RTX-5090 cards from Nvidia's partners still huge or water-cooled

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One week after the presentation of Nvidia's RTX 5000 graphics cards, it is clear that no manufacturer is relying on Nvidia's own design with a very small board that only requires a two-slot-wide heat sink and two fans. It remains to be seen why this is the case; apparently the "add-in board partners" (AiBs) have all developed their own designs.

These are mainly based on the previous generation around the RTX-4090, which established graphics cards weighing over a kilo and more than three slots thick. No manufacturer copies Nvidia's design of the "double-flow-through" cooler, which allows unhindered airflow to the left and right of the PCB. However, as before, an open cooler at the end of the card is widespread, so that at least some of the heated air can be distributed freely in the PC. In contrast to the 4090 with its 450 watts, Nvidia specifies a full 575 watts of "board power" for the 5090, both values apply without overclocking.

As with the RTX 4090, most designs rely on cooler fins that run parallel to the board, so that the heat is directed towards the board and side panel when the graphics card is inserted into the mainboard. The following overview, with some low-resolution images from the manufacturers' websites, does not claim to be exhaustive, but is intended to highlight some interesting designs and new brands.

Fixed 360mm radiators and sometimes additional fans

Asus has secured the new "Astral" brand, which represents the new high-end for the "ROG" sub-brand. This includes a model with two fans in a flow-through design at the end of the card, which operate as a push-pull configuration. Also new is the water-cooled "ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090" with a permanently attached 360-millimeter radiator and a fan on the card itself. Asus particularly emphasizes the contact plate (coldplate), which covers the GPU and graphics memory, but not the voltage regulators – for which the additional fan is used, among other things.

The "GeForce RTX 5090 32G Suprim Liquid SOC" from MSI has a very similar design, with a heat sink that is two slots wide despite the water block. Gigabyte takes a different approach with the "Aorus GeForce RTX 5090 Xtreme Waterforce 32G": there is no additional fan on the card, but apparently a large heat sink on it. Nevertheless, the graphics card is only two slots wide. The company also offers the "GeForce RTX 5090 Xtreme Waterforce WB 32G", which has a full-surface water block pre-installed for integration into custom cooling systems.

Air-cooled 5090 further three slots wide

A particularly thick air-cooled model is the "Zotac Gaming GeForce RTX 5090 AMP Extreme Infinity", the last part of the name refers to the infinity mirror at the end of the card. However, the main feature is the large cooler, which protrudes beyond the slot bracket for three slots on both sides. Another particularly voluminous representative is the "GeForce RTX™ 5090 1-Click OC" from KFA2/Galax. Simpler and, above all, more compact graphics cards with the 5090 GPU are hard to find so far, although there is a Ventus series from MSI and the well-known TUF line from Asus, these also occupy three slots.

Tests of the RTX 5090 first, then the 5080

Reliable price details for all the graphics cards mentioned are not yet available, so the 2329 euros for Nvidia's Founders Edition are still in the air. As the YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed claims to have heard from several sources at the CES in Las Vegas, Nvidia's partners were quite surprised by the price details. None of them are said to have been given even rough estimates beforehand. There is also said to have been some movement in the market launch schedule.

Although Nvidia had already specified January 30 for the market launch of the RTX 5090 and 5080 at CES, according to Videocardz sources, this was not the plan. The original plan was to release the 5080 on January 21, followed by the top model 5090 on January 30. However, the V-BIOS for the 5080 is not expected to be ready until the last week of December 2024, so the plans had to be changed, the website reports.

As is usual with Nvidia, there will now be staggered dates again in order to generate as much attention as possible for the products. According to Videocardz, tests of the 5090 may be released on January 24, 2025, for Nvidia's Founders Edition as well as partner models. Tests of the Founders Edition of the 5080 are to follow on January 29, followed by the 5080 variants from third-party manufacturers the next day. And on January 30, sales of all variants of the 5090 and 5080 will begin. The 5070 and 5070 Ti are to follow in February, but there are no specific dates for these yet.

(nie)