In 2022, I wrote that GPUs had been headed within the improper path — their worth, dimension, and energy consumption had been off the charts. And whereas I nonetheless consider that’s true, I can now affirm Nvidia has at the least made one phenomenal exception within the dimension class: the two-slot “Founder’s Edition” of its RTX 5090 graphics card, on sale January thirtieth.
The final time Nvidia made a two-slot flagship graphics card, it was the 2021 RTX 3080 Ti FE — the 3090, 4080 and 4090 had been gigantic by comparability.
So, whereas my colleague Tom Warren was busy writing his full evaluation of the brand new 5090 utilizing one of the best gaming CPU, I wedged one of many $2,000 playing cards into my very own growing older mini desktop. I wished to see whether or not the surprisingly small flagship GPU was actually prepared for small kind issue (SFF) instances — or, whether or not my beloved 12.7-liter Ncase M1 chassis is nicely and actually out of date.
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To my shock, it labored: all I wanted was a brand new energy provide to show my backpack-sized each day driver into one of the crucial highly effective gaming PCs on the earth. At 4K decision, I’m sometimes seeing greater than double the framerate I get with an RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition, one of many final playing cards that might comfortably match within the Ncase M1, to offer you some thought.
But I’m not going to recommend you do the identical! For starters, we’re speaking a couple of two thousand greenback graphics card and a one thousand watt energy provide — which I truly noticed consuming as much as one entire kilowatt (as measured by my trusty Kill A Watt on the wall) in my Cyberpunk 2077 assessments. With an RTX 3080, my system consumed over 200 fewer watts. Not that I minded having an area heater on these chilly January days!
But I actually needed to wedge the 5090 into my Ncase M1 to make it match, and even take away and reattach the video card’s bracket inside my case. And even then I couldn’t totally seal my desktop as a result of the GPU’s new 12V-2×6 energy connector occupies a piece of house the place my case’s aspect panel is meant to go. You’ll need an SFF-ready case with extra clearance than I’ve.
Still, leaving my desktop’s guts uncovered was a small worth to pay to toy with this a lot energy! It’s sufficient to play video games at 4K at their most settings, save for full ray tracing (aka path tracing). It’s even bought sufficient horsepower to activate path tracing, too, if you happen to mix it with dynamic upscaling and/or faux body producing tech.
I usually play Helldivers 2 on an outdated 3060 Ti graphics card I purchased for simply $400, the place I’m pressured to depend on these tips simply to get {smooth} 4K-ish gameplay. It was fairly good, if anticipated, to lastly max out that sport on the 5090 as a substitute.
What I didn’t count on: my growing older, space-constrained AMD 5800X desktop delivered the identical efficiency as Tom’s open-air testing rig in fairly a number of of our 4K gaming benchmarks. I knew it was potential, nevertheless it goes to indicate that Nvidia’s fancy two-slot “double circulation via” cooler actually is appropriate for SFF PCs.
Average framerates at 4K decision.
It is determined by whether or not your video games are CPU restricted, after all, as my older PC does have a slower CPU — and most of in the present day’s video games are typically at the least considerably CPU restricted at 1440p decision, the place Tom’s system typically pulled far forward by 20 to 60 %.
Average framerates at 1440p.
Facing down the alien swarms and flying particles in Returnal, for instance, Tom pulled 201 frames per second at 1440p whereas my diminutive desktop managed simply 169fps; in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, essentially the most CPU-limited sport we’re testing, my bottlenecked system averaged simply 123fps to Tom’s 200fps.
But that’s nonetheless over 120fps on max settings, greater than sufficient for butter-smooth periods of those single-player video games! And if I had been to pair my tiny tower with a 4K TV in my lounge as a substitute of a 1440p monitor, as many SFF PC builders may love to do, I’d have a blast — my 4K outcomes at all times averaged over 60fps, and had been typically inside just some FPS of Tom’s open bench.
Average framerates at 4K decision.
And once more, I’m sometimes seeing the RTX 5090 delivering greater than twice the horsepower of an RTX 3080, making it fairly the improve for SFF followers with deep pockets. That’s not essentially one thing to have fun, although: the $2,000 RTX 5090 admittedly prices greater than twice as a lot as a $700 RTX 3080 did at its 2020 launch, and might be out of attain for many players even when shortages and scalpers don’t rear their ugly heads.
When it comes right down to it, I believe the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 is a rattling cool piece of package. It makes me need to quote Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as a result of it’s so selection. It’s a noteworthy exception to the very annoying development of GPUs increasing in each path. But at $2,000, 575 watts of energy by its lonesome, and with no different Nvidia board companion providing something practically as compact, it’s the exception that proves the rule.
Photography by Sean Hollister / The Verge
