A year ago, Twitter user @harukaze5719 posted images of an alleged RTX 4090 Ti cooler that have … [+]
Images have been circulating online claiming to show the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition cooler, and as you’d expect, they show a huge cooler with a huge heatsink and a pair of massive fans. Massive images of a four-slot cooler surfaced recently ahead of an expected announcement for Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series later, but they’re not what they seem.
The images reveal a huge 4-slot cooler design with a massive heatsink
The images were actually leaked online a year ago by twitter user @harukaze5719, amid rumors of an RTX 4090 Ti that never materialized, reducing the chances that they’re actually for future GPUs at all.
Adding weight to this conclusion is the fact that the cooler shroud in the new column looks identical to the shroud used in the original RTX 4000 series graphics cards, with newer Super models such as the RTX 4080 Super using the newer black design.
It’s unlikely that all the components will be part of the RTX 5090, as it appears that the heatsink shroud … [+]
Below you can see the radiator shroud featured in the original set of images leaked last year. It has the exact color scheme of the older RTX 40 series GPUs, and since the RTX 30 series and RTX 40 Super series all have slightly different color schemes, it seems unlikely that Nvidia decided to copy the exact same design as the RTX 4090 with the RTX 5090 as well. although the cooler was much larger.
Assumed RTX 5090 heat sink
Nvidia is rumored to be planning to launch the RTX 5080 before the RTX 5090, and the former could be up to 70% faster than the current flagship RTX 4090, with the RTX 50 series expected in late 2024.
The PCB design has remained roughly the same for the RTX 30 and 40 series cards, but the latest rumors point to a different memory layout for the RTX 5090 to accommodate up to 16 memory modules and use the same capacity modules as the RTX 4090. , albeit in the expected GDDR7 guise, The RTX 5090 could offer up to 32 GB of memory.
Something that hasn’t changed as far as we know is the 16-pin power connector. This saw a few issues, particularly with the RTX 4090 where the connectors appeared to melt due to the card’s high power draw. Angled connectors, such as those offered by CableMod, have also suffered from issues and been recalled, leading some veteran influencers such as der8auer to claim that the connector is a “technical failure” and will “remain an issue” until use contemporary design.
AMD continues to use standard 8-pin connectors on its graphics cards, and there is no indication that this will change anytime soon. It remains to be seen if Nvidia will change the design of the power connector, but it seems unlikely, as it is now widely used in the latest power supplies, which regularly offer native 600W PCIe 5 16-pin connectors and cables.
We may learn more at Computex in June, where I’ll be reporting on the latest PC hardware from now on, so follow me here on Forbes using the blue button below, on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube for the latest news.