Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 GAMING OC 24G: any opinions?

[80251]

I've read two reviews of this gigabyte videocard, tomshardware and W1zzard's here at TPU (Thx, W1zzard!). The tomshardware review wasn't so favourable because the 4090 FE was on par or trumped the Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC in every bench and that the Gigabyte Gaming OC dropped core clocks the most of any 4090 under their Metro Exodus loop. W1zzard's was much more favourable but he could only compare it to the 4090 FE. Has anyone else at TPU had any experience with the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 GAMING OC 24G? Is it any good? I'm kinda wary of gigabyte after their 1080ti Gaming OC turned out to be sub-standard and their GA-EP45T-UD3LR fried its unsinked VRM MOSFETs when I was overclocking my LGA775 q9550 (and I had almost dialed in those damn vtt's).

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I have one it's been pretty great. Honestly there is really no bad 4090s. The only benefit the Gaming OC has over the FE is lower memory temps and dual bios out of the box mine runs around 2775 mhz in RT heavy games but sample to sample that can vary by probably 50-100mhz is my guess. I've had it for about 2 months now. Another thing and this might just vary on case and how far you are sitting from it but even in the OC profile it's pretty quiet. Mine also has no coil whine at least perceptible anyways.

At a 100 usd savings I would still grab the FE if you can actually buy one if not all the models are decent enough as long as you leave them stock even trying to run them at 600w gives you almost no performance anyways so the 600w bios is mainly useless. If you want the best model overall it's the strix but the price increase is massive the Suprim is also pretty decent if you want something that looks a little more 1700 usd. The Gaming X trio and Gaming trio is also decent enough. Just remember coil whine is a lottery you might get a card with almost none or a super obnoxious one so buy from a place with a good return policy so not newegg lol.


@Dragam1337 has one as well maybe he will chime in.

 

[80251]

I'd read that while this Gigabyte and the FE 4090's both have 20 phase VRM circuits the MSI Gaming X Trio and Gaming Trio only have 18 phases. All three have 4 phase VRM circuits for the memory though.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Also not sure what Toms was doing although I haven't been a fan of there site in a long time even IGN who I wouldn't consider a place even worth looking at for reviews 4090 gaming oc outperformed even the suprim liquid again there are sample to sample variances so it's good to look at multiple sources.



Also HUB sample was decent enough



Just keep in mind anything within 3% is margin of error.

I'd read that while this Gigabyte and the FE 4090's both have 20 phase VRM circuits the MSI Gaming X Trio and Gaming Trio only have 18 phases. All three have 4 phase VRM circuits for the memory though.

That doesn't matter a whole lot it's just to support the 600w bios which again is useless.

 

[80251]

Thanks oxrufiioxo.

It's strange that the 600w VBIOS is useless for the 4090 considering the Asus Strix XOC VBIOS is the only thing that lets me overclock my 1080ti to 2164Mhz. at 1.2V Vcore. Do 4090's ever experience thermal throttling? Can you adjust the vcore at all?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

It lets you hit around 3ghz it just doesn't make much difference in performance 5% ish which even the cards with 500w ish limits can also get again with overclocking It's a lottery with all cards


Bottom line though a 4090 is a 4090 they are all stupidly fast.

 

[Dragam1337]

It lets you hit around 3ghz it just doesn't make much difference in performance 5% ish which even the cards with 500w ish limits can also get again with overclocking It's a lottery with all cards


Bottom line though a 4090 is a 4090 they are all stupidly fast.

Well... yes and no.

While the gaming oc can technically allow 600 watts, the cooler can't really cope with it, where as for example the strix cooler deals with it NP.

But as you say, the oc'ing barely makes any difference.

This is in cyberpunk with 4k, rt overdrive and dlss quality

2700 mhz @ 950 mv undervolt

Spoiler

+200 core / +1000 mem / 133% power overclock

Spoiler

4090 strix with similar load

Spoiler

So yeah, very little in it performance wise for a whole lot of extra power. Undervolt is deffo the way to go with 4090 imo. That said as can be seen, at similar power loads (520 watt ish) the strix is at 67c, while the gaming oc is at 79c. And during a 560 watt spike the temp raised to 84c.

