MSI GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z Review - Up to 1000 W

W1zzard

on Feb 12th, 2026,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: MSI / Product Page

Value & Conclusion »

Overclocking

GPU-Z Screenshot for Overclocked Graphics Card

Overclocking works basically the same as on previous NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards.

With Blackwell, NVIDIA has removed the "Hot Spot" sensor, you still have access to "GPU Temperature" and "Memory Temperature." While there was always some drama around Hot Spot, it was useful to diagnose a misaligned cooler or waterblock.

Another Blackwell change is that NVIDIA is now blocking memory OC if it's higher than +375 MHz (+6000 MT/s). Setting any higher value will result in a maximum frequency of +375 getting applied, no matter how high the requested value.

MSI's Afterburner has extended voltage control support for the Lightning Z. You may adjust the voltages for GPU (NVVDD), memory (FBVDD), AUX (MSVDD) and AUX2 (PEXVDD). Pushing GPU voltage to max yielded another 100 MHz real measured clock during benchmarking.

Maximum Overclock Comparison
	Avg. GPU Clock	Max. Memory Clock	Performance	Pwr Limit Def/Max	OC Perf at Max Pwr
ASUS RTX 5090 TUF	3046 MHz	+375 MHz	169.4 FPS	575/600 W	170.5 FPS
ASUS RTX 5090 Astral LC	3149 MHz	+375 MHz	175.3 FPS	600/600 W	175.3 FPS *
ASUS RTX 5090 Astral OC	3086 MHz	+375 MHz	173.1 FPS	600/600 W	173.1 FPS *
Gigabyte RTX 5090 Gaming OC	3044 MHz	+375 MHz	169.2 FPS	600/600 W	172.8 FPS *
LYNK+ RTX 5090	3111 MHz	+375 MHz	173.2 FPS	600/600 W	173.2 FPS *
MSI RTX 5090 Lightning Z	3218 MHz	+375 MHz	177.8 FPS	800/1000 W	179.1 FPS/180.2 FPS at max voltage
MSI RTX 5090 Suprim SOC	2993 MHz	+375 MHz	170.4 FPS	575/600 W	172.5 FPS
MSI RTX 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC	3069 MHz	+375 MHz	175.8 FPS	600/600 W	175.8 FPS *
Palit RTX 5090 GameRock	2947 MHz	+375 MHz	168.7 FPS	575/575 W	168.7 FPS *
NVIDIA RTX 5090 FE	2938 MHz	+375 MHz	166.7 FPS	575/600 W	166.9 FPS