Asus RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC Review, Thermals, Power & Overclocking

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Radeon RX 6500 XT - geni.us/dym2r
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Radeon RX 6600 XT - geni.us/aPMwG
Radeon RX 6700 XT - geni.us/3b7PJub
Radeon RX 6800 - geni.us/Ps1fpex
Radeon RX 6800 XT - geni.us/yxrJUJm
Radeon RX 6900 XT - geni.us/5baeGU
Video Index:
00:00 - Welcome back to Hardware Unboxed
00:38 - A Look At The Gaming OC
07:41 - Stock Performance
08:11 - Overclocked Performance
09:09 - GPU Temperature
09:41 - GPU Hotspot Temperature
09:57 - GDDR6X Temperature
10:29 - Gaming Benchmarks
11:17 - Final Thoughts
The Best Yet! Asus RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC Review, Thermals, Power & Overclocking
Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed
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Outro music by David Vonk/DaJaVo

[@Hardwareunboxed]

Please note there's an error in the video when discussing power limits. The TUF Gaming will ship with a 600w BIOS, so the same power limit as the Gigabyte Gaming OC. This didn't change the OC headroom for our sample, but it's good news for anyone who wants to throw a water-block on this graphics card.

[@petenielsen6683]

It took 4 days until KZbin would even let many people play back this video. So if there is some way you can get the algorithm to recommend it, you might try it. Pretty sure you cannot though.

[@jacklowe7479]

God this confused the crap out of me. Thanks for the update.

[@benjaminalcocer9989]

What about non OC?

[@optimalsettings]

@@benjaminalcocer9989 its the same. They are the same cards. Oc just has 50mhz mor gpu clock. Its a joke for 300 bucks more.

[@malzaharkhalil3833]

@@optimalsettings So it is a scam? same PCB, but different box print and BIOS with tiny mhz increase.. whats stopping anyone from buying $1600 USD ASUS TUF and flashing a ROG Strix BIOS and getting the same performance as the $2000 USD ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090? isn't this all a huge scam to rob the ignorant?

[@parkerazz4385]

I dont have kids, wif, or girlfriend. I'm gona buy one.

[@robderka]

I actually like the pillar. There's a ton of people that wouldn't bother installing a bracket, but will use the pillar. I think it's a good idea.

[@sharkman4698]

Yeah I agree, my 3080 came with a horizontal support brace that's screwed into the PCIe slots on the case below the ones the GPU uses. I did install it but it's not all that effective, the card still sags slightly towards the front as the weak corner (the one closest to the front and side panel) doesn't have any support directly beneath it. The pillar seems like it would do better, I might even order a 3rd party/generic one just to try it out.

[@originalityisdead.9513]

It's better than the bracket that came with the Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC that's for sure, as when fitted it blocks my USB 3.0 port and couple that with the fact they made a huge card 2 slots only makes it looks like they really didn't think things through. The MSI cards with the bracket that fits under the GPU are the best imo, that or the pillar as its incredibly easy to fit.

[@LowEffortRiders]

This so much. It is so simple and effective. I have pretty much similar DIY solution with my 30 series TUF card. Bolt, extension nut and some heatshrink to both ends for grip and hiding the thread.

[@Spentalei]

Not an option with bottom casefans though, whereas the bracket will work for everyone.

[@Cypeq]

" There's a ton of people that wouldn't bother installing a bracket" pillar bracket, whatever, the thing is... it is an absolute must with those cards. I strongly feel we are at the point with cooler weight, that damage to a card or pci slot is likely in the long term.

[@Isaax]

The stainless steel IO bracket is shocking gorgeous, and the second HDMI port is a godsend

[@Ehren1337]

could of use third row bracket since its so big that itll sag.

[@fueler5479]

2 slot IO bracket seems a bit cheap

[@smakfu1375]

The two-slot IO bracket is likely because it retains compatibility with common vertical mounts, like Cooler Masters PCIe 4.0 kit.

[@joemarais7683]

@@smakfu1375 this is why I’m glad it’s a 2 slot, but it still should have included a 3 slot bracket as an option.

[@joemarais7683]

@@smakfu1375 this is why I’m glad it’s a 2 slot, but it still should have included a 3 slot bracket as an option.

[@krautergarten4529]

Thank for the test. Noise nomalized tests would be really nice to compare the cooling solutions. And thank for mentioning the controller and mosfet ic designations 👍

[@herr_L.]

Yeah we really need the noise normalised testing for best comparison :)

[@coolvinay]

It would be great if noise levels are also included in the graph rather than just the fan RPM. As usual, great to the point review. Thanks :)

[@dwight2310]

This is so stupid. I wanna know whats the coilwhine and noise level. Its the single most important thing. Every card 4090 is fast..

[@Skylancer727]

Think I slightly preferred how the 30 series tuf had that brushed aluminum look to it. Kinda looks slightly bland just just be matte coated grey. But hey I know some people who think everything should be matte. Do what you do.

[@vensroofcat6415]

Indeed feels like something is missing this gen. The "details" were designed in 1990's resolution? Something's slightly off. Still TUF > Strix > Gigabyte for my taste.

[@daedalus5070]

The treadmarks were cringe though

[@Himanshu-sz8hz]

@@vensroofcat6415 i think the strix had a glowdown this generation.

[@Skylancer727]

@@daedalus5070 yeah true, but it was a meme to laugh at. If only it was tactful though. Perhaps just have it as the design along the edge instead of a diagonal across the center of the backplate.

[@Skylancer727]

@@Himanshu-sz8hz oh definitely. It went from looking extravagant to basically being a brick with two colored accents. Still loved the 10 series design as it just looked sick. Though I imagine it cost them a fortune to make those odd molded shapes.

