MSI pulls out the stops for its flagship GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card offering, which features a hybrid air-and-liquid cooling system.

On 30th January 2025, NVIDIA launched its next-generation "Blackwell" RTX 50 series of GPUs, starting first with the flagship RTX 5090 GPU (GB202-300) and the RTX 5080 (GB203-400).

To get in on the launch excitement, we'll be taking a look at a non-reference flagship RTX 5090 graphics card that would be perfect for a money-no-object gaming PC build: the MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC. Sporting a hybrid air-and-liquid cooling solution comprising of a 360mm radiator with STORMFORCE fans, an advanced performance pump and a patented water block design, MSI's pulled out all the stops for its flagship RTX 5090 graphics card offering, which also comes with a factory "super overclock" (hence the SOC in its moniker) and a sleek silver-and-black aesthetic. Read on to see how it performs with a mix of synthetic and gaming benchmark tests at the 4K resolution, when paired with AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming processor!

Summary of Specifications

• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 (GB202-300)
• Memory: 32GB GDDR7 RAM (512-bit, 28 Gbps)
• Core Clocks:
  Extreme Performance: 2580 MHz (MSI Center) Boost: 2565 MHz [Gaming Mode]
  Extreme Performance: 2527 MHz (MSI Center) Boost: 2512 MHz [Silent Mode]
• Bus Type: PCIe 5.0 x16
• Outputs: 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, 1x HDMI 2.1b
• External Power Required: 1x 16-pin (12VHPWR)
• Recommended PSU Wattage: 1000W and above
• Card Dimensions: 280mm x 148mm x 51mm
• Radiator Dimensions: 394mm x 121mm x 55mm
• Radiator Tube Length: 280mm
• Official MSI product page: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-Card/GeForce-RTX-5090-32G-SUPRIM-LIQUID-SOC/ 

Packaging & Accessories

The MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC comes in a rather large box that sports a liquid-inspired aesthetic on the front, and over on the rear, we get the usual summary of features that this flagship graphics card comes with.

Unsurprisingly. the box opens up with a certain amount of flair, which is to be expected for a graphics card in this weight class.

For a flagship graphics card offering however, MSI's included fairly little by way of accessories, where we get but the following items:

• 4x 8-pin to 1x 16-pin (12VHPWR) adapter cable
• Bag of radiator mounting screws
• Quick start guide

Card Aesthetics

The MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC is a unique offering, in that it sports what MSI terms a "hybrid cooling system" that utilises both air and liquid cooling to keep the RTX 5090 GPU's temperatures at bay; as can be seen, the card sports a hefty 360mm radiator with three STORMFORCE fans, as well as an additional fan for the graphics card shroud.

The graphics card itself sports an aesthetic that would be familiar to fans of MSI's SUPRIM line-up of graphics cards, with a shroud that is made predominantly of brushed aluminium with some black plastic bits. The backplate of the card is also made of the same said brushed aluminium too.

Fans of RGB lighting effects for their PC builds can rejoice, for the card includes illuminated RGB accents as pictured above for a touch of pop.

The GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC's radiator is a rather standard affair, where it comes with three 120mm STORMFORCE fans. An interesting feature to note is the fact that these three fans come pre-daisy-chained, where they are wired directly to the graphics card via the radiator tube's sleeve; as a result of this arrangement, the fans draw power from the graphics card directly, and and also have their speeds controlled directly by the card itself. This is definitely great news, as there's no need to connect a four-pin fan header to the motherboard of the PC build that you're intending to use this graphics card with.

GPU-Z Screenshot

Testing Methodology

To get a sensing of the card's graphics prowess, the following benchmark tests were run:

• 3DMark Time Spy Extreme v1.2
• Assassin's Creed Mirage in-game benchmark
• Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool
• Cyberpunk 2077 v2.21 in-game benchmark
• F1 23 in-game benchmark
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider in-game benchmark

All benchmark tests were run at the 4K resolution.

Test Setup

A test bench with the specifications as listed below was used:

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D (stock settings, PBO & Curve Optimiser disabled)
• CPU Cooler: Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 SE ARGB
• CPU Thermal Paste: Thermal Grizzly KryoSheet
• Motherboard: Gigabyte X670E AORUS MASTER (F33g BIOS)
• Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) KingBank DDR5 Dark Heatsink UDIMM 6000MHz (DDR5 6000 CL28-35-35-76 1.45V)
• Storage: Lexar NM790 1TB NVMe SSD
• Graphics Card: MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC
• Case: Open-air test bench
• Monitor: Gigabyte M27U 27" LCD monitor (4K, 160Hz)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro (24H2 with all latest drivers and updates installed, "Balanced" power profile)
• Graphics Driver: GeForce Game Ready Driver 572.16
• Resizable BAR: Enabled

The test results shown below were taken from benchmark runs that were performed without any screen capture software running in the background. Where necessary, readouts from HWiNFO64 were obtained so as to measure FPS performance and other relevant performance metrics.

