REVIEW: GeForce RTX 4090, the graphics card of dreams

We are moving into a new era of technology in the video card market. That said, what can we expect from NVIDIA going forward? Come check out our review!

You can watch our video on the subject there on YouTube or continue here in the article:

design that impresses

We received the board in a box Founders Edition of approximately 6 kilos, all customized with the contours of the Geforce RTX 4090.

The GPU has a robust and minimalist appearance, which even in its simplicity does not fail to impress. The top material is a dark matte gray, with the name highlighted at the top, and the sides are a smooth metal without too many highlights. It has two large coolers, one at the top and one at the bottom.

What stands out in the design are the metal contours and some plastic details, which in addition to facilitating the passage of air, refer to modernity and sophistication.

Construction

Despite frightening in size, most of the body serves only for cooling.

The board already has the new PCIE 5.0 connector standard of the new generation ATX, which comes with the new GPUs on the market. What changes with this standard is the need for more robust semi-modular power supplies: for the RTX 4090, for example, the recommended power is at least 850w.

Fortunately, it already comes with a 4-pin PCIE adapter in the box.

In addition, the model has video connections of 3x DisplayPort 1.4a and 1x HDMI 2.1, which occupies 3 slots of the PCI-Express connector.

Hnew hardware and technology

The NVIDIA model features the new DLSS 3 technology, a performance multiplier that works with Artificial Intelligence to create additional high-quality frames that do not compromise response time during gameplay, and can easily exceed 100 fps.

This is thanks to the new fourth generation Tensor Cores and the Optical Flow Accelerator present in the RTX 40 Series GPUs.

Architecture NVIDIA Ada lovelace

This technology allows the 4090 to maintain twice the performance and power efficiency of previous cards.

Through new multiprocessors of streaming and Third Generation RT Colors, it unlocks the full potential of Ray Tracing present in this metal monster.

AV1 encoder

Live streams need fluidity and high image quality. With that in mind, AV1 support came to guarantee a crash-free experience, surpassing the traditional video format known as H.40 by 264%.

Dperformance

It is important to bear in mind that, for the performance tests, available resources were used; I don't have the best processor to handle an RTX of this structure and the impacts of this you can see below.

The processor used was the Ryzen 5 3600, model hexa-core out of 12 threads and who owns base clock 3,6 GHz and 32 MB cache. A great multitasking model from AMD's third generation, but for NVIDIA's graphics card, it wouldn't be the most suitable. To use the full power of the GPU I recommend a processor with at least 24 threads and 70 MB cache.

Tests

I already advance that even with a setup slightly lower, the results were surprising. I chose three games that require excellent graphics performance for a satisfactory experience during gameplay: Overwatch 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and Control.

The tests Benchmark performed were Fire Strike and Spy by 3dMark, check the results below.

Overwatch 2

I started the tests with a classic game of Overwatch 2 with graphics and presets on high, still without using RTX, just to see how the card performed in that first moment.

The results are impressive right away: I was able to reach an average and stable rate of 165 fps in practically the entire gameplay, without gagging or even minimal crashes.

With the settings at epic, all effects and the Ray Tracing activated, there was very little fluctuation in the fps rate, which remained at an average of 130 to 140, rising to 150 fps at times.

It was a gameplay smooth and fun was guaranteed from start to finish, one of the best games I've ever played, in my humble opinion. there was not lagging or crashes that interfered with the game experience.

Cyberpunk 2077

Expectations for the Cyberpunk tests were very high, as it is a very heavy game that faced and faces many optimization problems.

With the settings on high, it was possible to maintain a much lower stability than the previously tested game, nothing that would significantly disrupt the experience, but a detail to be considered taking into account the setup available.

The frame rate stayed at a stable average of 40 to 60 fps, a satisfactory result, but one that can certainly be enhanced with a suitable processor on the bench, since the GPU never reached more than 40% usage throughout the entire gameplay, as frantic as it was. This means that she remained 'light' and without suffering too much to adapt to what was happening on the screen – which, when it comes to Cyberpunk, is a very important point.

In the second test, the DLSS 3 AI technology maintained the quality of the gameplay, but left the game with a blur constant not very easy on the eyes and the fps dropped a bit to an average of 30 frames per second.

It was a smooth gameplay, since, with the fps drop, I expected that there would be some crash or that the machine would heat up during the test, but that did not happen; I was able to enjoy myself for two hours without any worries.