[@GySgt_USMC_Ret.]

Good video! My 4090 TUF OC will be here in a few days. Best to all.

[@DavideDavini]

“Tommy used to work on the docks, union's been on strike He's down on his luck, it's TUF, so TUF”

[@joelconolly5574]

TUF putting their name kn full swing. Definitely love that industrial design with power to match.

[@pasullica]

Not good enough ...this is why EVGA left , because NGreedia made it so people would prefer the cheaper FE .

[@joelconolly5574]

@@pasullica well pricing will never be in favour of board partners. Although most buyer will prefer non FE for aesthetics.

[@pietrmuffei8874]

@@joelconolly5574 you are wrong. The FE is the only industrial looking card an adult can seriously consider to show off. Everything else is rainbow puke plastic vomit

[@joelconolly5574]

@@pietrmuffei8874 the TUF doesn't even have that much RGB lol.

[@EarthIsFlat456]

@@pietrmuffei8874 That's your opinion.

[@SlimeyGuitarStrings]

I like the pillar. It seems like you would be able to place it in a better location than some of the other solutions I've seen. I think I would like to see cases come up with more solutions if this is going to continue.

[@jtland4842]

Can you please noise normalize the results for these cards? It would be very interesting to see what the exact differences are comparing these cards. It would be useful in determining weather or not getting a larger or more expensive card is worth it.

[@Lishtenbird]

Yeah... I've been seeing RPM-based fan tests for decades, and most always those are as useless as comparing CPUs by their GHz. Even more so for GPUs, where you don't at least have the standard sizings of case fans, and cooling designs can be vastly different.

[@timlaunyc]

I'm getting a "Your browser can't play this video." error on Chrome (latest stable build). I watched this with the same pc and likely same Chrome build when it came out. Did KZbin screw something up?

[@TerraWare]

Me too. The video won't play as if it's missing a code or something. Playing it on the mobile app just plays the sound no video. Never seen it before.

[@tall1oN]

Your video encoding seems to be broken somehow. I am not able to watch it on Android 12 or on mobile browser :(

[@tfoxhd]

i cant even watch on desktop or android

[@joeyladouceur3483]

Thanks for the years of reviews, you guys have allowed me to confidently build many pc’s for my Sim Racing rig (currently a 5950x with a 3080ti). I run iRacing on triple monitor in 1440, so graphically, still very demanding. I’m looking forward to seeing all of your reviews of the coming releases (intel 13th gen and RDNA3) before considering my next build upgrade. I wonder if someday, in a future graphics card review, maybe we could see a test for iRacing (like I said with 3x 1440, it’s unlike many other titles), and it’s a DirectX 11 title, so a variance from many dx12 titles.

[@hadleys.4869]

@JoeyLadouceur3438, I also have the AMD 5950x. I contemplated upgrading the cpu to a 5800x3D, but at 4k gaming, which is all I game at, there were no advantages over the 5950x. In fact some games like cyberpunk 2077 the 5950x got a little higher frame rate than the 5800x3D, which may be due to the higher boost clock speed and higher core count. Cyberpunk 2077 maybe one of those few games that take advantage of more than 8 cores. I know with Battlefield 2042’s latest update, it now supports additional cores much better than before. So what I did was just upgrade my GPU from a 3090 to the Gigabyte Gaming OC RTX 4090. I won’t need to upgrade my motherboard/cpu/ram for a while now. I may wait for a new AMD 7000 series x3D version to come out sometime next year to upgrade to a DDR5 platform.

[@joeyladouceur3483]

@@hadleys.4869 Since my comments, I've done the same as you: I got my hands on a Zotac 4090 Trinity OC, and I've been very happy with it... And I was able to get it at it's MSRP on Newegg here in Canada (althought it was bundled with a power suppler, which resold for it's value on Marketplace). Happy gaming!

[@hadleys.4869]

@@joeyladouceur3483 wow, you got really lucky 🍀. I was stuck with the only option of buying over msrp here in the US. I ended up buying off eBay again, which is what I did for my last RTX 3090. What are your thoughts on swapping out to a 5800x3D if you essentially only use your PC for 4k gaming?

[@joeyladouceur3483]

@@hadleys.4869 I plan on running my 5950x until reviews come out for the ZEN4 x3d cache variant come out. At that point, I think I'll be building a new ZEN4 build, and transferring my 4090 to that new case. I'll put my used 3080ti back in my 5950x system and sell it at that point.

[@hadleys.4869]

@@joeyladouceur3483 lol, I ended up ordering a new 5800X3D today. It should be in tomorrow sometime. Ill probably install it this weekend sometime.

[@ThomasLefevre]

For some reason my browser tells me I can't play this video. Other videos from the channel work just fine. Chrome Version 106.0.5249.119.

[@WamblyHades]

KZbin Android App and also unable.

[@leospeedleo]

The TUF was already amazing with the 30 Series and now with this one as well. Great to see!

[@rccosplay3249]

I agree as I have the Original Tuf 3080 10GB for 2 years now and no complaints! Solid build, temps are good and performance is amazing. Can't wait to see how my new still unboxed 4090 Tuf compares.

[@alexanderscholudew5652]

@@rccosplay3249 what about gigabyte gaming oc? i seen it has better cooling than tuf

[@8lacKhawKtheRIPPER]

After seeing 2 air-cooled ones, I hope you also have something like the MSI Suprim Liquid X lying around. A 2-slot non-brick variant of the 4090 sounds rather enticing and I'd like to know how good the AIO can handle the temperatures in comparison.

