MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X Review: Ada Chills Out

We also spent some time overclocking the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X to see how it behaved when running well above its stock frequencies...

Overclocking The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X

Like previous-gen GeForces, Ada Lovelace-based GeForce RTX 40 series cards feature GPU Boost, which scales frequencies and voltages, power and temperatures permitting, based on the GPU's workload at the time. Should a temperature or power limit be reached, GPU Boost will drop down to the previous boost frequency/voltage stepping, in an attempt to bring power and temperatures down gradually and not cause any significant performance swings. The maximum boost clock and power limit can be tweaked and tuned to increase performance with most cards, however.

Ada Lovelace-based GeForces like the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X will respond faster to changes in workloads versus previous-gen card, and have more robust VRMs, which should help with overclocking.

Even so, like previous-gen cards, the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X is still voltage or power limited to prevent damage and ensure longevity, and it's those limits that will usually be the gating factor in any overclocking. With the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X, the power target can be increased by up to 10% and the max temperature target from 83°C to 88°C. Though the latest version of MSI's Afterburner has the option to alter voltage as well, it was greyed out with the build we used. Even still, we were able to increase the GPU clock significantly.


We used the frequency offsets with the power and temperature target sliders available in Afterburner to manually push the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X's frequencies. First, we turned up the temperature and power targets to their maximum values, and then increased the GPU and memory clock offsets until the test system was no longer stable, showed on-screen artifacts, or performance peaked due to hitting the power limit.

The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X technically has a default boost clock of 2,625MHz, but that number means very little in the real world, since it routinely boosted much higher (you can see it boosting over 2,800MHz while in its stock configuration above). While overclocked, we were able to take its GPU clock all the way up to an impressive 3,090MHz with a 21.5Gbps memory speed.


With the card overclocked, we re-ran some tests and saw some modest performance gains. As we saw with the Founder's Edition card, overclocking beyond 3GHz is relatively painless, especially on the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X which has significantly more thermal headroom. Some leaks have shown RTX 4090 GPU clocks exceeding 3.4GHz, which is wild for a GPU this size.

Total System Power Consumption

Throughout all of our benchmarking and testing, we also monitored noise output and tracked how much power the GPUs were consuming in our test system. Our goal here is to give you an idea as to how much power each GPU used while idle and also while under a heavy workload. These power numbers were captured during FarCry 6 testing, with ray-tracing enabled, and are representative of total system power consumption:

The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X power consumption numbers were quite different than NVIDIA's Founder's Edition. The MSI card has much higher idle power, presumably due to the additional power required by its 3 fans, additional lighting, and water pump. Load power was only marginally higher than the RTX 4090 FE and in-line with other high-end cards.

Noise is not a concern for the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X at all. At idle or when under light loads, the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X is effectively silent. It's fans spin down completely at idle and the card and can't be heard over typical chassis and PSU fans. When under a heavy, sustained workload, the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X's fans do spin up, but this card runs so cool and quiet they never produce anything more than a dull whir. The highest GPU temperature we saw with our sample was only 62°C, which is a full 10 degrees lower than the air-cooled Founder's Edition card.

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X Review Summary

As much as we liked NVIDIA’s own GeForce RTX 4090 FE, we like the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X even better. We sure the liquid-cooling setup won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but this card is smaller, faster, quieter, it runs cooler, and it will put less stress on the expansion slot than the FE. You’ll need a case that can accommodate the 240mm radiator, but that’s shouldn’t be an issue for any enthusiast considering a high-end GPU like this one.

Find MSI GeForce RTX Suprim Cards @ Amazon

With all of its advantages over NVIDIA’s card, the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X also commands more of a premium. Whereas NVIDIA prices the GeForce RTX 4090 FE at $1,599, this liquid-cooled speedster is priced at $1,749. Whether that extra $150 is justifiable will be up to you, be we suspect many gamers will dig what the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X has to offer.

With its higher price and liquid cooling setup, this card is not for everyone, but the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim Liquid X is an awesome GPU. If you’ve got the means and dig the liquid cooler, definitely put this card on your short list.