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$3,099: ASUS reveals mind-boggling price for liquid-cooled 5090

Draugoth

Gold Member
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Source

The lineup extends from base models with pseudo-MSRP pricing up to liquid cooled cards with healthy factory overclocks. Asus's range-topping ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090 OC Edition targets the latter and will retail for a whopping $3,099.99.

As the name suggests, the ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card features a hybrid closed-loop liquid cooling system with a 360-mm radiator that promises great performance by dissipating hundreds of watts of thermal power, with onboard cooling to manage the VRMs. By contrast, the ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080/RTX 5090 boards come with quad-fan single-airflow cooling systems featuring Max Contact technology to maximize the performance of the coolers


ModelMSRPSpecial Launch Price
ROG Astral LC GeForce RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7 OC Edition$3,099.99-
ROG Astral RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7$2,799.99-
TUF Gaming RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7 OC Edition$2,499.99-
TUF Gaming RTX 5090 32GB GDDR7$2,299.99$1,999.99
ROG Astral GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition$1,499.99-
TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition1,349.99-
ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7 OC Edition$1,199.99-
ASUS Prime GeForce RTX 5080 16GB GDDR7$1,149.99$999.99
 

SmoothBrain

Member
The AIOs are good enough for the performance, but the quality sucks for the price they charge. But if you don't want to go for an open loop (which is understandable at that price), you gotta go air or pay the AIO tax.
 

rm082e

Member
The best part is the 5090 is limited to a power increase of 104% in overclocking software like MSI Afterburner. That's because it's a 575w card with a 600w power connector. Because you can barely overclock it, the additional frames you can get out of it are margin of error within the silicone lottery.

All water cooling really does for the 5090 is let it run in the 50s instead of the 70s. But who cares? The heat from the card is going into your room one way or the other. If running cooler isn't eliminating a thermal throttle situation, then it's not giving you more tangible performance. Sure it will be a little bit quieter, but it's not like the loudest coolers these days are even loud.
 

Bry0

Member
All water cooling really does for the 5090 is let it run in the 50s instead of the 70s. But who cares? The heat from the card is going into your room one way or the other.
Speaking of, Have you ever noticed the amount of people who don’t seem to understand conservation of energy? Every time there is online discourse on pc cooling there is always at least one of them. 😂
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
So when is the annoucement?

The best part is the 5090 is limited to a power increase of 104% in overclocking software like MSI Afterburner. That's because it's a 575w card with a 600w power connector. Because you can barely overclock it, the additional frames you can get out of it are margin of error within the silicone lottery.

All water cooling really does for the 5090 is let it run in the 50s instead of the 70s. But who cares? The heat from the card is going into your room one way or the other. If running cooler isn't eliminating a thermal throttle situation, then it's not giving you more tangible performance. Sure it will be a little bit quieter, but it's not like the loudest coolers these days are even loud.

Lower Temps = Lower Coil Whine and Longer Hardware Lifespan
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Eh, memory temps do reach 90C (of the max 105C?) where as the Astral is in the low 70s.
so what? Why should any end user care?
That was a big criticism of 3080 fe... and I am here 5 years later. Never even cleaned the damn card. Who tf cares what the temps are as long as it's not too loud
 

Magic Carpet

Gold Member
The card would fit into my case but I’m not sure if the radiator will. Should have been a 2 fans on the radiator.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
so what? Why should any end user care?
So what? Those temps were in open testbenches so in a case it can get dicy. I'm an end user and I care about not getting overheating memory, it can cause instability.

And there's the issue of the heat blowing to CPU heatsinks and RAMM with this new FE design.
That was a big criticism of 3080 fe... and I am here 5 years later. Never even cleaned the damn card. Who tf cares what the temps are as long as it's not too loud
5090 FE has higher average temps. Overheating memory is something to be avoided. Just because you don't care much about maintenance, doesn't mean that's my norm too.
 

rm082e

Member
So what? Those temps were in open testbenches so in a case it can get dicy. I'm an end user and I care about not getting overheating memory, it can cause instability.

