Colourful GeForce RTX 4090 NB EX-V

The Colourful RTX 4090 NB EV-X is the primary third-party RTX 4090 graphics card we have had within the take a look at rig, and truthfully, I used to be shocked it is even greater than the humongous Founders Version that has already impressed me. The shock solely lasted till the MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X landed with an audible thud within the PC Gamer workplace, nevertheless, as a result of that is even greater nonetheless.

There is a purpose third-party variations of the primary Ada Lovelace era GPU are seemingly all delivery with graphics card helps. Strive mounting this factor vertically in your chassis with out one and also you’re a potent recipe for bending, and even shearing the PCI Specific slot clear off your motherboard.

The Colourful RTX 4090, nevertheless, is a $1,600 largely reference-clocked card versus the truly overclocked MSI, so you may forgive it being slightly smaller. You solely have to go to a 3.5-slot design in case you’re actually pushing the ability, right? It could actually’t fairly determine what to name this card, although. The retail field says ‘Battle Ax’ the product web page says RTX 4090 NB EX-V, however then additionally references a Battle Axe cooling array. That is axe. With an ‘e’. Enjoyable, eh?

However there’s nonetheless an amazing, tangible sense of worth when selecting up this chonk boi of a graphics card. The quantity of aluminium in that heatsink array, poking out from beneath the triple fan shroud, factors to the latent energy inside this factor.

And it is a fairly restrained design from Colourful, and truly not that vibrant. You possibly can, after all, change the RGB brand on prime of it through the iGame software program, however that is about it. The final Colourful card we checked out was its RTX 3080 iGame Superior OC, which was slightly excessive, to say the least. Not simply within the angular RGB-lit shroud, but additionally in its push for aggressively overclocking the GPU at its coronary heart which made it slightly flaky at launch. 

The RTX 4090 Battle Ax, nevertheless, is stable, sq., and as far as dependable because the Nvidia Founders Version.

After I stated it was largely reference-clocked that is as a result of its increase clock is 2,565MHz versus the two,520MHz of the Founders Version card. Now, I do know some producers would nonetheless name that ‘overclocked’ so kudos to Colourful for not spouting that line in any of its advertising across the card. 

Although I am not going to let the ‘menacing luxurious’ line go with out remark when it talks about that ‘diamond reducing design’ within the product description. With regards to luxurious, the very last thing I need it to be is menacing. It is up there with promoting your restaurant as providing ‘caustic gastronomy’.

That apart, the AD102 GPU will get the identical therapy as that within the RTX 4090 Founders Version, that’s to say an exceptional variety of CUDA Cores, all of the third Gen RT Cores and 4th Gen Tensor Cores, further cache, and 24GB of GDDR6X reminiscence to name its personal.

So yeah, nonetheless an absolute monster of a graphics card. If you wish to familiarize yourself with the brand new tech I’ve already gone into depth with the Ada Lovelace structure within the FE assessment.

The ability aspect of issues is where it seems slightly totally different, nevertheless. Colourful, like different producers, is recommending 1000W energy provides for the RTX 4090 (although MSI nonetheless says an 850W PSU is the minimal requirement), and it is also referring to the TGP as 480W, not 450W as with Nvidia’s personal card. 

Once more, the 480W determine is what MSI is suggesting for its RTX 4090 Suprim in overclocked ‘Gaming Mode’.

Artificial efficiency

All these specs would have you ever anticipating the Colourful card to surpass the RTX 4090 Founders Version within the benchmarking stakes. However you would be unsuitable. And perhaps that is right down to the precise design of Nvidia’s personal board. Nvidia’s engineers crafted the AD102 to take care of an enormous quantity of energy going by means of its 4N transistors, to the purpose that it is capable of hit a mean 2,716MHz in our testing.

And a part of that’s going to be right down to the 20 section energy design of its PCB, delivering a gentle movement of unpolluted vitality to the GPU. This Colourful board, nevertheless, is sporting a 14+3 energy section design, which could clarify why we’re solely seeing a mean 2,577MHz within the take a look at rig.

4K gaming efficiency

I used to be nonetheless capable of overclock the chip to run at a gentle 2,865MHz by upping the ability limits and manually adjusting the clock velocity within the iGame software program, however that took slightly work. Although it reveals the ability design remains to be sufficient to get quite a lot of efficiency out of the Colourful card. I’m nonetheless a bit unhappy I could not simply hit 3GHz, however I’ve but to correctly strive my hand at significantly overclocking the RTX 4090.

This decrease clock velocity is indicative of decrease efficiency throughout the board for the Colourful RTX 4090. However solely by a fractional quantity, and it’s nonetheless monumentally sooner than the RTX 3090 that got here earlier than it.

Energy and thermals

The ability and thermal calls for of a third-party card will at all times be an essential a part of any determination on which RTX 4090 to purchase. But it surely’s all slightly stage with regards to these metrics between the Founders Version and the 2 AIB playing cards we have examined thus far. The Colourful is the coolest-running, although additionally the slowest, which suggests its energy draw can also be low by comparability.

It is price noting that the MSI card within the benchmarks above is working at nearly the identical velocity because the Founders model, typically providing increased efficiency, however truly appears a bit cuter by way of what it calls for on the ability aspect.

All these uncooked benchmark numbers apart, the Colourful RTX 4090 remains to be an ideal automobile for the majesty that’s DLSS 3 with Body Technology. That is likely one of the stand out options of the Ada GPUs, and may very well be the factor that saves the RTX 4080s from wanting a lot weaker by comparability. Body Technology is a few unimaginable AI-based wizardry, and makes even CPU-limited video games, equivalent to MS Flight Sim, completely—pardon the pun—fly.

And it seems nice doing it. I would go thus far to say that DLSS 3 with Body Technology, at 4K even on the Efficiency setting, seems markedly higher than working the video games we have examined at 4K native. 

So, the Colourful RTX 4090 Battle Ax remains to be basically an RTX 4090, and meaning it is a mighty highly effective graphics card. However Nvidia has engineered one other unimaginable Founders Version model, which stands aside from the accomplice playing cards, and implies that when you have a selection that’s the one to purchase. It can at all times be $1,600 and I would at all times take that over any third-party model, overclocked, water-cooled, or no matter.