MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 review: next-level performance across the board
Table of Contents
At last, we finally get our hands on the elusive RTX 5090 – a card that sits at the top of the performance charts for its staggering power in both gaming and workstation workloads. Today, we finally get to put this behemoth graphics card on our test bench (if it can handle it) and see how it performs versus some of the market’s more reasonably priced alternatives.
Let’s be honest, Nvidia’s Blackwell generation has been a mixed bag, as the main range of cards has been underwhelming or overpriced. Thankfully, the RTX 5090 sits on a pedestal of its own, delivering unmatched performance thanks to its massive VRAM capacity, boosted clock speeds, and overall power. It’s safe to say that the RTX 5090 is easily one of, if not the best graphics cards out there right now, and we can’t wait to see how it does in our tests.
Getting hands-on with the MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090, it’s a staggering card that immediately made me wonder about the compatibility issues users might have. However, despite its large size, the 5090 still produces impressive thermal performance during both load and idle use cases. Considering the overclock on the card and the nearly 600W that’s going through it, there’s plenty to admire about this card – however, will it live up to its massive price tag? Let’s waste no further time and dive straight into it.
- GPU: GB202
- CUDA cores: 21,760
- VRAM: 32GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus width: 512-bit
- Base clock speed: 2,010MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2,565MHz
Sitting as the flagship card, the RTX 5090 is no doubt a spectacular graphics card. Shredding through any task you throw at it and playing games with great framerates, no matter the resolution. But the MSI Suprim SOC is a surprisingly big custom model for it, along with the price tag, it’s definitely not suited for everyone. However, it comes with a great overclock and an impressive cooling solution, which all make it one of the best graphics cards out there right now, with some incredible specs, particularly a high-end VRAM setup.
- Outstanding performance across the board
- Excellent thermals and sound levels
- Great overclock out of the box
- Plenty of VRAM to utilize
- Access to DLSS 4 and the transformer model
- Eye-watering price tag
- Very high power requirement for a single GPU
- Jaw-droppingly massive size
Pricing
The RTX 5090’s price shocked us when it originally came out. On its reveal, Nvidia announced it would have an MSRP of $1,999/£1,889. Not only is that yet another $400 on top of the predecessor RTX 4090, but it’s one of the highest prices we’ve ever seen for a consumer card. Seems like the days of just a few hundred-dollar cards are well and truly over, and it’s weird to say that Intel GPUs seem the only hope for budget graphics cards.
But the 5090 is on another level with what it brings, and any custom cards, of course, come with their own pricing, as it’s usually just the Founder’s Edition or a few other models that stay at the advertised MSRP. So it’s no surprise that looking up the MSI Suprim SOC at retailers, it’s even more expensive.
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In the US, it’s available on Amazon for an extraordinary $3,199, that’s over $1,200 over the MSRP. In the UK, it’s a bit less dramatic with the price of £2,489.99, so “only” £600 above MSRP. Considering the card is SOC, which seems to be Supreme Overclocked on their top-end Suprim design, I’m not surprised it’s adding quite a premium to the price due to that.
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 box contents, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 box, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 adapterr and stand, Image by PC Guide
Design and specs
| Specifications | RTX 5090 FE (Suprim SOC) | RTX 4090 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | GB202 | AD102 |
| CUDA Cores | 21,760 | 16,384 |
| Base clock speed | 2,010 MHz | 2,235 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 2,407 MHz (2,565 MHz) | 2,520 MHz |
| Memory | 32GB GDDR7 | 24GB GDDR6X |
| Memory interface | 512-bit | 384-bit |
| Memory clock | 28Gbps | 21Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 1.79TB/s | 1.01TB/s |
| TBP | 575W | 450W |
| Power connector | 1x 16-pin | 1x 16-pin |
| PCIe Connector | Gen 5 | Gen 4 |
| Release date | January 2025 | September 2022 |
In terms of specs, the RTX 5090, compared to the 4090, offers a significant improvement across the board, except for the clock speed of the reference model from Nvidia. Looking from the processor down, the newer RTX 50 series is on the Blackwell architecture, yet still using TSMC’s 5nm process size, but with the 4nm FinFET process type for a slightly improved transistor density.
As for the clock speed, it has been tuned down on this chip, be it that it can’t sustain it or the fact that it’s already a power-hungry card, this lower rate might just save it that bit extra that makes it stay under the 600W mark. The base clock of the 5090 is over 200MHz lower, and the boost is over 100MHz less than on the 4090, but the custom overclock of the MSI pushes it to above 2,565MHz, and what the 4090 FE could do.
