MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM Review

NVIDIA’s first four 50-series graphics cards have launched, with January, February and March of 2025 seeing new GPUs every month. Unfortunately for NVIDIA, the RTX 5000 range hasn’t been received with open arms due to many factors, such as poor pricing, weak generational performance uplifts, and lack of stock. However, due to its industry-leading performance, the RTX 5090 is one of the few cards received with some positivity behind it. The 90-tier NVIDIA graphics cards have always been impressive, and the RTX 5090 is no exception to this rule.

The SUPRIM variant of the RTX 5090 is one of MSI’s priciest versions, balancing performance and aesthetics. This sophisticated-looking card offers a triple-fan shroud to keep thermals low while maintaining a strong boost clock speed. SUPRIM cards are a mainstay of any graphics card launch, and an RTX 5090 version of this particular model blends in very well with a massive range of builds.

However, pricing is a significant deciding factor for many when it comes to picking up the SUPRIM RTX 5090. The RTX 5090 is already a $2000 graphics card, so spending $300-$500 more just for a nicer-looking card that offers a reasonably minimal performance boost won’t be a valid justification for everyone. With this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see how the RTX 5090 SUPRIM compares to the Founders Edition card, which is a relatively competitive and tantalising option, especially if you’re sticking to a budget.

In this review, we’ll examine the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM in-depth, analysing the specs, GPU architecture, design, and, most importantly, performance. The SUPRIM variant of the RTX 5090 has been tested in a series of games, and we’ve provided comparative benchmarks across each run to see how this card holds up.

Specification

As we’ve alluded to in the intro, the RTX 5090 is pretty much the only card in the RTX 50-series thus far that hasn’t been heavily criticised for a particular reason. Since the RTX 3000 range, the 90-tier cards are what you’d describe as the crème de la crème of performance. This chart-topping GPU is equipped with the hardware to handle anything you can throw at it gaming-wise while offering excellent metrics in more burdensome multi-core workloads that demand a powerful graphics card.

This is the primary reason the RTX 90 cards sell out so quickly compared to the other models. The RTX 5090’s MSRP is $1999.99. However, prices have risen significantly since launch, with the vast majority of MSRP cards sitting at $2200 or higher. Additionally, the RTX 5090 has pretty much stayed out of stock since its release in January 2025, but we’re hoping that stocks improve as we reach the mid-year point.

Regarding the hardware, the RTX 5090 is one of the most beefed-up graphics cards we’ve seen in quite some time. For starters, the RTX 5090 comes with 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM. Yes, you read this correctly. 32GB! Gone are the days of worrying that your favourite game at 4K will eat up all your VRAM because the RTX 5090 has a very healthy capacity.

This card sits on a 512-bit memory bus, which is ample for most tasks. The SUPRIM variant, in particular, has a boost clock speed of 2.5GHz, which is 30MHz more than the base Founders Edition. This means that the raw performance upside will likely be reasonably limited.

In terms of core counts, the RTX 5090 has 21760 CUDA cores, 170 RT cores, and 680 Tensor cores, all of which are a sizeable upgrade from the previous generation’s RTX 4090.

Power consumption is one area which may raise concerns for some prospective buyers. Instead of the 450W consumption we saw on the RTX 4090, the RTX 5090 consumes a whopping 575W of power, which is right on the cusp of the theoretical limits of the 16-pin power connector that this card uses. This means that unless you’re already rocking a 1200W power supply, it’s pretty likely that you’ll need an upgrade, which may be a turn-off for some gamers.

As we’ve noted across all of our RTX 5000 coverage, one of the most notable changes to the hardware is the AI TOPS performance, which NVIDIA claims is one of the primary reasons why this generation was possible. The AI TOPS capability powers the latest iteration of DLSS (4.0) and the newest Frame Generation technology.

Design

The design of the SUPRIM version of the RTX 5090 is one of its strong points. This triple-fan card is 359mm long, so it’s definitely on the larger side, especially versus the comparatively small 304mm long Founders Edition model. The length of the card is worth considering if you’ve got a smaller case. Although most modern chassis cater to large graphics cards, clearance will be an issue in compact cases, especially if you’re installing a liquid cooler.

The first thing you’ll notice on the front of the card is the sophisticated sheen of the silver metal shroud. SUPRIM cards have a lighter theme, making them an excellent pickup for white builds. The angular accents on the shroud provide some depth to the aesthetic, with each fan surrounded by an octagonal design. The centre fan houses the unique SUPRIM logo, working in tandem with the two other fans to provide constant airflow and maintain a strong thermal presence.

Two RGB chevrons flank the centre of the card, providing minimalist lighting without diminishing the rich aesthetic. This card’s RGB can be controlled with an application like MSI Center or SignalRGB, allowing you to tinker with and sync the LEDs with the rest of the components in your build.

