Nvidia surprises with a limping comparison between the two current generations.
The market launch of the RTX 50 generation was accompanied by some problems.
In addition to the still persistent lack of availability, some technical abnormalities have also become public that, for example, amount to missing rops (render output units) or the recurring topic of the melting plugs.
As part of the current Game Developers Conference 2025 (GDC), Nvidia, on the other hand, draws a much more positive picture of the launch. In the first five weeks after the RTX 5000 market launch, the company sold twice as many units as for the previous generation.
The comparison lags in several places.
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Exclusive: Nvidia speaks plainly about RTX 50 problems and the future of gaming
RTX 5000 vs. RTX 4000: Launch under different signs
The specified values on the film, which first from the portal Tom’s Hardware have been published, refer to the first five weeks after the release of the first generation of the respective generation.
- At Ada Lovelace, this was the RTX 4090, which saw the light of day on October 12, 2022.
- The current Blackwell generation, on the other hand, made their debut with two models in the form of the RTX 5080 and RTX 5090: Both versions were launched on January 30, 2025.
The release day already shows the actual problem of the NVIDIA comparison, which is even more significant on closer inspection: In the context of the RTX 50 generation, more models were simply brought onto the market in the first five weeks. Since then, the RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti have also been added; The RTX 5060 (Ti) should also follow shortly.
In the first five weeks after the release of the RTX 4090, on the other hand, a model was in the sales shelves in the first five weeks after the release: the RTX 4090. By chance, the RTX 4080 appeared exactly five weeks after the Ada Lovelace flagship, which gives the choice of the comparison period a thread.
Nvidia represents the ratio between RTX 5000 and RTX 4000.
RTX 5000 vs. RTX 4000: The context is also different
The most important factor for the higher sales figures should therefore be the simple fact that much more selection was available (actual availability or not).
Another circumstance that Nvidia deliberately ignores at this point are missing evasive models towards the predecessor. Because in the months before the RTX-5000 launch, the manufacturer gradually shut down the production of the RTX-4000 generation:
In the first weeks and months of the RTX 4090, on the other hand, this was not the case: almost the entire range of the previous ampere generation was at least officially available, so that players could easily switch to the predecessors when it comes to disinteresting on the ADA flagship-which is not possible for the current Blackwell generation.
Nvidia remains guilty of concrete numbers or even a real comparison between the sales figures for the RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 at the time of the article.