For the total board power, it does reach 575W, and 125W over its predecessor, just marginally keeping within the spec of the 12-pin connector that is rated for 600W. That hasn’t stopped the melting cable issue across the series, and has meant the recommended power supply is now at an astonishing 1000W, so you’d better have a trustworthy and reliable power supply in your build to keep it running optimally.
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 fans, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 front on, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 IO, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 side, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 verical, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 backplate, Image by PC Guide
When it comes to memory, both capacity and speed have been improved over the RTX 4090. Nvidia has scrapped GDDR6 for its Blackwell flagship, jumping straight to next-generation GDDR7 VRAM. With 8 GB more total capacity (32GB over 24GB), which is clocked at 7Gbps, the SUPRIM 5090 has a total bandwidth of 1.79TB/s compared to 1.01TB/s seen in its predecessor. The 55% boost in speed results in a solid performance uplift over the RTX 4090 (more details on this to follow), particularly when it comes to home LLMs and workstations – making the card an attractive prospect for more than just gaming.
The actual design of the MSI Suprim SOC is a rather slick and high-end aesthetic. With a mix of silver and black throughout the card’s color theme, alongside strong angular accents, it’s safe to say this GPU leans more towards gaming than minimalistic. It isn’t just aesthetics that impresses, though, the card also offers excellent cooling thanks to its three fan configuration and a flow-through design – making it well-suited for the nearly 600W of power running through the card. All this leads to a final product that measures in with dimensions of 359 x 150 x 76 mm, making it one of the largest GPUs (if not the largest) we’ve ever had in our test rig. With that in mind, you might want to make sure your case can handle this behemoth before diving into a purchase.
Performance
Of course, I had to put it through the testing lab to check out how the RTX 5090 performs. Putting it through our GPU tests, I checked both gaming performance, as well as synthetics and thermals. This will give us an excellent overall picture of the GPU’s general capability. I also put the results up against previous cards we’ve tested, but be aware, they are on older drivers, meaning comparisons should be taken with a slight pinch of salt. Regardless, it still gives us a solid understanding of where this card sits in the current GPU hierarchy.
Test bench components:
- Motherboard: ASUS Prime X870-P WiFi
- CPU: Ryzen 7 9800X3D
- RAM: Corsair Dominator Titanium RGB (64GB, 6600MT/s, CL32)
- CPU Cooler: ROG RYUJIN III 360
- PSU: 1000W Phanteks
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 on test bench, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 lit up logo, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 fans spinning, Image by PC Guide
Gaming
First up is the gaming performance of the card. Utilizing the three main resolutions gives you a good idea of its overall capabilities, no matter what setup you’re gaming on. As you might expect from this top-end graphics card, it’s very much a 4K gaming GPU with plenty more overhead left behind, so many of our tests will focus in on that resolution.
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 AC Mirage, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Cyberpunk 2077, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Doom Eternal, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Indiana Jones Great Circle, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 F1 24, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 CS2, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Cyberpunk 2077 DLSS 4, Image by PC Guide
Firstly, we have Counter-Strike 2, a game that is CPU-dependent but not as much as CS:GO. We’ve decided to continue using this game for our GPU tests as it’s a lot more balanced with the upgrade to Source 2. That said, the 5090 delivers quite a boost over the rest of the cards – as seen above. Impressively, the 5090 delivered an average framerate of 627 and 1% lows of 378 at 1080p, with 1440p averaging 507 fps with 377 fps 1% lows. In 4K, the card still managed a 311 fps average, with a 224 fps 1% low.
Next is Cyberpunk 2077, where the 5090 manages an average of 231 at 4K, 212 at 1440p, and 110 fps at 1080p, 1440p, all using the Ultra preset. As you can expect, figures dropped slightly when turning on the ray tracing ultra preset. Here, it averages 153, 112, and 60 fps, respectively. While these are playable rates, it’s still a sizable dip in frames – but what do you expect from one of the more intensive titles on the market?
With 4K RT overdrive, it averages 33 fps, but with just a touch of DLSS, it nearly doubles the framerate as it gets 65 fps on average. The game also gives us the opportunity to test out DLSS 4. With DLSS performance, the 5090 averages 96fps, but a slight increase to 2x frame generation boosts it up to 165 fps. With another two notches at 4x, the frame rate increases to 293 fps.
