Hold on, space cadets! NVIDIA has descended with the classic nerd debate: Star Wars or Star Trek? But there’s more to it than some random Twitter poll. They’ve set up a literal adversarial fight among GPUs with an unreleased GeForce RTX 5090 in either an X-Wing or in the USS Enterprise. That someone at NVIDIA is a chaos gremlin, fueling the oldest rivalry in the world—I mean, and we are all for it.
What’s the deal behind this? NVIDIA is issuing the May the 4th May The 4th Be With You Star Wars Day challenge that makes you choose your galactic allegiance: with the Rebel Alliance and that sexy X-Wing RTX 5090? Or with Starfleet and ready to bring this rig into warp drive with the Enterprise edition? The tweet has brought fans shrieking into the void with #RTXON; some of the replies are the best I’ve ever seen—lightsaber versus phaser arguments, Kirk versus Skywalker defamation, and one lone query about the Babylon 5 option (rude!).
Why does it matter? Because NVIDIA knows what it’s doing. The RTX 5090 hasn’t been even announced officially, but putting it in two of sci-fi’s most iconic ships? That’s marketing genius right there. Not just about specs, or maybe yes, the 5090 might just melt your face off, while guzzling fumes of hype. Vibes, folks. Can you imagine a GPU humming the Imperial March each time you boot, or are you gonna hear the Star Trek theme?
I mean about the designs: The X-Wing is all aggressive angles and classic orange/white paint that screams mid-render Death Star obliteration. On the other hand, the Enterprise is the epitome of sleek with curves for days that probably would make the Windows startup sound feel like a diplomatic mission. That really is a vibe check for the whole setup.
Now then, the greater query: Who’s winning in that fan war? Scroll through #RTXON to see a gory massacre. Star Wars stans are flaunting lightsaber moves and Yoda quotes, and Trekkies counter with bold clapbacks of a “Go.” And, of course, there exists a certain faction of the gamerdom that is just begging NVIDIA to release both (cowards). But here’s the kicker—this contest carries bigger value than mere fandom. You must explain your choice. Cue a thousand-word diatribe as to why Han Solo would out-pilot Picard or why the Prime Directive holds more sway than Jedi mind tricks.
Now, funny side: Star Wars has just released this new title, Jedi: Survivor, which, BTW, desperately needs all the RTX power it can get, while Star Trek easily has a gazillion shows airing. Coincidence? No way. NVIDIA is the 4D chess player while the other one is just spun around on warp cores versus hyperdrives.
So, what next? Given the precedent, this will spiral into a full-fledged meme war before either one even gets to lay hands on the card. And, let’s be real: whichever lucky bastard manages to flex that hard, their Twitch stream is gonna collapse. So, at least the question of “What’s more powerful, the Force or a photon torpedo?” has an answer now-gasp-it’s ray tracing. Always ray tracing.
Therefore, whether you are for the Wookies or the Vulcans, #RTXON has already set the internet on fire. If NVIDIA were smart, they’d leak the specs of 5090 in the midst of this argument. May the 4th be with you, or send you some prosperity. Make your choice now, or the internet will do it for you. mic drop