[@albertocieri8945]

You can always put a custom block on the tuf down the line. No reason to be lazy and buy an AIO solution

[@nimrodery]

I'm mildly dyslexic so I read "SquidX"

[@randalldraco3822]

at this pirce point, hybrid cooling should be a must

[@EarthIsFlat456]

There have been numerous reviews of that card. 5-6℃ cooler than the best air-cooled one which tbh isn't that much of a difference (previous gen the difference can be as high as 15℃).

[@damonm3]

They’re about the same. They all do very well… the reviews are out there

[@webber7300]

Will you guys do CPU testing with 4090 at some point in the future?

[@Hardwareunboxed]

Yes, this week.

[@simptrix007]

@@Hardwareunboxed Cant wait for the 5800X3D vs 7700X results!

[@TalonsTech]

Looking forward to the 13900K testing.

[@petenielsen6683]

Firefox cannot play this video as KZbin gives as error and then says that Firefox can be used to play it. Uh. This is like the error that says I need an internet connection that is a fifth the speed of my internet connection or faster.

[@xXEBUDDASXx]

I'm getting the same error with multiple browsers.

[@bugseeturbee4078]

Same here. Tried using the app. Audio works fine, but the video is frozen on the thumbnail

[@_BangDroid_]

Something must have fried on KZbin's end. youtube-dl list only audio files (and thumbnails) available for download. Obviously people have previously watched it judging by comments but somewhere along the line, the video files were lost/deleted?

[@petenielsen6683]

@@xXEBUDDASXx I left it on my Watch Later list and came back to it with Edge. So ya. It is definitely not a problem on my end. I thought it might be an issue with Firefox on my used laptop with Windows 10. But I am on my gaming PC with Windows 11 and still getting it.

[@pawelkrupowicz2539]

Something's wrong with your overclocking limits... My card (exactly the same ASUS TUF Gaming OC model as yours) allows for setting the power limit to 133% using MSI Afterburner or Asus GPU Tweak III.

[@hiyasuamv9776]

Undervolting this thing is a dream, barely go over 65 degrees and my pc silent as heck

[@T1249NTSCJ]

Static thumbnail and audio only playing in the latest build of Android. 👀

[@TechTusiast]

How about a quick test: Ryzen 7000 + 4090: Is there a difference between PCIe gen3, 4 or 5 in any use. Couple of games, maybe some 3D productivity testing.

[@zorbakaput8537]

Gigabyte OC gets my vote for a 4090 in a case so far. For all the ASUS build quality, a 12C higher VRM says it all about their approach for me. As for the shroud plastic or aluminium it won't be seen in my PC case. All have overkill power delivery. As I have said elsewhere the only thing the AIB can play with is cooling design and with the TUF being more expensive than the Gaming OC they don't deliver imo.

[@Reinhardovich]

Fully agreed. I'm disappointed that the $100 price difference between the Gaming OC and the TUF OC wasn't mentioned here in this video.

[@damonm3]

I got the non oc tuf for base msrp. Spent the other money on an x3d… huge difference coming from a 3600. The 4090 wasn’t helping in my primary game over a 3080. But the cpu sure did. Now the combo is rock stable at 4k 120fps in d2. Prior combo would dip into the 50-60s in hectic situations. With the fps locked at 120 my 4090 tuf is running at 49°c peak and 58° hotspot. It’s insane. And at 50% fan speed (can’t hear it). And unlocked it peaked at 59° and 69 hot spot pulling 350 ish watts. A lot of games do this. They run in the 300-350 range where the cars is much more efficient. It’s a great thing imo

[@TerraWare]

True but it's still well below the operating limit for GDDR6X even when manually overclocked but I get it cooler temp is a good thing. I'm looking forward to the Strix review those have a copper bar instead of pads. The Strix was my first choice as is for gpu's in general but MC didn't have any in the morning launch. The TUF was my second choice and it's impressed me with it's build quality, fan noise and temperature. The performance gains are insane with all these cards.

[@Teletha]

Vrm are overspeced they would need to be 60c hotter to give problems

[@TerraWare]

@@Teletha Yeah exactly. I had concerns with the 3090 having chips in the back that ran quite hot but here so far with all these cards the temperatures seem to be an improvement over the founders card and even that is operating well within the safe parameters.

[@RatBagDad]

with regards to these anti-sag brackets and stuff were seeing. I've been making my own for years, Wooden chopstick. Cheap and easy to cut to size. I have a white and black case so I borrowed some of my wife's nail polish to colour match it. Easy.

[@Monkeypuzzle]

I'm doing the same solution, but colored with a black sharpie, lol.

[@RatBagDad]

@@Monkeypuzzle Perfect solution 😀

[@fabiusmaximuscunctator7390]

Thanks for showing the numbers on the screen. It looks nice and make them way easier to understand if you a a foreign viewer like myself.

[@GholaTleilaxu]

The ATX design for the motherboard, CPU coolers and video cards was never meant for tower cases, but for *DESKTOP* horizontal cases. That's why you now have barbarisms such as that pillar to support the weight of a too-heavy video "card".

[@yzonker]

I like a lot of what you guys do, but you did get the power limits completely wrong. I have that card now and it's 450/600w just like the Strix. Power limit slider in Afterburner goes to 133%.

[@SPSteve]

I'll miss EVGA's styling but this Asus Tuf Gaming OC is the best looking 4090 I've seen so far. The aluminum shroud is nice quality touch and aluminum is a good heat dissipater. Since I have an EVGA 3090Ti it'll be a couple years until I'm in the market for a new GPU but I'm impressed by the 4090. Maybe I'll look into a 4090Ti in a couple years?

[@TheMissing8]

If you have a 3090 ti why are you even looking to upgrade? Do you upgrade every generation? and if so, why? I have a 1080 TI that is still performing well.

