FRONTPAGE MSI RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio Review: Fastest Ever... for $1500+

[Overclockers.com]

Today we get our first taste of Nvidia's flagship RTX 3090 GPU, and thanks to MSI, we'll be testing their RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio. It's been two years since Nvidia released a new architecture (not that they needed to), so we're excited to see what Ampere brings to the table. Nvidia claims the RTX 3090 is 1.5X faster than the Titan RTX Turing-based GPU, and if true, this is a substantial generational leap in performance.

Click here to view the article.

 

[Janus67]

Nice job Shawn!

Truly a card for a professional that also wants to game. Just too much money for a small % increase from a 3080. And you better be playing games at 1440p or preferably 4K to actually let it stretch its legs.

 

[EarthDog]

Beast of a card... pricey!

 

[dfonda]

Glad to see the review...Sad there sold out.

 

[MaddMutt]

Great write up I love the - tare down and pictures of the ICs used - that we do for reviews. This time around from NVidia, the OC to power usage looks like AMD’s

 

[Nebulous]

Dang! That 3090 is quite the power hog with 3 x 4pin. That's $500 per plug! Too rich for my blood, I fold!

Great write-up Shawn!

 

[Robert17]

Nice work-up Shawn. Nice card. Interested in seeing how it can Fold......

 

[dfonda]

Nice work-up Shawn. Nice card. Interested in seeing how it can Fold......

I'm interested in learning how any of the 3000 series fold...

 

[wingman99]

Nice job Shawn!

Truly a card for a professional that also wants to game. Just too much money for a small % increase from a 3080. And you better be playing games at 1440p or preferably 4K to actually let it stretch its legs.

I can stretch 3090 legs with my 1920x1080 240Hz IPS monitor. Playing battlefield V I run it on low settings to get 160-180 FPS on one map with RTX 2070.

 

[EarthDog]

I can stretch 3090 legs with my 1920x1080 240Hz IPS monitor. Playing battlefield V I run it on low settings to get 160-180 FPS on one map with RTX 2070.

Stretching its legs, to me, means the gpu isn't limited by the cpu... which is 1440/4k.

You'd be wholly cpu limited at 1080p with this card (especially on low). For 7% difference (between 3080 and 3090 at 1080p), I'm not paying 2x.

That said, a 3080 will almost get you there (and is also cpu limited at 1080p).

 

[wingman99]

Stretching its legs, to me, means the gpu isn't limited by the cpu... which is 1440/4k.

You'd be wholly cpu limited at 1080p with this card (especially on low). For 7% difference (between 3080 and 3090 at 1080p), I'm not paying 2x.

That said, a 3080 will almost get you there (and is also cpu limited at 1080p).

My i5 8600k is clocked at 5.0GHz for high FPS. On battlefield V low settings with maps that run 240 FPS the CPU utilization max is 92%. Why do you say I would be CPU limited?

 

[EarthDog]

You've got a 2070. We're talking about a 3090 here...

CPU doesn't need to be at 100% use to hold back a gpu anyway.

Look up some cpu scaling articles with a 3090. You'll see even i9-10900k at 5ghz hold it back in some titles (not all). Look at scaling of cards (3080/3090). You'll see a much bigger gap between them at 4k (a non cpu bound res right now) than 1080. This is in part due to the cpu holding performance back. Overclocking the gpu yields nothing at 1080p...these don't oc a lot, but you see gains at 1440 and 4k (albeit negligible).
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asus-geforce-rtx-3090-strix-oc/32.html

 

[DaveB]

Can't see any reason to buy one of these things. I only game at 1440p on a FreeSync 32" Philips monitor so I could look at a 3070 down the road. But everything is fine now using an RX 5700 XT and I have no interest in gaming on one of my 4K TVs.

 

[wingman99]

You've got a 2070. We're talking about a 3090 here...

CPU doesn't need to be at 100% use to hold back a gpu anyway.