As for your question @80251 i've had a few different 4090's

Spoiler

and the gaming oc is the one i chose to have in my pc - primarily cause it was the only one with no coilwhine. It didn't have the best cooler or fans, but with undervolt and custom fancurve, it can barely be heard at all during full on gaming in the likes of cyberpunk.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Well... yes and no.

While the gaming oc can technically allow 600 watts, the cooler can't really cope with it, where as for example the strix cooler deals with it NP.

But as you say, the oc'ing barely makes any difference.

+200 core / +1000 mem / 133% power overclock

Interesting I ran a similar OC on mine 200 core 1500 mem and it capped at 72 degrees stock fan profile after a couple hours of Witcher 3 next gen maxed at 4k. I do keep my ambient pretty low I guess 68-70F. Although it sat around 520w the majority of the time so maybe that was a factor. My GPU does have 3x T30-120 blowing cold air right into it as well so I guess that helps.

I was seeing similar to this in general this was after an hour of hitman similar OC by HUB



I did mention to the OP that if he wants the straight up best the Strix is it though. At a huge cost difference.

 

[Dragam1337]

Interesting I ran a similar OC on mine 200 core 1500 mem and it capped at 72 degrees stock profile after a couple hours of Witcher 3 next gen maxed at 4k. I do keep my ambient pretty low I guess 68-70F. Although it sat around 520w the majority of the time so maybe that was a factor.

I was seeing similar to this in general this was after an hour of hitman similar OC by HUB

View attachment 291385

Stock profile is 100% fanspeed at 72c though with the gigabyte gaming oc which as a speaker user i find unbearable.

The tests was done with the strix with default fancurve (which is 30% speed until above 70c) and the gaming oc with this curve

The strix fans are absolutely miles better than the gigabyte ones - move a fair bit of air at 30% speed while being inaudiable. But the coilwhine...

Meanwhile the gigabyte fans begins to bug out if you try to go below 60% fanspeed (at least on my card) - but 60% fanspeed is still very quiet, and then i let it ramp up when temps start to get critical. So the 84c i saw would have been at 100% fanspeed.

But i think you need to try cyberpunk at 4k with rt overdrive enabled specifically, cause it seems to hit way harder than just regular RT.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Stock profile is 100% fanspeed at 72c though with the gigabyte gaming oc which as a speaker user i find unbearable.

The tests was done with the strix with default fancurve (which is 30% speed until above 70c) and the gaming oc with this curve

The strix fans are absolutely miles better than the gigabyte ones - move a fair bit of air at 30% speed while being inaudiable. But the coilwhine...

Meanwhile the gigabyte fans begins to bug out if you try to go below 60% fanspeed (at least on my card) - but 60% fanspeed is still very quiet, and then i let it ramp up when temps start to get critical. So the 84c i saw would have been at 100% fanspeed.

That's an interesting fan profile I typically never change the stock profile on fans assuming they are not louder than my Rowenta table top fan that is pretty quiet.

Mine was in the 80% range sure it wasn't quiet but it also wasn't terrible.... I sit like 10 feet away from my PC though lol
Mine doesn't have any issue below 60% but it is vertical mounted maybe that has something to do with it.

Mines hooked up to a Dolby atmos system and I can't hear it over that unless the game is making zero noise again my PC is at least 10 feet away from me lol.


Sure as far as noise the strix is going to be the bees nees assuming you don't get coil whine lol.



Although under normal usage at a 35 DBA ceiling I don't feel the extra 300 usd the strix cost is worth it for that 4C lower goodness. The Suprim air cooled for an extra 30 usd sure though

 

[Dragam1337]

That's an interesting fan profile I typically never change the stock profile on fans assuming they are not louder than my Rowenta table top fan that is pretty quiet.

Mine was in the 80% range sure it wasn't quiet but it also wasn't terrible.... I sit like 10 feet away from my PC though lol
Mine doesn't have any issue below 60% but it is vertical mounted maybe that has something to do with it.

Mines hooked up to a Dolby atmos system and I can't hear it over that unless the game is making zero noise again my PC is at least 10 feet away from me lol.


Sure as far as noise the strix is going to be the bees nees assuming you don't get coil whine lol.

View attachment 291393

Although under normal usage at a 35 DBA ceiling I don't feel the extra 300 usd the strix cost is worth it.

