MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio Review 45

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio Review

by
W1zzard
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on ,
Manufacturer: MSI
Cooler Performance Comparison »

Temperatures

Temperature & Noise Comparison
IdleGaming
GPUNoiseGPUHotspotMemoryNoiseRPM
ASUS RTX 4090 STRIX OC40°CFan Stop62°C70°C62°C32.6 dBA1330 RPM
ASUS RTX 4090 STRIX OC (Quiet BIOS)42°CFan Stop65°C73°C68°C29.8 dBA1118 RPM
Colorful RTX 4090 Vulcan OC42°CFan Stop61°C70°C64°C36.2 dBA1732 RPM
Colorful RTX 4090 Vulcan OC (Turbo BIOS)42°CFan Stop62°C71°C64°C36.7 dBA1759 RPM
Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC44°CFan Stop60°C67°C62°C37.4 dBA1716 RPM
Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC (Quiet BIOS)41°CFan Stop64°C72°C66°C32.6 dBA1416 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Gaming X43°CFan Stop72°C81°C72°C30.7 dBA1264 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Gaming X (Gaming BIOS)43°CFan Stop67°C75°C66°C34.3 dBA1502 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X46°CFan Stop70°C77°C76°C28.6 dBA1198 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X (Gaming BIOS)46°CFan Stop64°C70°C68°C32.6 dBA1466 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X37°CFan Stop*58°C67°C68°C32.2 dBA1197 RPM
MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X (Quiet BIOS)38°CFan Stop*60°C69°C72°C29.0 dBA1105 RPM
NVIDIA RTX 4090 Founders Edition37°CFan Stop66°C74°C72°C35.1 dBA1449 RPM
Palit RTX 4090 GameRock OC43°CFan Stop66°C73°C68°C35.0 dBA1539 RPM
Palit RTX 4090 GameRock OC (Quiet BIOS)43°CFan Stop66°C73°C70°C31.8 dBA1399 RPM
Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme42°CFan Stop66°C75°C76°C37.1 dBA1434 RPM
Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme (Quiet BIOS)45°CFan Stop72°C81°C82°C31.8 dBA1152 RPM
* = On MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X the pump is running at minimal RPMs when idle, but not fully stopped.
The noise level is below the measurement capability of our equipment.

Testing notes & interpretation
  • GPU temperatures listed here are based on GPU-Z measurements of the on-chip temperature sensor.
  • We report these GPU temperatures under a constant load for ease of comparison, as well as an idle state most end users will experience often. This combination helps dictate cooling needs and provides context for how well the thermal solution performs.
  • Please note that GPU temperature is contingent on a variety of factors. Some, including clock speed, voltage settings, cooler design, and production variances, are beyond the control of the end user. Others, such as ambient temperature, case design, and airflow pathway affecting the GPU, can be mitigated to certain extents.
  • The data in the table above shows results for similar cards, achieved in identical conditions during previous TechPowerUp reviews.

Thermal Analysis

For this test, we first let the card sit idle to reach thermal equilibrium. Next, we start a constant 100% gaming load, recording several important parameters while the test is running. This shows you the thermal behavior of the card and how the fans ramp up as temperatures increase. Once temperatures are stable (no increase for two minutes), we stop the load and record how the card cools down over time.

GPU Clock, Voltage Temperature, Fan Speed over Time


We also ran the same test for the "Secondary" BIOS:


Fan Noise

Noise Testing Details
  • The tested graphics card is installed in an open bench system. The system does not emit any noise on its own, all components are passively cooled.
  • All cards are loaded with the same test: a custom-engineered game-like load in Unreal Engine 4 that always renders the same frame at 60 FPS to minimize variance.
  • To ensure 100% loading of the GPU, the render complexity is set dynamically so that each card operates at peak performance without being CPU limited.
  • We're not using Furmark because it creates too high a load that forces fans to run faster than what is encountered during typical gameplay.
  • Noise results of other cards on this page are measurements of the respective reference design.
  • We let the card heat up and wait for fan speed to no longer change. Depending on the fan-control algorithm, this can often take quite some time.
  • Noise level measurements are conducted using a 1/2" calibrated measurement microphone that records onto the host PC using a digital audio processing pipeline. The microphone is recalibrated at least once a month.
  • Measurement distance is 50 cm. Our previous noise-level measurements took place at a distance of 1 m. We reduced the distance to be able to better distinguish acoustics of the very quiet graphics cards.

All modern graphics cards support idle-fan-stop nowadays, so no reason to report idle fan noise.

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Apr 23rd, 2024 10:10 EDT change timezone

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