye sweet.
These demanding applied sciences pair like wonderful wine with DLSS 4 and Multi Body Technology, erasing any FPS efficiency penalties whereas not impacting visuals to a noticeable diploma.
Be aware: Early efficiency numbers needs to be taken with a grain of salt, in fact, as a result of Nvidia is showcasing the likes of DLSS 4 and Multi Body Technology for its new GPUs. We don’t but have the total context of what efficiency can be like throughout most video games, particularly these that won’t assist these new applied sciences.
And the not-so-good…
Whereas Nvidia was busy dropping the mic, Radeon RDNA 4 GPUs had been barely touched on by AMD. Particulars had been amiss in AMD’s presentation, and specs for the brand new merchandise had been onerous to seek out. The excellent news is that we a minimum of have affirmation that GPUs just like the Radeon RX 9070 XT could have 16GB of VRAM and can be coming quickly.
Though the corporate devoted zero air time to the RTX 9070 in its CES keynote, AMD has loads of positives with AI and RDNA 4 that ought to assist its GPUs carry out nicely. FSR 4 can also be a notable expertise that may permit AMD to compete with Nvidia’s DLSS 4, though Nvidia does have a head begin so far as AI tech within the gaming house.
AMD
AMD has acknowledged previously that it isn’t chasing the crown for quickest GPU this technology, as an alternative specializing in the mid-to-entry-high-range GPUs that’ll lead to extra players selecting its merchandise. In flip, this can imply there are extra builders prepared to optimize for his or her GPUs and their bigger base of customers. (AMD has beforehand achieved nicely with RDNA 3 GPUs, such because the Radeon RX 7800 XT, bringing some nice price-performance to the desk within the battle towards Nvidia.)
Whereas the technique is okay, AMD did appear a bit too hush-hush on its new merchandise at CES 2025. Maybe they needed Nvidia to totally play their hand, like asserting their intent to launch the $549 GeForce RTX 5070, a product that competes instantly within the worth vary and market that AMD is focusing on. The RTX 5090, not a lot — except AMD pulls out a shock like they did with the RDNA 3-based Radeon RX 7900 XTX a couple of years in the past.
Nvidia vs. AMD in 2025: The takeaway
There’s little doubt that AMD could have some wonderful GPUs with RDNA 4, however the optics of a high-profile occasion like CES 2025 are additionally necessary. Even Nvidia, with its large income stemming from knowledge facilities and AI, nonetheless gave correct consideration to its gaming merchandise throughout their keynote.
One thing like this could trigger an early mindshare shift with players, since we don’t have particulars other than a couple of footage and sparse info. This fails to construct enthusiasm and solely provides the nod to Nvidia to bulldoze this technology of graphics playing cards for lovers.
Adam Patrick Murray / Foundry
To make sure, other than Nvidia-curated graphs, we don’t know the total particulars of the GeForce RTX 50 Collection and its capabilities. However a minimum of now we have some tough concepts to get enthusiastic about, together with the all-important pricing that dictates what players will finally purchase.
We might’ve appreciated to see extra data from AMD, even a slight point out in its presentation, to offer us a way of what to anticipate. Sadly, AMD actually the dropped the ball. Solely time will inform how a lot it impacts Radeon’s prospects.