[@SPSteve]

@@TheMissing8 I'm not looking to buy a 4090 now. But I will probably buy a 4090Ti in a couple years. My computer is a hobby and like most people's hobbies I'll spend money on it just because upgrading it is something I want to do. I'll give my 3090Ti to my grandson when I upgrade.

[@PantsaBear]

@@TheMissing8 Bruh come on, just enjoy your 1080ti and let them enjoy their 3090ti/4090, theres no set time where its ok to upgrade. They're upgrading because they want to and find it to be a fascinating hobby obviously, like most who do it. Especially when the jump from 3090 to 4090 is pretty substantial this generation

[@TheMissing8]

​@@PantsaBear It was a question. I don't understand the defensive stance.

[@loki76]

How the hell would the metal shroud dissipate heat? It's not connected to the heatsink and clearly the temp results do not show any advantage. The things people come up with, lol...

[@kerim_og_9378]

So it seems like a 60-70% native performance increase, but however these gains doesnt transfer into every game. For example, I watched many benchmarks of warzone and the average in the map caldera of the 4090 gpu limit was 170, while the average for the rx6950 is 145-150 In fortunes keep on low settings the rx6950 max overclock does 199/130 (avg/1%), while his 4090 does 219/150 stock, so about 10%, + 5% extra with overclock for the 4090. so about 15% in Warzone, both in gpu limit (since he does 300 fps+ in 1080p) and not 60%.

[@bodzio0]

not only length can be a problem as included stiff power connector makes a huge problem as I can't close side panel of my O11D XL without seriously bending the cables. I ended up with open case until new cable for my corsair power supply arrives.

[@keyserxx]

Good point of some of the designs here since you are talking about £2000 for one of these in the UK at the moment, I mean this thing should ideally do the ironing as well or something. Everyone's different but I'm not too fused about what the card looks like or whats its made of, its temps and noise that matter to me. Nice cards but £2000 is a bit much for me, by a factor of 2 :)

[@LunaWaves]

really want a TUF 7900 XT or the auros one. either one, but TUF will most likely be less expensive

[@FrankLepore]

Little late to this review, but was in the market for a 4090, so I've been doing research. Like others have mentioned, I'm susprised you think this is the superior card. It seems like the only benefit it has over the Gigabyte Gaming OC is the metal shroud and the look, which you seem to like better. Otherwise, the Gigabyte has a 4 year warranty, almost identical specs, and runs a pretty impressive 12 degrees cooler, which is nuts.

[@Kostas_Sifakis]

3080 Tuf owner... Quality on Budget! Pls Asus never change that!! (That rgb strip under the logo was a scary/bad move). Question.. what about metal or carbon fiber fans? LoL Dat would be awesome!!! xD

[@MurrayDagostino]

the TUF gaming is definately not bad, I have a TUF Gaming OC RTX3070, and that already blows my mind, its very sturdy and well made.

[@ordoordo]

Wth? Why am I getting "Your browser can't play this video." for this one?

[@th3orist]

Happy about what i heard in this video as i have this exact model arriving this coming week.

[@meair]

love how right under this video, which is processing 2 days after being posted, is an old WAN show which almost certainly is artifacting

[@matrixutzu99]

this video not working on chrome. wtf ???

[@kex0]

also not working on firefox

[@ER43304]

@@kex0 Also not working on Safari

[@xinu00]

also not working on Edge

[@mamuf]

Looks like not working anywhere, dammit.

[@WamblyHades]

Also not working on the android app.

[@HamVR]

I actually have this GPU. So far I've been very happy with it. Runs very quite, runs super cool and at idle it uses about 50w less than my 3090 Strix OC did. Great built quality and understated looks. Thr performance for VR gaming has been fantastic too 😁

[@vdbmario]

Any coil whine?

[@Sean_Coyne]

@@vdbmario Some people have noticed some in reviews, which kinda worried me a bit. But after receiving mine this morning I was running it on tests before I closed the case and I couldn't hear any.

[@dinnersat630]

@@Sean_Coyne How's the card treating you now? I'm going to pick one up and am worried about coil whine too. Also lowkey worried about how much power this puppy will be pulling? Are you digging the card still?

[@Sean_Coyne]

@@dinnersat630 Very happy with it, especially for Microsoft Flight Simulator in VR where it has doubled performance. There is a bit of coil whine, but I can't hear it while gaming over the case fans and that's with the side panel off. With the card at idle for web browsing, nothing, same with watching Netflix at 4K.

[@dinnersat630]

@@Sean_Coyne Thanks for your reply! Appreciate it. I feel like damn near every 4090 will have coil whine and it just is what it is. Turn the volume up and enjoy the visuals. I can't wait to try out Flight Sim with it! I picked this up along with an i913900k and 1200w PSU. I'm happy that you're happy with it. Did you have to use that anti sag thing it came with? MFS in VR sounds incredible! Which VR headset are you using? Are you running that on maxed out settings in 4K or? Sorry for all the questions, I'm very excited. I currently have a 1060! Due for this upgrade.

[@DeadPhoenix86DP]

If only these GPU's were affordable. I remember paying 500 for a high end GPU not too long ago. I guess its back to consoles.

[@timtaifig6873]

Thank you so much for this excellent video 👍😀! I wanted to get a MSI Gaming X Trio on launch day but it was sold out in seconds here in Germany but I managed to get an Asus 4090 tuf OC. Glad I made the right choice.