Despite these details, you can't dispute that Cyberpunk becomes another game with the Ray Tracing activated. This video from Nvidia illustrates what I'm talking about:

Cuntroll

Control is a game that was made to have a complete experience with the Ray Tracing, so it made no sense to perform a test of gameplay without taking advantage of all the resources that the 4090 offers us.

With graphics on high and effects turned on, the frame rate per second averaged around 130 to 150 fps, sometimes reaching 180 fps. It is worth mentioning that Control is a very heavy game. And the overall experience was great and satisfying.

In this case, the video card did exactly what it needed to do, the way it was designed to do, I just couldn't test the game with DLSS 3 turned on, because, unfortunately, the game doesn't support this technology.

Fire Strike

O Fire Strike is a test for high performance video cards based on DirectX 11. Performs tests in Full HD (default), Quad HD (extreme) and 4K (ultra).

I tested our bench's GPU and CPU and the RTX 4090 scored an incredible 28.072 points.

Spy

In the second test I decided to put the RTX to a sweat. O Spy is based on DirectX 12 to perform tests in Quad HD (default), 4K (extreme) and still contains complex asynchronous processing and multithreading.

Another great score, 15.754 in the GPU and CPU test.

Heating, noise and gagging

During testing and continuous use, the RTX 4090 showed no noise and no stuttering issues, even on a setup lower than recommended by GeForce.

There were also no problems with heating, a detail that was surprising due to the extravagant size and power promised by the company.

Its excellent cooling system allowed the piece to maintain a maximum temperature of just 50 degrees during the entire time we had it.

Other reviews

For comparison level I used some reviews international ones, such as the IGN portal, which had more powerful benches to better understand the results of this experience, after all, it was not possible to stress the machine as much as we would have liked.

in the tests of Benchmark the RTX 4090 achieved a score of 22.970 points on the Fire Strike Ultra, against our 28.072 in Fire Strike 'basic', not much different from what happened during our tests, even with a 'weaker' PC.

Regarding heating, other tests recorded higher temperatures, 64,7 °C at 62 degrees Celsius, against 50 degrees for us. That is, there is an increase in concentrated heat as the power level of the machine also increases, which is natural.

The conclusion that remains is that in all the tests the card demonstrated stability even in moments of heavier processing, being practically approved in Setups intermediate and luxury.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the RTX 4090 is a card of absurd quality and power.

It did not show sudden drops in performance and remained stable even at times when the fps was around 40.

I emphasize once again that the setup used is not the most recommended for a GPU of its size, and that, in a different scenario, the results tend to be twice as high as experienced in this review.

This detail, however, made very little difference in terms of experience and fun; the numbers may have fluctuated, but the 4090 didn't let me down.

It is clearly a board for those who need and want to invest heavily in a machine, as all the needs that come with equipment of this size are heavy on quality and mainly on price.

The size — despite being scary — makes perfect sense for being a model with high cooling capacity. However, I recommend very careful installation, as it is a heavy piece, the impression one has is that over time it may end up bending and “warping” if placed in a horizontal position for a long time.

Some people may struggle with ergonomics and practicality and adaptations may be necessary.

The value, however, is not justified, but it is a trend in the world market that we have no control over.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is a great video card that does everything it sets out to do, it's a milestone that came to heat up and revolutionize the industry – although, unfortunately, few will have the opportunity to use it; at least for now – it's not an essential item, but I doubt any buyer will regret it in the future.

The RTX 4090 hits the Brazilian market for the price of R$15.999,00 and the piece is still in pre-sale. Here's the warning to prepare the pocket.

Specifications

Brand	NVIDIA
Series	Founders Edition
Córdoba	900-1G136-2530-000
Interface	PCI Express 4.0
chipset manufacturer	NVIDIA
GPU series	NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series
GPU	GeForce RTX 4090
Game Clock	2520 MHz
impulse watch	2550 MHz
memory size	54 B
memory interface	384 bits
memory type	GDDR6X
DirectX	DirectX 12 Ultimate
OpenGL	OpenGL 4.6
Multi-monitor support	4
HDMI	2 x HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort	3 x DisplayPort 1.4a
Maximum Resolution	7680 x 4320
Cooler	triple fans
Recommended PSU wattage	1000W
power connector	1 x 16-Pin
HDCP ready	2.3
Maximum GPU Length	348 mm
Card dimensions (L x H)	348,2 x 72,6 mm
slot width	Slot 3.65

Further specifications can be found at NVIDIA website.

What do you think of the new Geforce RTX 40 line, is it worth sacrificing your pocket?

Be sure to check other reviews to help you when assembling your machine.