I'm on an original 3080 FE and my card frequently runs maxed out. I've had it since two months after launch and never had any issues with instability or artifacting. I get what you're saying, but if the case has good airflow and the card is not defective, this shouldn't be a problem. It's not like someone who would consider going the extra mile to have a water cooled system wouldn't setup an air cooled case with proper airflow.

And there's the issue of the heat blowing to CPU heatsinks and RAMM with this new FE design.

I guess that would be an issue if someone doesn't have a good CPU cooler, but who out there is using an inadequate CPU cooler and/or has terrible case airflow resulting in 90c on their CPU?

I guess maybe someone who's picked out an ITX case and they're unwilling to switch to something with more fan slots? The show-off game of "look how much tech I've packed into this shoebox case!" seems very 2014. We've got small stylish cases these days with plenty of fan slots to keep top-end components running quiet and well below the thermal limit.

I'm all for people building water cooled systems for fun, aesthetics, sense of accomplishment, etc. But the idea that "water cooled = better performance" in this day and age doesn't really hold water anymore (cwidt?). Air cooling got gud.
 

Ulysses 31

Member
I'm on an original 3080 FE and my card frequently runs maxed out. I've had it since two months after launch and never had any issues with instability or artifacting. I get what you're saying, but if the case has good airflow and the card is not defective, this shouldn't be a problem. It's not like someone who would consider going the extra mile to have a water cooled system wouldn't setup an air cooled case with proper airflow.
But did you check the temps? :messenger_winking_tongue:

If it's running on max then I assume there's good enough air flow in your case.
I guess that would be an issue if someone doesn't have a good CPU cooler, but who out there is using an inadequate CPU cooler and/or has terrible case airflow resulting in 90c on their CPU?

I guess maybe someone who's picked out an ITX case and they're unwilling to switch to something with more fan slots? The show-off game of "look how much tech I've packed into this shoebox case!" seems very 2014. We've got small stylish cases these days with plenty of fan slots to keep top-end components running quiet and well below the thermal limit.

I'm all for people building water cooled systems for fun, aesthetics, sense of accomplishment, etc. But the idea that "water cooled = better performance" in this day and age doesn't really hold water anymore (cwidt?). Air cooling got gud.
I've seen how much a 4090 FE can heat up my Falcon Northwest RAK case(which I choose for it's more compact design and easy of transport) and I fear a 5090 FE will be even hotter. I'm currently trying out running the 4090 FE from outside the case with a long riser cable and it's done wonders for my CPU temps when I was stressing that and the GPU.

In my old bulky gaming case with it's many in-/outake fans I wouldn't be so worried.
 
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Dorfdad

Gold Member
People are crazy. There isn’t one game in the history of games worth that price tag. I know it would never happen but image if we stuck with a generation for gpu and actually optimized stuff. A 2080 would have unbelievable graphics and quality in modern games.

Nvidia needs a competent challenger. I’m actually surprised a Chinese firm hasn’t done this honestly. They have all the chips and could undercut them to gain market share. Not that I would support them but they need a challenger
 

chakadave

Member
It is a crime but consumers should not go near this.

I’ve looked at cards and the low VRAM is an issue on the low end.
 

bigdad2007

Member
At this point there are enough wanna be streamers and influencers out there in both tech and gaming that is the market for these without the normal public.
 
So, much more than the TOTAL cost of the laptop I am writing this post from?
I wish crypto never existed. It should never have been that expensive.
 
I'm quite happy the 5090 does nothing for me. I spend the cash on my other collecting hobbies. See ya in 2 years time Nvidia. Do better.
 

Kenpachii

Member
Dunno why anybody would buy a AIO cooler on a GPU, If the pump dies out of warranty good luck.
 
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Why is it mind boggling when the USD got hit by inflation pretty bad over the past 5 years?

Wouldn't it be more mind boggling that the FED keeps printing currency and people are expecting low or same prices as last gen?
 
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