[@Cypeq]

Honestly, better cooling design overall wins for me. I will say with no doubt that aluminium is nice, but gigabyte put more thought into keeping everything cool, and included decent anti sag solution. Fan ring RGB is also very nice on gaming oc model. Gigabyte also didn't overextend fan shroud like ASUS did here, I never like that just makes card a little bit more incompatible with some cases. I've had that over extension for no reason make my old 970 strix not fit in a case, but I've cleanly cut of usless 1cm and fit card...

[@hunterjg777]

I agree. When I first heard that the Tuf had an aluminium shroud, I thought "great". However, if that better shroud doesn't result in better temps...then it just means the card looks a bit prettier now...

[@akmGHosT]

You monster, that poor little Strix! 🤣

[@Cypeq]

@@akmGHosT it was cut with a high speed steel saw, if you didn't see original you wouldn't be able to tell it's missing 15mm

[@Cypeq]

@@hunterjg777 gaming oc and tuf are kind of the same ball park in product stack, you can clearly see that cost calculation has to be made aluminium shroud is great but it's there at expense of other features.

[@TheIronArmenianakaGIHaigs]

If I was to get a RTX 4090 this seems like the one. I'm not a fan of the over the top RGB gamer stuff. Then again the RTX 4090 FE this series looks pretty good and is a lower price. Shame you can't seem to get the FE cards in Europe area

[@simptrix007]

I got myself Gigabyte Windforce model also clean look with good thermals.

[@redstar612]

same here waiting for the FE Edition .... the others are not worth the extra money 400euro's +

[@loki76]

What is over the top RGB gamer stuff on the Gaming OC? It's all black and it has RGB inside the fans. That's it. Pretty mild and actually nice aesthetics.

[@papasquib]

This is the card I would have gotten if it weren’t for the TUF Gaming logo slapped on the front. I wish 90% of the new cards coming out didn’t have a huge “GAMING” logo on them. I ended up with the gigabyte oc, which yes has a plastic shroud, but still looks very clean in my case

[@Donbros]

I agree gigabyte looks classy. I also got it instead of this

[@arckie]

You can raise voltage to 1.1 in newest beta afterburner. Your tests looked locked at 1.05. Would’ve hit over 3k on core if you’d have maxed the voltage.

[@simont.2145]

I get why you show the OC potential plus thermals under more wattage then but wouldn't it be more interesting to show the silicon quality of the tested cards when it comes to undervolting? If one had to choose whether to overclock or undervolt these cards I suppose most of us would prefer undervolting.

[@ghuk1]

If I was in the market to purchase a RTX 4090 I'd actually take the Gigabyte option over the Asus. Simple reason being that the Gigabyte card (in the UK at least) offers a 4 year guarantee as to the Asus's 3. Certainly when spending the best part of £2,000 thats a far bigger selling point for me than an aluminium vs plastic finish........

[@fenaxtv]

Asus Tuf RTX 4090 or Gigabyte Rtx 4090 Gaming OC? Which one is better? Gigabyte is showing better thermals, right? What about noise?

[@soppingclam]

The beauty of this card, is with a custom fan curve to keep it running at 40% min and go up to around 75% when it reaches above 65 degrees. Don't need to increase power limit (even though can go +33%)! Go +121 core +500 vram. As long as you have a decent case with proper airflow it rarely ever gets hot enough to downclock below 2910mhz core. Mine lives in the 2955-2985mhz all day long. The other lovely thing about this card. I have a i5-14600kf @ 5.8ghz all P-Cores with arctic cooler 360mm AIO, DDR5 (2x32gb) cl32, NZXT Elite H7 case with upgraded rear 140mm fan (much quieter than the stock one) + an LG C3 42" Monitor/TV. 4K As the card barely makes a sweat, and no matter what I don't seem to get screen tearing regardless how many fps. If say you play Rocket League, just frame cap it in game to 240fps and this cad will live under 100watts and maintain low latency ms. Have tested over 10 different RTX 4090s in one of my computer stores and the VRMs on this particular Asus OC with that box with the edges has the highest quality VRMs. Naturally, I have tested to see how well it can perform at max when power setting is not on balanced and you don't care about the environment or power bills. Where setting a RTX 4080 OC are able to perform above 120fps in pretty much everything maxed at 4k, you will find, you will leave it uncapped and it uses a fair bit more wattage. The beauty of having so much beautiful hardware on the board of this 4090 is if you want you can allow it to go stable 3060mhz +1400vrm with a custom voltage/freq. Rock solid. End of the day, its the overall best when you have your setting right and the CPU and ram are running at decent speeds with a z790 mboard. That can live high 2800s-3000mhz core and in game cap to both save power and heat. Side note. I had a i9-14900k and a i7-14700k both OC with the same setup, but went with the i5-14600kf as it has the ability to OC higher and use a whole lot less energy and heat dissipation resulting in higher FPS in every single game. Maintaining both CPU, Ram and the GPU to never throttle. Wow, never endorsed a product like this :/

[@GloriousStone]

can you please add decibel test to those reviews?

[@ZeTeacher1997]

finally a youtube channel that talks about cooling and actual comparison between cards... I was not sure what to pick between oc gaming and tuf but boy do I hate high temperatures. So, for now i'll go for oc gaming .. though it would be nice to see the major differences between OC gaming and Aorus master in terms of cooling and average fps and their Asus Strix counterpart

[@Cruor34]

Unless you know something I don't, isn't the answer to what card to pick: "The one that is in stock" atm none are, at least not at MSRP.

[@ZeTeacher1997]

@@Cruor34 it's just me. I have had a really bad experience with high temperatures. also, I have been using gigabyte for a long time and I don't really care for the aesthetics or rgb and how pretty is the card as long as it does its job. It's just a personal thing, I'm just sharing my own thoughts in my head that's all.