The card was also set to the "Gaming" BIOS mode for the entirety of testing.

3DMark Time Spy Extreme v1.2

With the 3DMark Time Spy Extreme test, the test bench achieved a graphics score of 26160, a CPU score of 5675 and an overall Time Spy score of 16970.

Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool

Black Myth Wukong's benchmark tool sees the test bench achieve an average FPS of 61, with a minimum FPS of 51 and a maximum FPS of 71. These results were obtained on the Cinematic preset, with ray tracing set to "Very High" and Super Resolution (DLSS) set to "75". Frame Generation was disabled for the duration of the benchmark.

Cyberpunk 2077 v2.21 In-game Benchmark

Moving on to Cyberpunk 2077 v2.21's built-in benchmark tool, we see that the test bench attains an average FPS of 34.40, a minimum FPS of 27.63 and a maximum FPS of 42.41 - these results were obtained on the "Ray Tracing Ultra" graphics preset with DLSS and Frame Generation switched off.

F1 23 In-game Benchmark

F1 23's in-game benchmark tool sees the test system achieve an average FPS of 117, a minimum FPS of 99 and a maximum FPS of 146. These results were obtained on the "Ultra High" detail preset with ray tracing set to "High", and all forms of upscaling technologies (e.g. DLSS) disabled.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider In-game Benchmark

To round things up from a benchmarking perspective, Shadow of the Tomb Raider's built-in benchmark test sees the test bench achieving an average FPS of 122 - the results above were obtained with all graphics settings turned up to the highest possible settings, where Ray Tracing Shadow Quality was set to "Ultra" and all forms of upscaling technologies such as DLSS were disabled.

Power Consumption, Thermals & Acoustics

Power Consumption

Under Load (Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool)
• Avg. GPU Power: 546.3W
• Min. GPU Power: 527.6W
• Max. GPU Power: 566.0W

Idle
• Avg. GPU Power: 16.2W
• Min. GPU Power: 15.3W
• Max. GPU Power: 17.0W

The figures above were obtained from "GPU Power" readouts from HWiNFO64.

Thermals

Under Load (Black Myth Wukong Benchmark Tool)
• Avg. GPU Temperature: 56.5°C
• Min. GPU Temperature: 51.0°C
• Max. GPU Temperature: 57.9°C
• Avg. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 72.9°C
• Min. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 68.0°C
• Max. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 74.0°C

Idle
• Avg. GPU Temperature: 35.7°C
• Min. GPU Temperature: 35.6°C
• Max. GPU Temperature: 36.2°C
• Avg. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 48.0°C
• Min. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 48.0°C
• Max. GPU Memory Junction Temperature: 48.0°C

The figures above were obtained from "GPU Temperature" & "GPU Memory Junction Temperature" readouts from HWiNFO64.

Ambient Temperature of Surroundings: ~28°C

While on the "Gaming" BIOS mode and under gaming workloads, I found the GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC's fans and pump to be pretty quiet. That said, I was unfortunately able to detect quite a fair bit of coil whine, which should be masked somewhat when the graphics card is installed inside of an enclosed PC case.

Conclusion & Pricing

To sum up, the MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32G SUPRIM LIQUID SOC does indeed live up to its positioning in the pecking order as a flagship graphics card in MSI's stable, where its cooling setup does a great job of managing the heat output from the 600W RTX 5090 GPU; even under load, the hybrid cooling system was able to keep GPU temperatures below 60°C, which is quite a feat. Do note though, that the thermal results were achieved with an open-air test bench; your mileage may vary if you're going to be using this graphics card in an enclosed PC case.

The only downside I can think of is the graphics card's price - the SUPRIM LIQUID SOC has a MSRP of US$2500, which is quite a lot of money for a graphics card and easily $500 more than an "entry-level" RTX 5090 graphics card offering from say, MSI's Ventus line-up for instance. Price aside, if your intention is to purchase a premium liquid-cooled RTX 5090 offering for a no-holds-barred gaming PC build, MSI's offering is hard to beat especially given its graphics and thermal performance.

Get this card from Amazon: https://amzn.to/42BWXFe (affiliate link)

ALKtech may earn commissions from qualifying purchases made using affiliate links, at no extra cost to you as a customer. These commissions go a long way in supporting the platform!

The graphics card featured in this article was a review unit provided on loan from MSI.