NVIDIA RTX 5090 Review: A Deep Dive into Performance, Thermals, and Efficiency

The NVIDIA RTX 5090 is here, and we've put it through its paces. This review dives deep into the gaming performance, thermal characteristics, acoustics, ray tracing capabilities, power consumption, and that innovative new Founders Edition design. Let's see if it lives up to the hype. Under the Hood: Key Specifications Let's get into the nitty-gritty. The RTX 5090 is built on the new Blackwell architecture, utilizing the GB202 chip on a TSMC 4nm process. Here's a quick breakdown: CUDA Cores: A staggering 21,760 (an astronomical leap!) TMUs: 680 ROPs: 192 Memory: 32GB GDDR7 at 28 Gbps PCIe: True PCIe Gen 5 support Design and Cooling The 5090 sports an illuminated "X" on both sides of the card—a nice touch, though, with current software, there’s no control over the lighting. Thermally, the card boasts a 575W total board power (TBP) with a slightly angled power plug to help with cable management. The card uses a 3D vapor chamber with liquid metal for die cooling, featur…