[@ZeTeacher1997]

@@Cruor34 besides.. at least gigabyte is available where I am also asus tuf

[@Cruor34]

@@ZeTeacher1997 Where out of curiosity? BestBuy, Newegg, B&H (USA) always sold out, couldn't even get a 3080 from them until it was too late to matter.

[@PantsaBear]

@@Cruor34 Yeah I agree, all those retailers sold out. My case is super limited with how wide my GPU could be too, so Im forced to buy off a scalper if I want the pick of my card that is air-cooled and not like 75mm+ in width

[@TalonsTech]

Steve you can increase the voltage to 1100mV from stock 1050mV you’re using here. You have to download the latest MSI Afterburner beta and then the voltage slider is unlocked. It goes to 100% which locks voltage to 1100mV. This allows for a bit more OC and obviously stability. It let me hit 3100mhz.

[@eayth4141]

What version of msi afterburner is this ;

[@TalonsTech]

@@eayth4141 4.6.5 Beta 2

[@MultiGamerClub]

"Your browser can't play this video. "

[@PHDarren]

"Learn more" (click): Your browser is up to date. Google Chrome can't run a Google KZbin video.

[@MultiGamerClub]

@@PHDarren seems ive been here before xD

[@collinhowell2064]

I'm interested in liquid cooled RTX4090, how much better might they be?

[@choongkeat]

If voltage can't be increased, it'll just be performing similar with lower temps most probably.

[@volvot6rdesignawd702]

@@choongkeat ohh and better for smaller builds to a point !!

[@Isaax]

Since Der8auer has shown that simply lowering the power target barely touches performance but massively lets you gain efficiency, I wonder what would stop AIBs from making much more reasonably sized RTX 4090s and selling them with a factory lower power target? Could they do that or would Nvidia not allow it? I see a lot of potential here actually, saving money on the smaller overall cards while getting 90 to 95% of the performance at lower heat output

[@Safetytrousers]

They pump the power like they do on CPUs to cover the small amount that would be unstable without that power.

[@Dr_HarleyQuinn]

Hey friends have a question can i use the card with a 850w psu from asus thor when i don't OC the card? i use R9 5900x cpu

[@senhorkorracha]

Hey, it's nice that they've dropped the orange shades from their TUF lineup

[@GodSEndOMG]

Great review! Would be nice with ultrawide resolution in benchmarks.

[@letolollers3729]

Its easy enough to do basic math based on 1440p to get ultrawide performance really if that's your thing

[@Agamemnon9]

Multiplication is your friend.

[@marinipersonal]

I was well impressed with the TUF 3080, thermals and the quality of the casing. Quite shocking when we see 4090s considerably more expensive than the FE, no thermal or performance gains and a nasty plastic casing. The pillar is a good thing. Considering how wide the GPU is, a bracket would cross, and even risk touch, the fans. At least with the pillar you can position it exactly where you need. One thing that MSI uses as is amazing is the reinforcement bar between the PCB and the cooler. Really makes a difference.

[@Beer_Wolf]

Going to grab this for my next high-end PC.

[@bobhope5976]

Yea I don't know Steve, looks aside I think the Gigabyte OC is a better card. The only thing that the Asus TUF has going for it is the metal shroud, which doesn't do anything but make the card heavy. I personally think the Gigabyte looks better. Also, it's $100 cheaper.

[@mangaas]

TUF is doing a really good job at making the best looking cards. I have the RTX 3080, and it's got a similar metal design. Having a non glossy plastic instantly makes the card look better. I'm still surprised when manufacturers use cheap, glossy plastic on $1000 and up pieces of electronics. The metal absorbs heat, I can guarantee it adds to lower temps, even if it's slight, I prefer knowing that metal shroud is acting as a slight heat sponge.

[@e21big]

I always like Asus TUF gun metal grey asthetic - but they are always quite a bit (actually a lot for my 3080) more expensive than Gigabyte, MSI and everyone else. It seems to be a bit on the side of a form over function this year too. If the thermal result is not as competitive, anti-sack solution looks janky, and thermal pad design is poor - that sound exactly like a build quality problem.

[@moltenbullet]

The 3080 strixx had a shitty build quality issue with one of the fans that couldn't be easily accessed on the consumer end for the minor corrections it needed. Asus is just generally not among the best with its QC and yet charges for shit like it delivers the most premium hot stuff in the tech world.

[@e21big]

@@moltenbullet I found their QC to be pretty good and they did deliver on their promise most of the time, just not in this case

[@euphoria842]

I hope you have a Suprim on hand. I want my purchasing decision to be reaffirmed.

[@grantedwards5878]

I am in Australia. I was planning on a new build with Ryzen 7000 series and 40 series GPU. I don’t think it will happen now because wow they are expensive!! A good AM4 rig with 30 series is half the price.

[@blacksama_]

What the hell means "Your browser can't play this video. Learn more" I can play any other video but this one.

[@markcentral]

Great review! The tuf gaming definately has the aesthetics of higher build quality compared to the gigabyte gaming oc, but I think it is worth noting that there's an extra $100 usd price difference between those models, and $200 more expensive than the FE.

[@loki76]

Not only that you get 1 more year of warranty with the Gigabyte. It also has better thermal performance. Techpowerup reviewed it and they have it basically at the top in thermals. So, yeah, a plastic shroud, because Gigabyte need something to justify an "Auros" card that would cost more, like a Strix. I personally don't give AF about looks, only performance and warranty and thermals etc. It's there to present images on a screen. I don't sit and look at the thing inside an enclosed case. So, no I don't need another 300gram weight on my card in the case for $100 more and less warranty and thermals. But that shroud is what Steve cares about.