The rest of the SUPRIM variant maintains the silvery minimalist look. The top of the GPU features the SUPRIM text, which also lights up with customisable RGB lighting. Moving around to the back, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM offers a robust backplate, providing rigidity and stability to the card while maintaining the sophisticated aesthetic. The backplate features some vents towards the right side of the card, allowing air to flow freely without compromising thermals.

Architecture

The RTX 5000-series utilises NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, which powers the pillar technologies that come with this card. Over the years, NVIDIA has continued to refine all of its major technologies, especially with the backing of AI. DLSS is one of these, with RTX 5000 bringing DLSS into its fourth iteration. DLSS 4.0 offers continued improvements to performance, alleviating overhead and offering better visual fidelity when enabled.

Additionally, Frame Generation has seen a new evolution, which NVIDIA refers to as Multi Frame Gen. We’ve explained what Multi Frame Generation does in greater depth in our other 50-series content, but essentially, this is a much more aggressive form of the standard Frame Generation technology. Instead of generating one frame per every rasterised frame, Multi Frame Gen provides three, offering much smoother gameplay due to an exceptionally high framerate.

The upside is that games that use Multi Frame Gen will be perceivably smoother. This will minimise choppiness and artifacts and decrease 1% lows, so big spikes of lag are considerably reduced. The downside, expectedly, is latency. It’s worth highlighting that the latency isn’t always horrendous. When we tested Hogwarts Legacy, we saw system latency hover around 2ms. However, in Cyberpunk 2077, latency was at 16ms.

This means that in certain games, there is a much more noticeable delay in responsiveness. For single-player titles that don’t demand blazing-fast actions and response times, you can likely get away with using Multi Frame Gen without seeing a major loss. However, it’s probably better to leave Multi Frame Gen turned off in multiplayer or co-op games that need you to be quick on the draw.

Performance

As always, all of our benchmarking and testing is done by our in-house benchmarker, Harry Coleman, who has worked tirelessly to gather all the data needed for our RTX 5000 series content. The RTX 5090 and a range of competitor graphics cards have been tested in our primary benchmarking system, which uses an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D to provide the best framerates possible across all of the titles we tested. The games featured in this benchmarking section provide a mix of AAA games and modern Esports titles to see how the RTX 5090 holds up in various games.

Cyberpunk 2077

Settings: 4K, Shadow Quality High, Indirect Lighting High, Reflections High, Crowd Density High, Particle Quality High, Volumetric Lighting High, Motion Blur off, GTAO Quality High, Grass Quality High, Contact Shadows High VSync Off, DLSS: On/Off, Ray Tracing: On/Off, Textures: High

Starting with Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K high settings. This benchmarking run uses no additional settings. All of the gameplay in this particular run is rasterised. As we can see from the results, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM has no issues and comes out on top with a 139FPS average. The RTX 4090 hit 101FPS in this benchmark, with framerates continually decreasing with the RX 7900 XTX at 79 and the RTX 4080 SUPER at 75. The RTX 5090 is supposed to handle rasterised gameplay without issues, but what happens when we switch on some extra settings?

Switching on DLSS, the SUPRIM variant of the RTX 5090 sees a huge uplift to 182FPS, which is about a 50FPS gain compared to the rasterised benchmark. All of the cards we tested in this run saw some solid uplifts, demonstrating the benefit of DLSS in supported games. 182FPS in Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K is incredibly smooth and a solid showing from the RTX 5090.

With Frame Gen 2x (the RTX 4000 series version of Frame Gen) and ray tracing turned on, framerates take a slight dip, but remember this is maxed-out visual fidelity. 167FPS from the RTX 5090 is incredibly strong, beating out the RTX 4090 by about 30FPS. This is the kind of difference that allows gamers to enjoy smooth monitor refresh rates without having to compromise on quality.

Alan Wake 2

Settings: 4K, Post-Processing High, Texture Resolution High, Texture Filtering High, Volumetric Lighting High, Global Illumination Quality High, Shadow Detail High, Terrain Quality High, Ray-Tracing: Enabled, Ray Tracing Preset High, DLSS: On/Off, Frame Generation: On/Off

In Alan Wake 2 at 4K high settings, the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM outputs 90FPS, compared to the RTX 4090, which sat at 73FPS, and the RTX 7900 XTX at 63FPS. Alan Wake 2 is a fairly intense game, so switching on DLSS will uplift framerates here. Versus the previous generation cards, a 20FPS gain in rasterised gameplay is decent, but ultimately, the demand of this title is proving far too much without any extra settings switched on.

With ray tracing switched on, framerates are diminished further, with the RTX 5090 leading the graph with 44FPS. The intensity and optimisation of Alan Wake 2 is the primary cause of the weaker performance here, with other cards like AMD’s RX 7900 XTX and XT, this game is unplayable.

Turning on ray tracing and DLSS improves performance, but the overhead of ray tracing results in a 79FPS average from the RTX 5090 SUPRIM. Compared to the other cards we’ve tested, the RTX 5090 is strong, but Alan Wake 2 is incredibly demanding, resulting in generally weaker frame rates compared to other games that we’ve tested.

