Here's a gallery of side-by-side photos comparing the RTX 3090 FE with the RTX 4090 FE. (Don't mind the dust on the RTX 3090 card; it's been well-loved over the past two years!) It's far more obvious in these shots how the fans and dimensions of the cards have changed.

If your PC already has an RTX 3090 Founders Edition (or a 3090 Ti FE for that matter), you're probably fine with the RTX 4090 FE, unless you're really cramped on clearance. But if you're cramped on clearance, that's not a good thing with cards that can consume 350W or more power. Basically, we recommend using a more spacious ATX case for extreme GPUs like the 3090 and 4090 — leave the mini-ITX stuff behind.

Do you prefer something other than Nvidia's reference design Founders Edition? We wouldn't blame you, as anyone spending this much money on an RTX 4090 will likely want factory overclocks, enhanced cooling, and maybe some other extras.

The MSI RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X(opens in new tab) ticks all of those boxes, with a 240mm radiator helping to keep the card frosty. One of the nice things about liquid-cooled graphics cards is that the radiator effectively moves a lot of the weight away from the PCIe slot and over to the case. It also allows for a relatively svelte dual-slot graphics card, though the total size of the card plus radiator ends up being even larger.

MSI doesn't have the GPU clocks listed on its specifications page yet... and we're not sure we're allowed to tell you. It also doesn't list a TBP (Total Board Power), but it includes a quad-8-pin to 16-pin adapter, so we might actually see a 600W card. We're also waiting to find out the official price for this liquid cooled monster. Hint: not cheap!

We'll be testing the card and posting the review next week, though, so hang tight.


Next up is the Asus RTX 4090 ROG Strix OC(opens in new tab). This card actually "wins" in the bigger is better battle, tipping the scales at 2508g and with dimensions of 357.6x149.3x70.1mm according to Asus. It's also a factory overclock with a default Gaming mode boost clock of 2610 MHz (90 MHz higher than the Founders Edition) and an OC mode boost clock of 2640 MHz.

As with other RTX 4090 models, the Strix card comes with a quad-8-ping to 16-pin adapter. These adapters all appear to come direct from Nvidia, as the company's name is on the part. Asus doesn't list a specific TBP for the Strix but does recommend a 1000W PSU. Asus also notes that it assumes both CPU and GPU overclocks when it makes that recommendation, so perhaps the card "only" uses around 500W.

One thing that sets the Asus card apart from the other 4090 models we've seen so far is it's inclusion of two HDMI 2.1 outputs along with three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs. Only four displays can be active at the same time, but giving users two HDMI connections provides a bit more flexibility.

We're still waiting for the official word on pricing from Asus, but we typically expect about a $200 premium for ROG Strix models in the upper echelon, sometimes more. Then again, with the collapse of cryptocurrency mining on GPUs, perhaps there's a chance we'll start to see prices trend back toward some semblance of normalcy.


We have some additional RTX 4090 graphics cards from AIB (add-in board) partners slated to arrive in the near future. We'll update this article with additional unboxing photos and videos as they come, while we look forward to the actual launch date.

We're not allowed to give benchmarks or any indication of independent performance testing yet, though Nvidia has already shared some of its own benchmarks. Big ticket items for the Ada Lovelace GPUs include support for the new DLSS 3 algorithm, over 50% more GPU shaders, and other enhancements to the architecture that could potentially boost performance by 2X or more — that's according to Nvidia.

The launch date is set for October 12, with a starting price of $1,599 for the RTX 4090 Founders Edition. We can only hope that supply is sufficient to keep scalpers from ruining the launch party. Meanwhile, if you're not already running an 850W or better PSU, it might be time for an upgrade should you plan on adding an RTX 4090 to your PC. Check back next week for the full review.