RTX 4090 VRM meta-analysis and FE/AIB comparison

[kirkle8]

I've been watching a lot of content on the 4090s and with Buildzoid coming out with his two board analysis videos I wanted a quick reference to all 4090 cards in terms of VRM arrangements. It's interesting seeing the wild variance from the Halo cards (Suprim, STRIX, AIRO) and the OC cards (Trio, TUF, Trinity). This is very much a surface level analysis, but should provide some insight in terms of which cards will have the most robust VRM arrangements.

One thing I will comment on, the Trinity OC seems to be seriously woefully underpowered VRM wise, doing some of my own calculations, you should be expecting ~75W of heat to be generated at 400A (440W at 1.1V) by the VRM's alone, which is... quite excessive.

 

CARD	GPU Voltage Phases	GPU Voltage Controller	GPU MOS	MOS Current (A)	Total GPU Current	Memory Voltage Phases	Memory Voltage Controller	Memory MOS	MOS Current (A)	Total Memory Current	Total Phases	Source
MSI Suprim X (& Liquid)	26	Monolithic MP2891	Monolithic MP86957	70	1820	4	Monolithic MP2891	Monolithic MP86957	70	280	30	Techpowerup
ASUS STRIX OC	24	Monolithic MP2891	OnSemi FDMF3170	70	1680	4	Monolithic MP2891	OnSemi FDMF3170	70	280	28	Techpowerup
Nvidia Founders	20	Monolithic MP2891	Monolithic MP86957	70	1400	3	Monolithic MP2891	Monolithic MP86957	70	210	23	Techpowerup
Colorful Vulcan OC-V	24	uPI uP9512U	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI-03 BLN3	55	1320	4	uPI uP9512R	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI-03 BLN3	55	220	28	Techpowerup
Zotac AIRO	24	uPI uP9512U	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI-03 BLN3	55	1320	4	uPI uP9512R	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI BLN0	55	220	28	Techpowerup
ASUS TUF OC	18	Monolithic MP2888A	Infineon TDA21570	70	1260	4	uPI uP9512Q	Vishay SIC638A	50	200	22	Hardware Unboxed
Gigabyte Gaming OC	20	uPI uP9512U	Vishay SIC653A	50	1000	4	uPI uP9512R	Vishay SIC653A	50	200	24	Techpowerup
MSI Gaming Trio X	18	Monolithic MP2891	OnSemi NCP303151	50	900	4	Monolithic MP2891	OnSemi NCP303151	50	200	22	CoolPC
Palit GameRock OC	16	uPI uP9512U	OnSemi NCP302150	50	800	3	uPI uP9512R	OnSemi NCP302150	50	150	19	Techpowerup
Zotac Trinity OC	14	uPI uP9512U	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI-03 BLN3	55	770	4	uPI uP9512R	Alpha & Omega AOZ5311NQI BLN0	55	220	18	CoolPC
Gigabyte Windforce	14	?	Vishay SIC653A	50	700	4	?	Vishay SIC653A	50	200	18	profesionalreview

 

Let me know if I missed anything up or if there are some cards you'd like to see added (I can't make promises on what board pictures I can find).

 

EDIT 10/17: Added Gigabyte Windforce, a new competitor for worst VRM arrangement on a 4090.

[WereCat]

I just started watching Buildzoids video on the GameRock one as you posted this. These cards better be significantly cheaper than founders for what they are (but they wont). The Zotac Trinity is even worse somehow, impressive.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Ideally even the the windforce card should be fine for day to day usage and for most people. I'd still choose to go with a card that has a higher quality pcb design as TPU's review of the gamerock showed a higher transient power spike than the other cards. This may be why they list a 1200w psu as a requirement. If I were spending that money, my choice of 4090s would end at the gaming x trio. Anything below that I'd feel cheated. 

 

Thanks for the list.  

[kirkle8]

With the big lockdown of the Ada cards, I think any of these VRM arrangements are okay for day to day use. It's just wild seeing how some of these cards have almost half the MOS chips as other cards. It's also my understanding the transient issues are more a symptom of weak capacitor arrangements and not related to the VRM, but I don't think there has been any conclusive testing on it.

[AnonymousGuy]

Ugh...guess I'm going to see if the Trio X blows up when its shunted and maybe volt modded.  Good thing Amazon is already doing 3 month holiday returns

[MadPistol]

On 10/17/2022 at 8:15 AM, Kinda Bottlenecked said:

Ideally even the the windforce card should be fine for day to day usage and for most people. I'd still choose to go with a card that has a higher quality pcb design as TPU's review of the gamerock showed a higher transient power spike than the other cards. This may be why they list a 1200w psu as a requirement. If I were spending that money, my choice of 4090s would end at the gaming x trio. Anything below that I'd feel cheated. 

 

Thanks for the list.  

I got a Windforce, and so far, it's been fine. Been throwing everything I can at it, and nothing phases it.

Even the lowest cards are completely overbuilt.

Based on what I've been reading, you have to throw some major power at the 4090 to get even a modest overclock.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

1 hour ago, MadPistol said:

I got a Windforce, and so far, it's been fine. Been throwing everything I can at it, and nothing phases it.

Even the lowest cards are completely overbuilt.

Based on what I've been reading, you have to throw some major power at the 4090 to get even a modest overclock.

 

Given that the cooler on this thing is huge, I'm not surprised that it'll handle any day to day task. Most will never ever push the full amount of power through the vrms of these overbuilt cards. I'll have to run these things 24/7 so I'm being careful with the quality of the board. 

[SwiftXShadow]

Gainward is missing.