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Nvidia is launching its RTX 4090 graphics card today, October 12, 2022. The graphics card is the flagship entry in the Ada Lovelace-based RTX 40 series. It is the third BFGPU that the company has ever manufactured after the RTX 3090 and the RTX 3090 Ti.
In early testing, the 4090 showcased promising gaming performance. It had almost twice or even more performance gains over the last-gen RTX 3090. This graphics card dwarfed the quite relevant RTX 2080 Ti in terms of performance.
However, performance gains come at a significant cost to thermal and power efficiency. The AD102 GPU lying inside is a very hot-running component.
Thus, graphics card manufacturers have packed the GPU with beefy cooling hardware to maintain optimal temperatures. This makes the 4090 one of the biggest GPUs ever.
The RTX 4090 is a massive card
The RTX 4090 Founders' Edition is the largest video card Nvidia has ever manufactured. The card is 304 mm (12 inches) long, 137 mm (5.4 inches) wide, and 61 mm (2.4 inches) thick. It will consume three PCIe slots in a computer case.
The RTX 4090 has a TDP of 450 W, which is similar to the RTX 3090 Ti. Nvidia requires users to install at least an 850 W PSU. However, users need to install a beefier power supply in case they opt for a power-hungry CPU like a top-tier Core i9, Ryzen 9, or a Threadripper.
It is worth noting that despite being considerably thicker than the RTX 3090 Founders' Edition, the 4090 is slightly shorter than the last-gen equivalent. This will ensure wider case compatibility, as almost every mid-tower has seven or more PCIe slots.
When compared to the RTX 3090 Founders' Edition, which was already a mammoth video card, the first BFGPU looks like a tiny mid-tier -70 series or -60 Ti series graphics card.
However, AIB partners have come up with even larger variants of the RTX 4090. A notable mention is the ASUS ROG Strix OC edition of the card.
The top-tier model from the Taiwanese hardware manufacturer is 357.6 mm long, 149.3 mm wide, and 70.1 mm thick. It will take up to four PCIe expansion slots in a computer case.
The ASUS TUF Gaming edition of the video card is almost identical in terms of size and weight.
Other AIB partners like MSI and Inno3D have also come up with massive video card designs for the 4090. The high-end MSI Suprim X video card is about 336 mm long and 142 mm wide. Most of the other options are almost as long as the cards mentioned before.
Conclusion
The 4090 is like no other graphics card ever seen before. While it is terribly fast at rendering and gaming performance, the video card is also a big step up in terms of physical size and thermal output.
It is evident that Nvidia is squeezing the maximum out of the 628 mm² AD102 GPU die. The company has faced severe backlash over the last couple of weeks for its moves and has even been called the hot and loud video card manufacturer.