I use it because the stock profile keeps the fans going from 0% to 70% usage all the time, unless you are under heavy load - terrible stock fanprofile on the gaming oc tbh. With my custom profile it just runs all the time, and slowly builds instead.

As low noise as possible is the most important thing for me. Hence why i don't use the strix, due to the coilwhine... and from what i've seen / heard, chances of getting an asus 4090 without coilwhine is like winning the lottery.

Overall i'm very pleased with the gaming oc - after i made the custom fancurve and undervolt that is xD

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I use it because the stock profile keeps the fans going from 0% to 70% usage all the time, unless you are under heavy load - terrible stock fanprofile on the gaming oc tbh. With my custom profile it just runs all the time, and slowly builds instead.

As low noise as possible is the most important thing for me. Hence why i don't use the strix, due to the coilwhine... and from what i've seen / heard, chances of getting an asus 4090 without coilwhine is like winning the lottery.

Overall i'm very pleased with the gaming oc - after i made the custom fancurve and undervolt that is xD

Definitely why I wanted you to chime in as well the more people who have the card who can give the OP advice the better. Everyone uses the cards slightly different and what's ok for one person may not be for another.

 

[80251]

Thx for the replies oxrufiioxo and Dagram1337.

Did either of you ever consider the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 AERO OC? Or is that just a Gigabyte Gaming OC in white?

I did end up buying the Gigabyte GeForce RTX™ 4090 GAMING OC 24G, I also considered the ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card, which they also had at my local Microcenter even thought it's not listed on their website, which was $100 more than the Gaming OC and longer to boot.

Too bad I can't install the Gaming OC though, at least not until I get out the dremel and cut out the top half of my HDD cage. Initially I'm going to dedicate my external PSU, a Seasonic 850 Watt to powering just the Gaming OC, so it can spike away all it wants.

I measured the actual heatsink on the Gaming OC: 126mm in height, 12-3/8"(12.375"/314mm) in length, ~36mm thick(~2 slots tall), it's a monster. The PCB itself is only 222.25mm long.

The power usage in those screen caps is kinda scary and I've read the 3090ti can even draw MORE power.

$1800 -- more than my last two GPU's (1080ti and 980ti) cost altogether.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Thx for the replies oxrufiioxo and Dagram1337.

Did either of you ever consider the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 AERO OC? Or is that just a Gigabyte Gaming OC in white?

I did end up buying the Gigabyte GeForce RTX™ 4090 GAMING OC 24G, I also considered the ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card, which they also had at my local Microcenter even thought it's not listed on their website, which was $100 more than the Gaming OC and longer to boot.

Too bad I can't install the Gaming OC though, at least not until I get out the dremel and cut out the top half of my HDD cage. Initially I'm going to dedicate my external PSU, a Seasonic 850 Watt to powering just the Gaming OC, so it can spike away all it wants.

I measured the actual heatsink on the Gaming OC: 126mm in height, 12-3/8"(12.375"/314mm) in length, ~36mm thick(~2 slots tall), it's a monster. The PCB itself is only 222.25mm long.

The power usage in those screen caps is kinda scary and I've read the 3090ti can even draw MORE power.

$1800 -- more than my last two GPU's (1080ti and 980ti) cost altogether.

The other card I would have considered was the MSI Suprim for $1730 but sadly Bestbuy didn't carry it and besides this none of their other models that have been available I would consider.

How it is out of the box with power limits maxed out in speedway about a 30m loop in Keep in mind at 100% power limits this would be 1-2fps lower.


Vs how you should run the card around 76% PL although 80 is fine also and give you 1-2 more fps lol.



it can vary a bit but generally around a 5-6 fps lower unless you are looking at a graph it's impossible to notice the difference. Same 30m or so loop.

This isn't to show you performance difference you will have to do your own testing and figure out what is right for you more to show you how easily you can drop the wattage.
obviously your results will vary but for me running 75-80% PL is the way.

 

[80251]

So you never see any thermal throttling with your 4090's? Power/thermal throttling used to be a major issue w/my 1080ti.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

So you never see any thermal throttling with your 4090's? Power/thermal throttling used to be a major issue w/my 1080ti.

In a 011 dynamic XL with 3 T30-120 blowing cold air right at it not really this is my most stable card clocks wise since A 980ti kingpin edition card.