[@nachiketa9245]

@@loki76 Exactly. Seems like he is reviewing a sculpture.

[@inmypaants]

TUF 6000 series was peak! It had the Strix cooler and TUF price tag

[@MrHamof]

11:00 You can tho? There should be a slider in your GPU OC utility of choice that says "GPU Voltage", if you slide it up to 100 you get 1.1v instead of 1.05v. Not a huge difference or anything, but it's there.

[@TimLongson]

Really hope that NVidia releases the RTX4090ti (WITH display port 2 [which is powered so no it won't just be a bios update] and HDMI 2.1a and PCIe gen 5 [so it uses less lanes] - so fixing all the bottlenecks of the RTX4090), BEFORE black Friday this year - if they do, I will get one. If they don't do all these things (that deadline with those bottlenecks removed, which amongst other things limited the RTX4090 video output to BELOW the resolution & refresh rate that it CAN already produce) I will be switching to AMD.

[@PantsaBear]

Nvidia already announced their lineup for this year, and it was 3 cards (now its 2, with the 4080 12gb being rolled back). No chance a TI variant is coming this year, and maybe not even next year. Would wait til AMD actually announces something and has cards out for review before committing, but you do you

[@TimLongson]

@@PantsaBear in the same way Nvidia "announced" two RTX4080s, and then "unlaunched" it when the realised their mistake? A mistake like bottlenecks on the RTX4090?

[@WayStedYou]

@@PantsaBear 4090ti will absolutely come next year because they will have an AMD card near to the 4090 again.

[@Indra88155]

Guys you need 4090 to watch this video, sorry.

[@alpinestars-wm8rv]

Thanks for your review. Had my mind set on this one.. & still do! Will be tearing it down however; and blocking it in Ek’s Vector2 GPU water block! Would love to see the benchmarks on that, and compare thermals.. can’t wait 👍

[@rubenbajo5353]

When I start the video the sound is ok but I can only see the thumbnail and I can't fix it. Does anybody has this issue?

[@WamblyHades]

Me too

[@forgetfulduck]

Currently on a 2080ti. Pricing with our lower AUD value is insane. 4090 $1600 USD MSRP is around $3200+ AUD at retail here. If the 4080 is $1200 USD then we will be looking at around $2400+ AUD. To anyone who isn't already running a 3080, will probably just try and buy a new 3080 for around $1200. Is the 4080 going to be double the performance to justify double the asking price of a 3080? If we switch on DLSS on a 3080 on 1440p, it's plenty playable already.

[@tlion8406]

a bit of a disappointment, card in my country cost as much as a msi suprim liquid and its thermals are worse than the gigabyte oc. I don’t think steve should have given it such a high rating in build quality because as he said the thermal pads are part of the build quality. Also the power seems to be limited to 550 watts. Asking so much on the tuf model and such having a beefy cooler they should have fully unlocked the power. This card is a hard pass in countries where its priced higher than some high end models of other companies

[@Donbros]

Also asus rgb sucks. Had 2080ti and they died in 4 months

[@JosiahBradley]

The shroud is aluminum which isn't magnetic and my case is aluminum, still not magnetic. That a weird option for the "leg". Not that the card will fit because it's too tall, forget the length. And it'll hit the WiFi card. Basically all these cards are pointless for me without a water block because of their size. And even then the custom PCBs might still be too tall.

[@MrDvneil]

i miss decibel data, is so important to compare different gpu models. at least standarize on X decibel

[@SpitfireSpud]

This is the one I was hoping for. I have the TUF 3070 Ti GPU and it's a great card for what I need. I'm hoping to get a TUF 4090 when possible.

[@hustleacc8075]

Enjoy spending more than 2000$/€ for a graphics card

[@SpitfireSpud]

@@hustleacc8075 I'm going to wait and see what happens when AMD launch to see does pricing change, but €2000 is the max I would spend on the 4090, anything over I will look somewhere else. My current budget for my new build is about €5000-6000. However, like I said, I'm going to wait.

[@arushsharma42]

@@hustleacc8075 I am sure he will

[@seafafrage6934]

brooooo the 3070ti is more than enough what the fuck you need 4090 for lmaooooo gamers are such dumb people with too much money

[@iseeyou1312]

The TUF and Strix 3070 Ti are the worst 3070 Ti cards. The recycled heatsink only half-covers the VRMs, so they thermal throttle at 110 degrees with moderate usage. Here's a video showing the poor design and how to fix it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nGnJZ41-eLWJptk

[@ToMmY-lt7dw]

nice! Looking to cop mine next week. Probably gonna go with MSI Suprim X. has one of the best core clocks.

[@Cruor34]

How do you choose when to get it? It looks like it's going to be sold out constantly, just like the 3080s were.

[@ToMmY-lt7dw]

@@Cruor34 yea probably bro... there are alot of sites so should be able to find one hopefully, when its back in stock. Im in the UK, not sure how it is in the US tho

[@Sean_Coyne]

I was so frustrated watching this review, as I ordered mine 5 minutes after release time here in Oz and forgot to ask for Express Parcel Post, so it just arrived today close to two weeks later. I felt like a little kid counting sleeps till Christmas. Now it's here I'm super impressed with it. Coming from an otherwise great Radeon 6800XT, it's made a huge leap for Microsoft Flight Simulator in VR. I even like the adjustable anti-sag screw driver pillar thingy. 😀

[@Usernamebutwhy]

Hows the vr experience?

[@outsidein3206]

Does there need to be a new measurement standard. Overclock % to FPS increase Power draw to Thermal Increase Audio Increase at the increased levels. A holistic overview if you will.

