In case you can afford a $2000 RTX 5090 graphics card — and yow will discover one — you may in all probability afford an much more costly one. So why not go all out, with a liquid-cooled, AIO-sporting improve? Say howdy to my not-so-little pal the MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid. Adam and Will are checking it out on the most recent PCWorld YouTube video.
Most OEM card designs are solely subtly altering the unique GPU spec, maybe with a refined overclock or an additional design or two. Not so right here. The Suprim is a full liquid-cooled setup, full with an accompanying 360mm radiator and and triple followers in an all-in-one configuration. It’s, in a phrase, a beast. It’s additionally $2500, although once more, it’s principally bought out in every single place. Whereas the cardboard itself is slightly shorter since it could possibly offload plenty of its cooling {hardware}, it’s a bit thicker than the glossy, two-slot Founder’s Version.
Different options of the design embrace a brushed aluminum casing and a handbook “silent/gaming” {hardware} swap and a little bit of RGB bling. In a really cool contact (ha!), the facility cables for the followers run up by the coolant line, so that you solely must plug PSU energy rails into the cardboard itself…although it does want a whopping 4 of them plugged into the 12V-6×6 adapter. The followers might be changed and powered with customary pins should you want a unique model.
Okay, to this point, so costly. However does this card truly carry out higher than the inventory Founder’s Version of the RTX 5090 card? And is it any cooler or quieter with that liquid cooling? Working it with a full suite of benchmarks, utilizing the manufacturing unit clock speeds, the MSI card received a tiny sliver of enchancment in a lot of the exams — two or three p.c at most. Essentially the most dramatic distinction was on the Cyberpunk 2077 4K RT Overdrive take a look at, it received 140 frames per second versus the Nvidia’s 130 frames. A 7.6 p.c enchancment. After all, this beast can simply deal with overclocking if you wish to push frames even quicker.
Foundry
Okay, however what concerning the noise and the warmth? On a quick-and-dirty setup in a quiet recording studio, the AIO setup is notably quieter below load than the air-only inventory card (particularly with some added coil whine). The followers and pump are audible, certain, however will probably be an important distinction in an enclosed PC case. Your CPU cooler — whether or not air or liquid — will in all probability overpower the Suprim’s noise. You would possibly be capable of get it even quieter with extra premium followers.
And the cooling? Okay, it’s truly dramatically cooler. With an open bench below load with the Cyberpunk take a look at, it confirmed 55-60 Celsius, in comparison with about 70 for the Nvidia card on the identical take a look at. Spectacular. Most spectacular. Although it must be identified that it’s drawing a bit extra energy than an ordinary card because of the additional followers and pump, 734 watts below load versus 712. Contemplating the monster energy draw of the bottom card, not an excessive amount of to fret about.
If you wish to see much more nerdy deep dives into the most recent PC {hardware}, you’ll want to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube. And whilst you’re there, take a look at the devoted channel for The Full Nerd podcast too.