In Doom Eternal, the frame rates easily keep three digits no matter the resolution or ingame preset (we used ultra nightmare settings). The 5090 averages 656, 563, and 387 fps at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, respectively. With ray tracing turned on, this becomes 459, 388, and 269 average fps.
Moving to Assassin’s Creed Mirage, it averages 212 fps at 1080p, 193 fps at 1440p, and 149 fps at 4K. Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered achieves similar performance, averaging 197, 188, and 152 fps. Utilizing DLSS that boosts it a good amount, with quality at 1080p that increases to 201 fps, 1440p balanced averages 194 fps, 4K performance averages 194 fps, and turning on frame generation that jumps to 271 fps.
Indiana Jones: The Great Circle takes advantage of the bolstered memory from the 5090 and runs rather well on ultra settings. At 1080p, it averages 328 fps, 1440p it averages 279 fps, and at 4K it averages 190 fps.
Lastly, I benchmarked it in F1 24, and in pure rasterization, the 5090 averages 206, 198, and 135 fps, respectively, at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K. By upscaling quality, balance, and performance, those averages become 209, 202, and 198 fps. When frame generation is enabled at 4K, the average increases to 305 fps.
Synthetic
Next up is the range of synthetic tests I put the cards through. A suite of applications that tests rendering, general benchmarking, and AI simulations.
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Blender 4.3, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Geekbench 6, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 Geekbench AI, Image by PC Guide
MSI Suprim SOC RTX 5090 3DMark, Image by PC Guide
Firstly, in 3D Mark, the RTX 5090 achieves a graphics score of 34,906 in Fire Strike Ultra, 26,063 in Time Spy Extreme, 38,424 in Port Royal, and 14,702 in Steel Nomad. That makes it between 58-75% better than the RTX 5080 in our tests. In Blender, the samples per minute for the monster were 7,404.84, for junkshop, 3,890.06, and for the classroom, 3,681.35. That ranges between 60-66% better than the RTX 5080s we tested previously.
Then I ran it through both Geekbench 6 and Geekbench AI as benchmarks for general use. In the former, it gets 388,892 in OpenCL API, and in Vulkan, it gets 385,354, which is between 35-45% better than the 5080. Then, in the AI testing, its single-precision score is 47,477, half-precision is 70,236, and in quantized mode, it gets 35,090. With a lead of just between 10-25% over the second card in the lineup.
Thermal
Lastly, I checked the thermal performance of the card. Loading up 20 minutes of Furmark 2 certainly meant the thermal load spread throughout the heatsink, and it reached an equilibrium.
The graph from HWInfo shows the various behaviors of the card in this test. The first 5 minutes show what’s happening under idle, and as you might expect, there’s not much going on here. With the power being under 50W, the fans stay at idle while the temperature of the die sits at 38°C, with the memory slightly hotter at 48°C.
Then, as Furmark starts, the power quickly spikes to the max of 601W, which then translates to the die heating up. That jumps up to 55°C immediately as it then reaches a stable 68.5°C. The Memory Junction temperature also reaches the same 68°C, and the fan behavior shows us how it does it. While the fan speed is sitting at 47%, it spins at a speedy 1,700 RPM to move that hot air away from the heatsink.
Even then, it’s not at all loud, as it’s well designed and the fans aren’t having to move fast considering the size of the card. Measuring in at 76mm deep by 359mm long, the massive heatsink manages to keep the temperature in check, so you never have to worry about it overheating, if you can fit it in. That also leaves some overhead for pushing the clock rate even higher, if you get lucky with the silicon lottery and can push the power at all.
- GPU: GB202
- CUDA cores: 21,760
- VRAM: 32GB GDDR7
- Memory Bus width: 512-bit
- Base clock speed: 2,010MHz
- Boost clock speed: 2,565MHz
Conclusion
Overall, MSI’s RTX 5090 SUPRIM SOC is an impressive card; there’s no doubt about that. The 5090’s performance is exceptional across the board. Thanks to the VRAM on offer, the highlight is that it crushes any tasks you throw at it, literally. But that does come at quite a cost, as it’s crowned the market’s most expensive consumer GPU.
The MSI Suprim SOC boasts fantastic generational performance thanks to its huge VRAM capacity and overclocked speeds, but the massive price tag will surely put many DIY PC builders off this card – not to mention its constant availability issues. All in all, there’s no taking away that this card is a monster in all departments, but due to its staggering price point, it’s just a pipe dream for most gamers.
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