Just like with any modern gpu temps will effect clocks but these GPUs seem voltage limited more than power.

At the same time 4090 perfomance is glorious just install it and forget about it while enjoying maxed out settings in most games at 4k.

 

[80251]

@oxrufiioxo

The 4090 is going to make my 9700k cry, it's used to idling along while the 1080ti struggles.

After looking at the massive heatsink and fans on the Gigabyte Gaming OC I can see why thermal throttling might not be a problem.

What are you and Dagram1337 going to do when the 4090ti comes out? Sell the 4090 and upgrade? Or wait 'til the 5xxx series comes out?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Wait for the 5090 assuming Nvidia's doesn't massively raise the price if the 5080 offers a decent enough perfomance bump that would be ok as well.

I also hope RDNA4 is really good but not holding my breath amd is just going to magically catch up in RT.

 

[Dragam1337]

@oxrufiioxo

The 4090 is going to make my 9700k cry, it's used to idling along while the 1080ti struggles.

After looking at the massive heatsink and fans on the Gigabyte Gaming OC I can see why thermal throttling might not be a problem.

What are you and Dagram1337 going to do when the 4090ti comes out? Sell the 4090 and upgrade? Or wait 'til the 5xxx series comes out?

Buying a slightly upgraded version of the top card (aka 3090 ti or an possible 4090 ti) just before the release of the next gen, is always a SUPER bad investment. Had i bought a 3090 ti, i would have felt pretty freaking foolish.

Ideally you buy the best gpu at the launch of every new gen - will give you the most out of every gpu purchase. Then you can sell your previous gpu for like 1/2 or 1/3 of what you paid for it.

So you never see any thermal throttling with your 4090's? Power/thermal throttling used to be a major issue w/my 1080ti.

With stock settings, you wont ever have temp issues if your airflow is somewhat decent.

However, the stock fanprofile is super aggressive, and way too loud imo. As i showed, temps do get very high with my custom fanprofile when the watt gets above 500 on the gigabyte gaming oc. But it's a non-issue with undervolt, which i would suggest you use in any case.

 

[80251]

Is the videocard support strut a requirement of installation of the Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC? It seems to work without it but I'd hate for it to break my reinforced PCIe slot or worse yet, the actual videocard.

 

[Dragam1337]

Is the videocard support strut a requirement of installation of the Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC? It seems to work without it but I'd hate for it to break my reinforced PCIe slot or worse yet, the actual videocard.

I'd say it is a very good idea to use something to support 2+ kg gpus

 

[unwind-protect]

Is the videocard support strut a requirement of installation of the Gigabyte RTX 4090 Gaming OC? It seems to work without it but I'd hate for it to break my reinforced PCIe slot or worse yet, the actual videocard.

Just fill up the case with expanding construction foam

Keeps the cable management crowd off your back, too.

 

[80251]

I'm waiting for the day when we plug motherboards into videocards.

Unwind-protect's idea for expanding construction foam sounds like a great idea for sound insulation as well, but not too good for thermals -- at least on air cooling.

 

[jonfitch]

Stock profile is 100% fanspeed at 72c though with the gigabyte gaming oc which as a speaker user i find unbearable.

The tests was done with the strix with default fancurve (which is 30% speed until above 70c) and the gaming oc with this curve

The strix fans are absolutely miles better than the gigabyte ones - move a fair bit of air at 30% speed while being inaudiable. But the coilwhine...

Meanwhile the gigabyte fans begins to bug out if you try to go below 60% fanspeed (at least on my card) - but 60% fanspeed is still very quiet, and then i let it ramp up when temps start to get critical. So the 84c i saw would have been at 100% fanspeed.

But i think you need to try cyberpunk at 4k with rt overdrive enabled specifically, cause it seems to hit way harder than just regular RT.

Just remember % is not a stat that is important, but RPM and noise level vs RPM is more useful information.
The Strix has a minimum fan speed of 30%, but at 30% it’s already at 1000 RPM.

The Gigabyte fans initialize at 50%, but its only 800RPM at 50%. At 60% the fan is only at around 960RPM. So 30% on the Strix =~ 60% on the Gigabyte. Also worth noticing if you check the TPU reviews you will see the two cards are basically identical in terms of noise level when RPM normalized.