NVIDIA released the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 on October 11th, 2022. As I said back then, the RTX 4090 was the only GPU that I considered a 4K GPU. It was also a GPU I highly recommended getting, especially if you were gaming at both 1440p and 4K. So, it’s time now to see how that GPU ran all the games that came out these past two years.

For the following graphs, I used the framerates from our PC Performance Analysis articles. I won’t be linking to each one of them. If you are interested in any of them, you can find them in the PC Performance Analysis section.

I should also note that I only included our non-RT benchmarks. This means that games using Lumen are not included. As I’ve said numerous times, Lumen is a form of Ray Tracing. And, for those wondering, I never claimed that the RTX 4090 was capable of running RT games at Native 4K. You have to be nuts or an idiot to expect something like that, even for the RTX 4090. The only RT games I included are Ubisoft’s Avatar and Star Wars Outlaws. These games use a “lite” software-based RT solution that works on all GPUs.

Since October 2022, we have had 53 major titles. Now when I’m saying “major titles”, I mean those that we’ve covered. Also, since most fighting games are locked at 60fps, I did not include Tekken 8 or Mortal Kombat 1. Both of them have no trouble running at 4K/60fps on the RTX 4090.

Let’s start with the first graph. From these games, only A Plague Tale: Requiem, Dead Space Remake and The Callisto Protocol had minimum framerates around 60fps. A Plague Tale: Requiem was a graphical powerhouse when it came out. That game was released alongside the RTX 4090. So, right from the get-go, we had a game that could push NVIDIA’s high-end GPU. As for The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space Remake, those minimum framerates were due to the stuttering issues from which they suffered.

In the next graph, we see two games that dropped below 60fps. Those were The Last of Us Part I and Starfield. Both of them had some optimization issues at launch. Their latest versions run better these days on all available GPUs, and yes the RTX 4090 can actually run both of them with 60fps at 4K.

In the third graph, we see Cities Skylines 2 and Avatar dropping below 60fps. Regarding The Crew Motorfest, it is locked at 60fps. The RTX 4090 had no trouble at all running Ubisoft’s open-world racing game. As I’ve said, Avatar uses a “lite” RT solution so I can see why it drops below 60fps. As for Cities Skylines 2, that was THE worst optimized PC game of 2023. It was a broken mess, so no wonder it performed horribly.

In the final graph, we see Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown and Final Fantasy 16 dropping below 60fps. Alan Wake 2, which by mistake was not included in the charts, was also dropping below 60fps at Native 4K/Max Settings without RT. Both FF16 and Alan Wake 2 look gorgeous. So, in a way, the justify their GPU requirements. As for Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown, that game had optimization issues when it came out. It also did not justify its visuals.

What’s also interesting is the 4K performance of the RTX 4090 on UE5 games. The reason I’m saying this is because a lot of studios have switched to Unreal Engine 5, and most of them use Lumen and Nanite. Lumen is quite demanding but thanks to DLSS 3, the RTX 4090 can still push over 60fps at 4K. This is possible in some of the best-looking UE5 games, like Black Myth: Wukong, Hellblade 2 or Silent Hill 2 Remake. Hell, you can even enjoy Path Tracing at 4K with DLSS 3.

And that is that. Even to this date, the RTX 4090 has no trouble at all pushing high framerates at 4K. I know that NVIDIA is about to announce its RTX50 series but as I said two years ago, there is no reason to upgrade to it if you own an RTX 4090.

In July 2023, I said that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 was one of the best purchases you could make in 2022. And now, one year later, I stand by that statement. And things get even better if you game at 1440p. As said back then.

“However, the RTX 4090 won’t become obsolete when the RTX 5090 comes out. Given the power of the current-gen consoles, we can safely assume that the RTX 4090 will last you FOR A LONG TIME, especially if you game at 1440p/60fps.”

Realistically, the RTX 4090 may get you another four years of high-end gaming at 1440p. So, in total, we’re looking at 6 years. That’s on Ultra Settings with 60fps. And, if you use DLSS 3, you might extend that to one/two more years.

Let’s also not forget one crucial thing. While we may still get some games that will push the PC graphical boundaries, most of the upcoming games will have to run on the PS5 and Xbox Series X. These consoles are leagues below the RTX 4090. So, until the PS6 comes out, owners of the RTX 4090 will have nothing to worry about.

And believe me, I get it. Some may be jealous of the RTX 5080 or RTX 5090. But this is mostly a “FOMO” thing. If you have an RTX 4090, there is no reason at all to upgrade. Your GPU won’t become obsolete. You won’t be VRAM-limited. You’ll still be able to enjoy all the latest games with all their bells and whistles enabled. And you’ll still be able to get high framerates.