MSI GeForce RTX 5090 SUPRIM SOC review – When the gram costs one euro and puts the FE in the shade

1 - Introduction, overview and technical data 2 - Test system and equipment 3 - Teardown: PCB, components and cooler 4 - Material analysis and heat conducting materials 5 - Gaming performance 6 - Power consumption, load peaks, PSU recommendation 7 - Temperatures, clock rates and thermography 8 - Fan curves and operating noise 9 - Summary and conclusion

Total power consumption

While the increased power consumption in idle mode of 29 to a good 34 watts potentially indicates a driver problem, a more differentiated picture emerges under load. In particular, the previously explained efficiency metric, which describes the relationship between power consumption and performance, plays a decisive role in the classification of these values. In silent mode, the card works more efficiently than the Founders Edition due to the improved cooling, as the lower temperatures enable more boost steps without increasing the power consumption excessively. This is particularly evident in QHD and UHD, where the card delivers higher performance with almost identical power consumption. Such optimized operating conditions help to keep power consumption within specifications without sacrificing stability or performance.

In gaming mode, on the other hand, with a TDP of 600 watts, maximum performance is aimed for, which leads to noticeably lower efficiency. Here, the card operates at and just above the upper limit of the 12V2X6 power supply design and achieves its higher performance primarily through an energy-intensified clock increase. As expected, the efficiency is lower in this scenario, as the additional 150 MHz clock rate under load is not accompanied by a corresponding linear increase in performance. Nevertheless, the card manages to deliver stable and constant performance thanks to the optimized cooling.

The observed deviations in power consumption between the resolutions and modes illustrate how important it is to optimize resource usage. Full HD and QHD show a more economical behavior here, which indicates a targeted adjustment of the GPU load. Technologies such as DLSS, whose measurements were not taken into account due to redundancy, could also help to reduce energy requirements in practice. It can be seen that the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM offers a good balance between performance and energy consumption, especially in silent mode, while gaming mode shines with maximum performance at the expense of efficiency. The total power consumption and load peaks should nevertheless be kept in mind, as they provide important information about the thermal and electrical requirements of the card in specific scenarios. But I’ll come to that in a moment.

The motherboard slot, also known as the PCIe slot (PEG: PCI Express Graphics), is designed for a maximum current of 5.5 amps at a voltage of 12 volts, which corresponds to a power consumption of up to 66 watts, in accordance with the PCI-SIG standard. This standard ensures that the slot provides a consistent and reliable power supply without jeopardizing the stability of the system. The limit value of 5.5 amps was deliberately chosen to cover short-term peak loads, such as those that can occur during a load change, without overloading the system or transferring voltage fluctuations to other components.

A key purpose of this specification is to provide clear guidelines for mainboard and graphics card manufacturers to ensure interoperability and compatibility between different systems. Excessive stress on the motherboard slot could lead to thermal problems or damage to traces and connectors, which is why compliance with the standard is crucial for stable and long-lasting operation. Moderate stress on the slot not only maintains system stability, but also the longevity of the hardware components concerned. At the same time, this creates scope for external power connections, which are intended for supplying high-performance graphics cards.

In the case of the RTX 5090 SUPRIM SOC, the advantageous implementation of this principle is clearly evident. With a maximum of 1.3 amps, the card only draws a minimal amount of power from the PEG slot, which represents an extremely low load on the motherboard. This efficient distribution of power consumption between the PEG slot and the 12V2X6 power connection significantly reduces the load on the mainboard slot and contributes to operational reliability. At the same time, however, the 12V2X6 connection is more heavily loaded, as this is where the card draws the majority of its high power consumption. While the PEG slot is hardly used, the power requirement via the 12V2X6 connection is so high that it almost reaches or even slightly exceeds its specification limits!

Load peaks during gaming

Load peaks in gaming mode play a decisive role for high-performance graphics cards such as the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM, as they can place a heavy load on the entire power supply design. While the average consumption of the card in gaming mode is typically high but stable, sudden power demands – such as short, intensive calculations in graphics-heavy scenes – can lead to significant peak currents. These peaks can significantly exceed the specified average values and therefore pose a challenge to the stability and efficiency of the power supply. Such peaks not only require a robust power supply on the part of the power supply unit, but also carefully coordinated power management of the card itself. An improperly regulated power demand could lead to voltage dips that make the system unstable or affect other components.

