ComputerBase Tests 28 GPUs: 4K Surprises & The 8GB VRAM Struggle is Real

The experts at ComputerBase have wrapped up a massive comparison of current gaming graphics cards, putting 28 models from NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel through their paces in 15 modern titles. The June 2025 results delivered several surprises.

At 1440p (WQHD) without ray tracing, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 holds the absolute lead. The new flagship outperforms last-gen's RTX 4090 by roughly 16% and beats the junior RTX 5080 by a significant 35%. Interestingly, AMD's previous top card, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX, landed just 2% behind the new RTX 5070 Ti and even managed a 4% lead over Team Red's own latest RX 9070 XT.

The tests confirmed VRAM issues plague entry-level cards. Models with 8GB of memory — including the new RTX 5060 and RX 7600 — were deemed insufficient for smooth gaming in recent AAA titles even at Full HD due to constantly hitting the VRAM wall. For 1080p gaming, experts now recommend a minimum of 12GB.

Only high-end cards can reliably hit 60 FPS at Ultra HD (4K). In this segment, the RTX 5090 retains its leadership, while AMD's best showing came from the RX 7900 XTX. Notably, the RTX 5070 Ti and RX 9070 XT delivered remarkably similar 4K performance, despite their different market positioning.

Experts emphasize that native 4K rendering is becoming somewhat pointless. DLSS 4 (NVIDIA) and FSR 4 (AMD) in Quality mode deliver better visuals and higher FPS than "pure" native 4K rendering. However, FSR 4 is currently exclusive to the latest RX 9000 series, while DLSS 4 works across all RTX 4000/5000 cards (though with varying results). The full report includes testing across resolutions, with ray tracing enabled, and a deep dive into upscaling tech. All results are based on systems using an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor.