The MSI Suprim Liquid RTX 5090, at this point, represents the opulence and indulgence of gamers seeking the cream of the crop of custom-cooled GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs. The concept is nothing new: you get a 1-slot GPU on one end and in this case, a massive 360mm radiator and three 120mm fans bolted on to it.
It’s not cheap either, a detail I’ll address further in this review. But before that, let’s talk about what you get in terms of aesthetics.
Specifications
Design
Clearly, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 isn’t a GPU that was designed for small form factor PCs. The primary PCB itself is encased in a hybrid cooling enclosure, combining both air and liquid cooling in one. The VRAM and capacitors on the card are cooled by one MSI Stormforce fan, along with a stylised backplate that acts as a passive heatsink.
At the end of the card are the two tubes connected to the massive 360mm radiator that, again are cooled by the three Stormforce fans. The heatsink and pump itself is connected directly to the GPU core but even better, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 only requires that you connect the power cable to the card for the entire component to run. That’s right, there’s no need for you to manually connect an external power source to the fans or pump.
But as with all extravagant items in life, this doesn’t come cheap. Off the shelf, the asking price you’re looking at is RM12,990.
Testbench
I will be testing the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 directly against my RTX 5090 FE, as a means to see just how much more (or less) the card’s performance is. Additionally, I’ve swapped out the motherboard for the Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero but the CPU remains the same Ryzen 9 9950X.
Also, I’m testing the card directly out of the box, meaning that it should be running in its gaming mode by default.
Benchmarks, Temperature, And Power Consumption
The final results for the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 are…hit or miss. With the synthetic benchmarks, it doesn’t really pull very far ahead of the RTX 5090 FE and for the majority of it, matches it.
In Unigine Superposition, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 only surpasses the FE in 4K – albeit by a small margin – but somewhat limps a little in the Full HD resolution of the test. My guess is that the card, with all its cooling and features, sometimes enters the equivalent of a dead sprint from time to time, almost as if the card is getting a second wind. From where exactly, I don’t know.
As for the real-world or gaming tests, the final average frames feel a little odd, to say the least. For the most part, it only trails behind the 5090 FE by a handful of frames but realistically and at 4K resolution, it’s still pushing past the 100 fps mark across the board.
Of course, because it is a Blackwell card, titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2 are able to take advantage of DLSS 4 and Multiframe Generation to really push the average frames well above 200 fps.
One of the major benefits of having a massive radiator attached to the GPU is, naturally, lower peak temperatures. To that end, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090’s temperature on a full load, rarely goes past 66°C. However, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention that my lab is always set at a cool 20°C.
There is also a cost to all that power and cooling, literally. Compared to the 5090 FE or any air cooled variant of the GPU, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 can pull a solid 600W from the wall alone, and bring the total power draw of a system up to a bill-bulging 915W.
Conclusion
As Malaysia won’t be receiving NVIDIA’s Founders Edition version of the RTX 5090, the Suprim Liquid RTX 5090 is clearly going to have to be one of the options for gamers with oodles of disposable income will want to consider. Let me be clear: it is without a doubt a powerful GPU but one of multiple caveats, one of which is the headroom and space you’re going to need in your moderately-sized casing.
But once again, with an asking price of RM12,990, it’s either this or a down payment for a Perodua Axia.
Photography by John Law.
