RTX 5090 or RTX 4090?
Both are dedicated, both are monthly, both open without an identity check. What separates them is memory, bandwidth and $142 a month — and which of those matters depends entirely on what you intend to run.
- $335/moRTX 5090, one card
- $193/moRTX 4090, one card
- 32 vs 24 GBmemory per card
- 1.8×bandwidth gap
The short answer
Which one, and when
- Pick the RTX 5090
- when your model needs more than 24 GB on a single card. That is a threshold, not a preference — below it, the extra $142/month buys you nothing.
- Pick the RTX 4090
- when 24 GB holds your model. It saves $142/month, and memory you do not use is memory you paid for.
- Neither, if
- your model does not fit on a single card of either. Sharding costs synchronisation at every layer — see the interconnect guide before buying a multi-GPU node.
Side by side
| RTX 5090 | RTX 4090 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Blackwell | Ada Lovelace | Blackwell is newer |
| Memory per card | 32 GB GDDR7 | 24 GB GDDR6X | 8 GB in favour of the RTX 5090 |
| Memory bandwidth | 1,792 GB/s | 1,008 GB/s | 1.78× in favour of the RTX 5090 |
| Form factor | PCIe add-in card | PCIe add-in card | Same |
| Node sizes | 1×, 2×, 4×, 8× | 1×, 2×, 4×, 8× | Up to 256 GB in one node |
| From, per month | $335 | $193 | $142/month apart |
Price at every node size
| Node | RTX 5090 | RTX 4090 | Total VRAM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 × GPU | $335/mo | $193/mo | 32 GB / 24 GB | RTX 5090 RTX 4090 |
| 2 × GPU | $692/mo | $416/mo | 64 GB / 48 GB | RTX 5090 RTX 4090 |
| 4 × GPU | $1,345/mo | $814/mo | 128 GB / 96 GB | RTX 5090 RTX 4090 |
| 8 × GPU | $2,584/mo | $1,579/mo | 256 GB / 192 GB | RTX 5090 RTX 4090 |
What each one holds on a single card
At 8k context, best precision that fits. This is the difference that decides a purchase — not the specification sheet.
Only the RTX 5090
Nothing. Every model the RTX 5090 holds on one card, the RTX 4090 holds too — the difference between them is speed, not capability.
Only the RTX 4090
Nothing. The RTX 5090 holds everything the RTX 4090 does.
Cost per GB and per TB/s
Two ratios that cut through the specification sheet. The first tells you what memory costs; the second what speed costs.
| Card | $/GB of VRAM, per month | $/TB per second, per month | Better at |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTX 5090 | $10.47 | $187 | Bandwidth |
| RTX 4090 | $8.04 | $191 | Memory |
These ratios rank cards; they do not choose one. A card that is cheaper per gigabyte is worthless if it has too few gigabytes to hold your model at all — capacity is a threshold, not a slope. Use them to break a tie between two cards that both fit.
RTX 5090 against RTX 4090, in short
Is the RTX 5090 worth the extra money over the RTX 4090?
Which one is faster for LLM inference?
Do both come as multi-GPU nodes?
Can I rent either without an identity check?
Other comparisons
Both are racked and waiting, in all 6 data centres.
Whichever you pick, it is monthly, paid in crypto, opened without an identity check and delivered in under 5 minutes.