Palit RTX 5090 GameRock Review
Ever since the release of Palit's RTX 4090 GameRock, I've been waiting to see what the company would do next, and today we finally get our answer. That's because we're reviewing the RTX 5090 GameRock, featuring a bold, eye-catching design and a fat – effectively quad-slot – cooler. Concerns around pricing and availability remain just as pressing as they did when the RTX 5090 first launched, but what can this partner card bring to the table?
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:44 5090 pricing/availability – no pre-orders at all
01:21 GameRock design impressions
03:10 PCB and heatsink analysis
04:25 Test setup
04:52 Thermals and noise
06:05 Game benchmarks
06:51 Power – 12VHPWR is a huge concern
10:07 Overclocking
10:50 Closing thoughts
I remember the first time I opened the box of the last-gen Palit RTX 4090 GameRock and couldn't quite believe my eyes. The shroud was almost entirely covered in a crystal-like plastic, and once the system turned on, the RGB lighting was like nothing I'd ever seen before.
Following up something like that can often be tricky, but Palit has gone for what it describes as a ‘chameleon' aesthetic with the RTX 5090 GameRock. It's still incredibly eye-catching, but we take a closer look at the design on the next page.
It's also worth pointing out that I was sent the regular GameRock, rather than the GameRock OC, so my sample ships without a factory overclock – i.e. at reference spec.
RTX 5090 | RTX 5080 | RTX 4090 | RTX 4080 Super | RTX 4080 | |
Process | TSMC N4 | TSMC N4 | TSMC N4 | TSMC N4 | TSMC N4 |
SMs | 170 | 84 | 128 | 80 | 76 |
CUDA Cores | 21760 | 10752 | 16384 | 10240 | 9728 |
Tensor Cores | 680 | 336 | 512 | 320 | 304 |
RT Cores | 170 | 84 | 128 | 80 | 76 |
Texture Units | 680 | 336 | 512 | 320 | 304 |
ROPs | 176 | 112 | 176 | 112 | 112 |
GPU Boost Clock | 2407 MHz | 2617 MHz | 2520 MHz | 2550 MHz | 2505 MHz |
Memory Data Rate | 28 Gbps | 30 Gbps | 21 Gbps | 23 Gbps | 22.4 Gbps |
L2 Cache | 98304 KB | 65536 KB | 73729 KB | 65536 KB | 65536 KB |
Total Video Memory | 32GB GDDR7 | 16GB GDDR7 | 24GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6X | 16GB GDDR6X |
Memory Interface | 512-bit | 256-bit | 384-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
Memory Bandwidth | 1792 GB/Sec | 960 GB/Sec | 1008 GB/Sec | 736 GB/Sec | 716.8 GB/Sec |
TGP | 575W | 360W | 450W | 320W | 320W |
First, a quick spec recap. The RTX 5090 is built on the new GB202 die, measuring 750mm2, though it's not quite a full implementation of the silicon. Instead we find a total of 11 Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs), each holding up to eight Texture Processing Clusters (TPCs), for a total of 85. Each TPC is home to two Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), giving us 170, and each SM still holds 128 CUDA Cores, meaning the RTX 5090 has an eye-watering total of 21760 shaders. We also find 170 RT cores, 680 Tensor cores, 680 Texture Units, and 176 ROPs.
This time around, however, there's no node-shrink, and GB202 remains fabricated on TSMC's N4 node, as per the RTX 40-series. As such, rated clock speed is not increased this generation and is actually touted slightly below that of the RTX 4090, with the RTX 5090 delivering a rated 2407MHz boost clock, compared to its predecessor's 2520MHz boost.
The memory configuration has seen significant upgrades, though. The RTX 5090 now comes equipped with a super-wide 512-bit memory interface, paired with 32GB GDDR7 memory running at 28Gbps, and that puts total memory bandwidth at a staggering 1792 GB/s. L2 cache is also increased to 98MB, up from the 74MB of the RTX 4090.
Considering the large increases to die size and core count, but with no node shrink, it's perhaps unsurprising to see power draw has increased, this time boasting a 575W TGP. This is something we focus on closely in this review, using our enhanced GPU power testing methodology, so read on for our most detailed power and efficiency testing yet.
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