Introduction

The ASUS ROG Strix LC GeForce RTX 3090 Ti "Ampere" is being launched today, as a finale for the Ampere graphics architecture and the fastest graphics card from ASUS. The RTX 3090 Ti is designed to be a double-digit percentage faster than even the RTX 3090, and improves in several areas we didn't even think NVIDIA could tap into. It enables all shaders physically present on the GA102, the largest graphics silicon based on Ampere, and pairs it with even faster memory than the one powering the RTX 3090, along with higher clocks and power limits. The RTX 3090 Ti targets those who want to play any of today's games at 4K native resolution with maxed out details, including ray tracing, and even explore higher resolutions such as 8K with the help of the DLSS 8K feature NVIDIA debuted with Ampere.



The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti enables all 10,752 CUDA cores physically present on the "GA102" silicon that powers five GeForce SKUs. Maxing out the GA102 also gives it 84 RT cores, 336 Tensor cores, many TMUs, 112 ROPs, and of course the full 384-bit wide GDDR6X memory interface. Speaking of which, NVIDIA is introducing new 21 Gbps-rated GDDR6X memory chips with the RTX 3090 Ti that are over 7.5% faster than the 19.5 Gbps chips on the RTX 3090. This gives it a whopping 1008 GB/s bandwidth, compared to 940 GB/s on the RTX 3090. The memory size is 24 GB on both cards, and NVIDIA calculates that the large memory amount should come in handy with certain creator use-cases dealing with large data sets.

The RTX 3090 Ti is also the first graphics card to introduce the new ATX 16-pin power connector recently announced by Intel, which should become standard with the next generation of graphics cards. The connector is capable of delivering up to 600 W of power through a single set of cables. The need for this connector arose on the RTX 3090 Ti, as its typical board power for the reference spec is rated at 450 W, which takes a spaghetti of three 8-pin PCIe power connectors. The 16-pin connector is still new to the market, and PSUs with with it can be counted on your fingers, which is why board partners are required to include an NVIDIA-designed adapter cable that converts three 8-pin to a 16-pin.

The ASUS ROG Strix LC pushes the RTX 3090 Ti to its design limits with its factory overclock that's sustained by its over-the-top VRM design, and a liquid cooling solution that keeps the GPU away from the thermal limits. The pre-built liquid cooler consists of an AIO closed-loop solution pulling heat from the GPU and memory, while a set of heatsinks and a lateral blower provide additional cooling to the VRM and memory. The AIO relies on a 240 mm x 120 mm radiator with a pair of included 120 mm ARGB fans. The illumination is also splashed all over the slick-looking cooler shroud. The ROG Strix LC offers a massive factory overclock to 1950 MHz, while the NVIDIA reference runs 1860 MHz.