[@iseeyou1312]

How is it "the best yet" when the memory temps are so high? It possibly looks like it might be the worst to me, apart from the FE of course. And other AIBs charge significantly less for their GPUs than what ASUS does - so are you really going to spend a lot more for worse thermals? This review is basically "I like how this one looks, buy this one." Which is strange, because this channel is usually more critical and performance focused.

[@nimrodery]

It's a simple enough matter to swap out the pads with a better solution, where you won't find it so easy to replace a plastic shroud with something fancy like this. Looks are just going to be a factor at the price range.

[@iseeyou1312]

@@nimrodery Metal backplates with thermalpads to the PCB are important, but a metal fan shroud does nothing. I don't understand buying a $1,800-$2,000 GPU just to have to replace the thermal pads with copper shims when $1,600 GPUs don't have this problem.

[@nimrodery]

@@iseeyou1312 A metal shroud helps you feel like you didn't buy magic beans. Not saying the Gigabyte is a bad card at all, but it definitely feels cheap and flexible for the price. Asus is charging you for the TUF branding, not the metal. It wouldn't add significant expense to the Gigabyte and would greatly reduce the cheap look and feel. You can easily flex the Gigabyte so it appears the metal shroud does something.

[@sephirothcrescent1502]

bigger than my problems

[@dandylion1987]

Got mine yesterday, lovely piece of kit

[@sirjonsmithiii992]

Just bought it. I waited until the super's came out to decide. I upgraded from a 3080 tuf (original 3080). Great cards both.

[@Soutar3DG]

It seems like for the RTX 4000 series, at least so far, all pretty much perform roughly the same and it'll just come down to your preferred taste, what you like the look of the most and what you can afford.

[@SweatyFeetGirl]

"what you can afford" i don't think anyone that buys a 4090 will care if their aftermarket card will cost 2000 or 3000 $ because thats how much they sell for here and people seem to buy them..

[@jinx20001]

im using a msi trio 4090 and yeh it seems like they do perform much the same as each other, i thought my card would have limited overclocking capabilities, it only has a 3 way 8 pin adapter instead of the typical 4 way ones and i can only push the power limit slider to 106 but much to my surprise it overclocks to 3090mhz with a peak here and there to 3105mhz and its stable, can even put plus 1600 on the memory, 1700 is the point where it all goes to crap. so its pretty clear to me so far that power limits are not being hit and the cards are limited by voltage instead.

[@gdgd5194]

I don't understand "gamers". They can spend 15 minutes watching how well a PC part looks, then slam it inside a case and never see it again :D

[@gregritferdjr]

Console gamers will never understand

[@gdgd5194]

@@gregritferdjr Console gamers? This must be the award winner of the most random, irrelevant comment on youtube. 2nd place: "I like turtles"

[@gregritferdjr]

@@gdgd5194 it’s perfectly relevant

[@SeezYT]

JUST bought this one an hour ago! Can't wait for it to arrive tomorrow (Saturday) for a good weekend gaming session :D

[@juliantatacoya5391]

How is it going with that gpu?

[@SeezYT]

@@juliantatacoya5391 good :D definitely worth the money

[@inmypaants]

6:54 that heatsink looks perfect for a deshroud mod with 2x 120mm fans

[@Marco-cg7fb]

A bit confused here, my TUF OC has a max adjustable power target of 133% allowing it to draw 600 watt, not 520 as said in the video

[@AlaskanFalcon]

The Asus TUF 3080 is the only GPU I've ever owned that I had repeated problems with, even after an RMA and an entirely different GPU. It would crash and lock up the PC completely when using chrome. VERY random and sporadic. Replaced basically every part in my PC except for the GPU (ram, Cpu, mobo, psu, ssds etc). Still had crashes, finally put my wifes 2060 in for a week, and all the crashing went away. put the TUF back, crashing started again. RMA'd it and it worked crash free for about a month, then started it again. And now I have a 4090. Specifically did not buy the TUF because of the issues and the horror stories I've read about Asus's warranty. Thankfully mine was more or less pain free. Hopefully I never need to use Gigabytes warranty. I've heard they're just as bad.

[@chilpeeps]

I hope amd can come up with 4k60 card with decent price instead of high performance 1080p cards

[@kentbergstrom3020]

Why do you omit coil whine in your tests? that's what we want to know, all 4090s are fast

[@IAMkingofkings318]

Glad I went with the non OC model of tihs. Saved 200 bucks with all of the build quality and still got a overclock to 2910 MHz! And I could probably push that further since that was using MSI's automatic OC scanner.

[@Killswitch1411]

Does the non oc have four 8 pin power connector?

[@IAMkingofkings318]

@@Killswitch1411 Yeah it does

[@Killswitch1411]

@@IAMkingofkings318 Thx for the replay.. Mine should be here Monday. People who paid the extra $200 ouch.

[@Xevorg.]

I didn’t understand a little, did Nvidia limit the TDP to around 500w in games? Therefore, no one can achieve the declared 600W? Is there any chance the restrictions will be lifted? It is difficult to make a choice because of this factor.

[@arveen1362]

Flash a vbios that bypasses that. Should be available soon surely

[@Cruor34]

I disagree on the leg, I like it. Simple, easy, no fuss and works. I personally don't think it looks bad, but then I am also (it seems I'm in the minority) a person who doesn't stare into his PC case but instead, crazy as it is, I am busy playing games and looking at the monitor. I look at my PC like I look at the V8 in my truck. I appreciate it's power and what it does for me, but I almost never look at it.

[@haberdasherrykr8886]

Function over form

[@herr_L.]

Still missing Noise Normalized Testing :( Think that's actually the most valuable testing to compare the cards. Would love to get it added! Otherwise great job as always :)