In addition, load peaks also have an impact on energy efficiency. As the card calls up its maximum performance at these moments, the efficiency is temporarily lower as the additional energy requirement is not proportional to the increase in performance. This is particularly evident in gaming mode, where the card offers more performance due to higher clock rates at peak load, but at a higher energy cost. Sophisticated power management, including good filtering, is crucial in order to control these load peaks and minimize their impact on the rest of the PC system, including the power supply unit. This not only ensures the stability of the system, but also reduces the load on other components such as the power supply unit or the mainboard slot. Ultimately, load peaks are an unavoidable part of gaming operation with high-end GPUs, but controlling them contributes significantly to the overall performance and reliability of the card.

A comparison of the gaming and silent modes of the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM in 20 ms intervals shows clear differences in performance, efficiency and behavior during load peaks. These intervals are particularly meaningful as they show the dynamic fluctuations in power consumption and clock rates that occur in gaming mode. The zoomed measurement in the 10 µs interval offers a high-resolution insight into the behavior of the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM, especially with regard to the dynamic fluctuations in power consumption and clock rates. Compared to the 20 ms intervals, which provide more of an overview of the general behavior of the card, the finer temporal resolution of the 10 µs measurements reveals details that remain invisible when longer intervals are considered.

Silent Mode	Gaming Mode

Load peaks during the stress test

In the stress test, the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM shows a fairly constant behavior in terms of power consumption. In this scenario, the card operates with a continuously high but stable load that is maintained over longer periods of time. This behavior is typical for GPU tests such as Furmark or other load tools that are intended to exhaust the maximum thermal and electrical load capacity of a graphics card. The even loads reflect the efficiency of the power management system, which is designed to operate the card within the thermal and electrical specifications.

In order to protect the hardware from potential damage due to overheating or overloading, the card resorts to automatic down-regulation if the load remains high. These protective mechanisms, which are controlled by both the card’s firmware and the PWM controllers, reduce the clock rates and therefore the power consumption as soon as critical temperature or power limits are reached. This so-called throttling is an integral part of modern GPUs to ensure the longevity of the components.

Silent mode	Gaming mode

Summary of the load peaks and a power supply recommendation

The load peaks of the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM place high demands on the power supply, especially in gaming mode, where the graphics card can reach peaks of up to 600 watts. These load peaks, which occur during GPU-intensive scenes or synthetic stress tests such as Furmark, make it necessary to use a powerful and stable power supply unit in order to avoid voltage drops and thermal overloads. A power supply unit with a rated output of 1000 watts that meets the requirements of the ATX 3.1 standard is ideal for these scenarios. It offers sufficient power reserves to safely absorb both the continuous load of the overall system and short-term peaks. The ATX 3.1 standard requires the power supply to be able to handle short-term power demands of up to 200% of the rated power for up to one millisecond. This means that a 1000 watt power supply can deliver up to 2000 watts for a short time, which is an advantage in extreme situations such as sudden load changes of the GPU or simultaneous peak loads from CPU and other components.

In addition to stability during load peaks, the typical operating range of the power supply unit is also an important factor. A power supply unit that operates in the range of 50 to 70% of its rated power not only achieves its highest efficiency, but also generates less heat and operates more quietly. A 1000 watt power supply is therefore optimally dimensioned, as it is operated in most gaming scenarios with average system loads of 500 to 700 watts. An 80 PLUS Platinum or Titanium certification is recommended to ensure high energy efficiency. These power supplies not only minimize energy losses, but also reduce heat generation and ensure a longer service life for the hardware.

In addition, the power supply should have modern connections such as the 12V2X6 power design, which was specially developed for the requirements of high-performance graphics cards such as the RTX 5090 SUPRIM. In the long term, such a power supply is not only suitable for the RTX 5090 SUPRIM, but also for future hardware upgrades. It ensures high stability and reliability even under demanding conditions and offers the necessary flexibility to keep pace with the increasing performance requirements of modern components.