Look up some cpu scaling articles with a 3090. You'll see even i9-10900k at 5ghz hold it back in some titles (not all). Look at scaling of cards (3080/3090). You'll see a much bigger gap between them at 4k (a non cpu bound res right now) than 1080. This is in part due to the cpu holding performance back. Overclocking the gpu yields nothing at 1080p...these don't oc a lot, but you see gains at 1440 and 4k (albeit negligible).
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asus-geforce-rtx-3090-strix-oc/32.html

I reviewed the link you posted and it looks like some games limiting the max FPS, since the max FPS is the same for 1080p to 1440p. Also DirectX 11 engines are CPU processor limiting. Example TPU tested battlefield V at DX 11 and when I enable DX 11 max FPS is 170 with DX 12 my max 240 FPS.

 

[EarthDog]

I reviewed the link you posted and it looks like some games limiting the max FPS, since the max FPS is the same for 1080p to 1440p. Also DirectX 11 engines are CPU processor limiting. Example TPU tested battlefield V at DX 11 and when I enable DX 11 max FPS is 170 with DX 12 my max 240 FPS.

ok. But that doesn't change anything Ive said.

 

[SPL Tech]

Nice job Shawn!

Truly a card for a professional that also wants to game. Just too much money for a small % increase from a 3080. And you better be playing games at 1440p or preferably 4K to actually let it stretch its legs.

Not even. This is a 4k or 5k only card. 1440p would be a waste of money unless maybe you're trying for 240 Hz. In any case, the 3090 is a total waste of money. You could SLI two 3080s for less money and way better performance. The 3090 doesent really have a useful market without the price point coming WAY down.

Add to that you could flash a custom BIOS on a 3080 and with that you could overclock it beyond the performance of a 3090 making it useless anyway.

 

[BugFreak]

Not even. This is a 4k or 5k only card. 1440p would be a waste of money unless maybe you're trying for 240 Hz. In any case, the 3090 is a total waste of money. You could SLI two 3080s for less money and way better performance. The 3090 doesent really have a useful market without the price point coming WAY down.

Add to that you could flash a custom BIOS on a 3080 and with that you could overclock it beyond the performance of a 3090 making it useless anyway.

Agreed that the 3090 is a huge waste of money but so would SLI considering no decent games can use it. Either way a total waste of money.

 

[SPL Tech]

Agreed that the 3090 is a huge waste of money but so would SLI considering no decent games can use it. Either way a total waste of money.

That is inaccurate. Most games see an increase in SLI. Very few games have absolutely no increase at all. However, whether it is worth it is another matter, of which I think no it's not worth it.

 

[Janus67]

Not even. This is a 4k or 5k only card. 1440p would be a waste of money unless maybe you're trying for 240 Hz. In any case, the 3090 is a total waste of money. You could SLI two 3080s for less money and way better performance. The 3090 doesent really have a useful market without the price point coming WAY down.

Add to that you could flash a custom BIOS on a 3080 and with that you could overclock it beyond the performance of a 3090 making it useless anyway.

Unfortunately, nVidia doesn't allow SLI on the 3080, so that's out.

Without a custom BIOS or hard modding, most folks are seeing at most a 3-5% increase in framerate when overclocking.

I think at 1440P it will be a solid @ Ultra 144hz setting card with the 3080. Obviously also really stretches its legs with 4K, and is a gigantic waste at 1080p where it doesn't show any significant increase in performance. And no matter which way you slice it, the gains from 3080 -> 3090 are so relatively small that it is not made for the average gamer. It's made for professionals that want that type of card or someone that has enough money to throw at a card that 10-20% gains is enough to pay double.

 

[EarthDog]

Unfortunately, nVidia doesn't allow SLI on the 3080, so that's out.

Without a custom BIOS or hard modding, most folks are seeing at most a 3-5% increase in framerate when overclocking.

I think at 1440P it will be a solid @ Ultra 144hz setting card with the 3080. Obviously also really stretches its legs with 4K, and is a gigantic waste at 1080p where it doesn't show any significant increase in performance. And no matter which way you slice it, the gains from 3080 -> 3090 are so relatively small that it is not made for the average gamer. It's made for professionals that want that type of card or someone that has enough money to throw at a card that 10-20% gains is enough to pay double.

When thanks isn't enough...

QFT!