This was the perfect time for AMD to make a flagship GPU
I understand why AMD chose to stick to the mainstream market this time around. But, knowing what I know now, I really wish that it took the leap of faith and made a flagship GPU this time around.
The RTX 5090 was the perfect target
Going into this generation of GPUs, the RTX 5090 seemed like a tough target to beat. We saw the kind of gains Nvidia was able to deliver going from the RTX 3090 to the RTX 4090 — the newer card was up to 89% faster. Many expected Nvidia to do the impossible and deliver a similar performance uplift with the RTX 5090.
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Unfortunately, it didn't. In our review of the RTX 5090, we noted that it was fast, but not twice as fast as the RTX 4090. The gains were there, don't get me wrong, but they were far from as unattainable as what we saw in the previous generation.
Take a look at our benchmark of the RTX 5090. This is based on our test suite of 13 games played at 4K. In this benchmark, the RTX 5090 basically doubles the performance of AMD's last-gen RX 7900 XTX, which was its halo card at the time. The RX 9070 XT, AMD's current-gen top GPU, can't outperform the RX 7900 XTX.
But, let's assume that AMD did make the RX 9090 XT, or XTX, and it tried to target Nvidia this time around. Doubling the performance from the previous generation is no easy feat, but even if we assume that never happened, it'd still be competitive. It'd be a 'shoot for the moon, land among the stars' type of thing, where AMD might not have the firepower to obliterate the RTX 5090, but it could offer a reasonable alternative.
Then, there's the RTX 5080.
Many hoped that the RTX 5080 would beat Nvidia's RTX 4090 at a much more affordable price point. That never happened, though. Our benchmarks show that Nvidia's RTX 5080 trails behind the last-gen flagship. Moreover, it doesn't offer that much of an uplift over its predecessor, the RTX 4080 Super.
There's also a pretty wide gap between the RTX 5090, which averages 119 frames per second (fps) in our test suite, and the RTX 5080, which hits close to 84 fps.
That wide gap is where the (theoretical, mind you) RX 9090 XTX could've landed. And it would've fit perfectly, too.
AMD didn't need to beat Nvidia
Comparing GPUs is never an easy feat. We have to take rasterization, ray tracing, upscaling, pricing, and all sorts of other things into account — and even if AMD made a flagship GPU, chances are that it wouldn't have destroyed Nvidia on every single point.
That's fine. It didn't need to. It'd just have been nice for it to provide an alternative for that in-between segment — the gap between the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080.
AMD itself says that most gamers want mainstream cards, and it's definitely not wrong. There's an argument to be made about the point of enthusiast GPUs and how many of us truly need them. Regardless, though, many people want to own one, and there'd definitely be interest if AMD delivered one in this generation, where the gains in the enthusiast segment weren't as impressive as before.
This generation offered AMD the unique opportunity to beat Nvidia without needing to outperform it. The RX 9090 XT would have to be carefully priced, of course, but I imagine it'd have been well-received. Just look at the success of the RX 9070 XT — the card is universally praised.
The elephant in the room
There's an elephant in the room, though. I'm talking about the recommended list price (MSRP).
I love the RX 9070 XT, but I struggle to recommend it in the current climate, all because it's hardly ever available at MSRP. This problem isn't unique to AMD — the same can be said of Nvidia, and even Intel, which made the one GPU I keep telling people to buy.
Considering that the RX 9070 XT still hasn't dropped back down to its MSRP months after launch, I can imagine a world where the RX 9090 XT would be faced with the same problem. A card that outperforms the RTX 5080 would need to be affordable to bring in enthusiasts. Those are the gamers who usually don't mind spending an extra $200 to get something objectively better, so undercutting would be the name of the game here.
But with neither GPU selling at MSRP, we might be stuck in the same limbo as we are now, except with more options available to us. It's a tricky situation.
Ultimately, AMD doesn't seem to have any plans to launch an RX 9080 XT or an RX 9090 XT (although who knows what the future brings). This is just speculation with a dash of wishful thinking on my part.
The bottom line here is that the stars have aligned, and this was the right time for that impressive AMD flagship to happen. I wish it had, but I am happy with the RX 9070 XT for everything it delivers. Now, my hopes and dreams are centered on RDNA 5, which is said to — once again — aim high.
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