Marvel Rivals

Settings: 4K, Graphics Quality High, Global Illumination Lumen GI- High Quality, Reflection Quality Screen Space Reflections, Model Detail High, Post-Processing High, Shadow Detail High, DLSS On/Off, Frame Gen On/Off

Throwing our first Esports title into the mix, we ran the hit title Marvel Rivals at 4K. This rasterised benchmark showcases the raw power of the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM, with an output of 142FPS. Generally, most of the cards we’ve tested perform pretty well in Marvel Rivals at 4K, The RTX 4090 loses out to the RTX 5090 by about 20FPS, with the RTX 4080 SUPER sitting at 89FPS. This Esports title would benefit from higher framerates to enable a smooth display experience, but this will be more feasible with DLSS or FSR switched on.

With DLSS enabled, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM holds firm at 167FPS, about a 20FPS gain compared to the rasterised benchmarking run. With this turned on, the RTX 4090 isn’t far behind the RTX 5090, with about 14 frames between them. We also saw a strong showing from the RX 7900 XTX in this benchmark with a 111FPS average. However, with both NVIDIA’s top-performing GPUs leading this graph by quite some margin, it’s evident that NVIDIA is a winner in this particular game.

Once Frame Gen was enabled, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM soared up to 248FPS. This card leaves the rest of the GPUs we tested in the dust, with the RTX 4090 losing out by about 75 frames on average. If you’re looking to enjoy super smooth framerates at 4K in Marvel Rivals, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM version definitely won’t disappoint.

COD Black Ops 6

Settings: 4K, Graphics Preset Custom, Texture Resolution High, Depth of Field On, Detail Quality High, Particle Resolution High, Shader Quality High, Shadow Quality High, Screen Space Shadows High, DLSS On/Off, Frame Gen On/Off

In COD Black Ops 6 at 4K high settings, the RTX 5090 offered a solid average framerate of 162FPS, which is about 27 more frames than the RTX 4090. COD Zombies isn’t particularly intense, which is why the vast majority of the graphics cards that we’ve tested sat above the 100FPS mark. Overall, we were impressed with the rasterised performance across the board in this title. We did do a DLSS run but found that the percentage gain was 1-2% for most of the cards, so rasterised is the way to go.

Hogwarts Legacy

Settings: 4K Effects High, Material High, Fog High, Sky High, Foliage High, Post Process High, Shadows High, Textures High, View Distance High, Population High, Anti Aliasing TAA High, Windowed Fullscreen

Our final AAA title is Hogwarts Legacy, with the resolution dialled up to 4K high settings. In our rasterised benchmark, unsurprisingly, the RTX 5090 SUPRIM sits at the top of the graph with a 136FPS average. Much like Alan Wake 2, this is a rather intense title, so framerates, while relatively smooth, do suffer a little bit. The RTX 4090 offers a strong showing in this game with a 114FPS average, beyond this, framerates drop below the 100FPS mark, with the RX 7900 XTX at 95 and the RTX 4080 SUPER at 86.

With DLSS and FSR switched on without Frame Gen enabled, we see a slight uptick from the MSI RTX 5090 SUPRIM up to 148FPS. In this benchmarking run, the framerate gain from the rest of the cards was more impressive, with most GPUs gaining 25-30FPS more, providing much smoother gameplay.

Finally, with NVIDIA Frame Gen 2x enabled (the less aggressive version), framerates soared across the board, with the RTX 5090 and 4090 seeing impressive gains beyond the 200FPS mark. Ultimately, most gamers won’t ever need performance that reaches this level, but it’s cool to see regardless.

Apex Legends

Settings: 4K, Anti-aliasing TSAA, Texture Filtering 8X, Model Detail High, VSync Disabled, Effects High, Ambient Occlusion Quality High

In our penultimate game, we fired up Apex Legend at 4K, dialling the settings to high. It’s no surprise in this benchmark to see ridiculous framerates, with the RTX 5090 SUPRIM sitting at 293FPS. Even when Apex Legends is uncapped, its game engine only allows a max framerate of 300FPS, so we’re seeing the RTX 5090 and 4090 sit on the cusp here.

Regarding the other comparison cards that we tested, the RX 7900 XTX, RTX 4080 SUPER and RTX 4070 Ti SUPER also offered mighty performance, averaging well above the 200FPS mark.

Fortnite

Settings: 1080p, Competitive, View Distance Far, FPS Unlimited, VSync Off, Anti-Aliasing TAA, Shadows Off, Reflections Off, Textures Low

The last game that we benchmarked was Fortnite. Although we don’t really use this title to showcase competitive performance, it gives us an indicator of the generational gains between all of the cards that we’ve tested over the years. The RTX 5090 averaged 475FPS, which is around a 25FPS lead, over the RTX 4090 at 448FPS. It’s very clear that the RTX 5090 has no issues handling Fortnite at 1080p.

Conclusion