RTX 5090 vs 4090 - Quest 3 Virtual Reality Performance Review

The video compares RTX 5090 and RTX 4090 performance in virtual reality using the Quest 3 headset, focusing on whether the 5090 delivers meaningful gains despite its often-criticized 4K flat-screen results.

Key findings:

Test setup (1:01): The system uses a 7950X3D, 64 GB of DDR5, and a Quest 3 running Virtual Desktop on Godlike quality, tested at 100%, 200%, 300%, and 400% SteamVR supersampling.
Unexpected VR performance (0:21): While flat-screen benchmarks show roughly a 30% average uplift over the 4090, the RTX 5090 can deliver a jump similar to the 3090-to-4090 upgrade in VR, and in some titles at high supersampling it performs far beyond that.
Project Wingman (4:47): At 200% resolution, the 5090 is 33–38% ahead. At 300%, the lead grows to about 51% in average FPS and 44% in 1% lows. At 400%, the 5090 averages 77 FPS—around 73% faster than the 4090—turning the game from borderline unplayable to comfortably playable on the 5090.
Skyrim VR (7:59): Gains are smaller at lower resolutions (about 22–24% at 100%, 28–34% at 200%), but the 5090 consistently hits stable 90 FPS where the 4090 struggles. At 300% and above, the 5090 pulls ahead by roughly 47–53%, while the 4090 becomes VRAM-limited at 400% (9:44).
Metro Awakening (10:26): This title shows some of the most dramatic results. At 200% resolution, the 5090 averages 109 FPS while the 4090 falls below 45 FPS, with the 5090’s 1% lows roughly three times higher. At 300%, the 5090 reaches about four times the 4090’s performance (11:46).
Riven (13:31): At 200%, the 5090 holds a 70 FPS average versus the 4090’s sub-50 FPS. At 300%, the 5090 is over 50% faster, and when comparing 5090 at 400% to 4090 at 300%, the 5090 still maintains more than a 20% lead (14:26).
Kayak VR (14:49): The 5090 handles MSAA at high resolutions extremely well. At 200% with MSAA, it is nearly twice as fast as the 4090. At 300% with MSAA, the 5090 averages 79 FPS, while the 4090 manages only 34 FPS (16:16).
Outer Wilds VR Mod (17:57): At 200% resolution, the 5090 maintains close to 120 FPS, roughly a 40% advantage over the 4090. At 400%, the 5090 stays playable at around 73 FPS, while the 4090 cannot maintain even 45 FPS (19:00).
Red Matter 2 (19:45): Like Metro Awakening, the 4090 “hits a wall” at higher resolutions. At 300%, the 5090 becomes Hertz-limited, with extremely strong 1% lows (20:50). At 400%, its 1% lows are nearly three times higher than the 4090’s, resulting in much smoother gameplay (21:21).
VRChat (22:15): The 5090 shows impressive resistance to MSAA performance penalties compared to the 4090, especially above 200%. At 300% with no AA, the 5090’s 1% lows are about twice those of the 4090 (25:05).

Why the 5090 scales so hard at high resolutions (25:34):

The primary driver of the 5090’s massive high-resolution VR gains is its much higher memory bandwidth. While its raw compute performance is only about 20–30% higher than the 4090’s, memory bandwidth jumps by nearly 80% (1.79 TB/s vs. 1.01 TB/s) (26:02). At lower resolutions like 4K, the GPU is compute-limited, so bandwidth doesn’t help as much. In “omega high-resolution” VR—often three to four times 4K—the workload becomes bandwidth-bound, allowing the 5090 to fully exploit its faster memory and feed its cores far more effectively.

Conclusions (28:36):

Value for enthusiasts: The RTX 5090 delivers the most value for users with high-end headsets running extreme resolutions (Pimax Crystal, Varjo Aero, or next-gen devices like Crystal Super) (29:02). In these scenarios, 40–50% gains are common, and in titles such as Metro Awakening or Red Matter 2 performance can double or even triple, making the 5090 a genuine “savior” for ultra high-res PCVR (30:49).
Limited value for lower-resolution headsets: For devices like the Quest 3 at its default ~3K×3K per-eye resolution, performance gains are closer to flat-screen results (around 25–35%), so an upgrade from a 4090 is harder to justify (29:12).
Early adopter tax (32:43): The 5090 currently suffers from issues with certain headsets and drivers, including display glitches, frame pacing problems, and game compatibility bugs, plus reports of cards being bricked by driver updates (33:48). The creator recommends caution and notes that buyers are paying an “early adopter tax” until drivers and firmware mature.