ASUS GeForce RTX 4090, RTX 4080 launched: new ROG Strix, TUF cards

ASUS is asking us to "ascend to new heights" with the new GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, with the company detailing new ROG Strix and TUF Gaming designs.

The company has just unveiled new Ada Lovelace GPU-powered offerings in the form of GeForce RTX 4090, GeForce RTX 4080 16GB, and GeForce RTX 4080 12GB graphics cards. The new flagship ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 is here to topple your games and benchmark charts.

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The new ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, from the front

The new custom ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card features a 3.5-slot design, with ASUS going back to the drawing board for the heat sink design of its new ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090. ASUS says there's a new vapor chamber, 30% more surface area for heat dissipation when compared to the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090.

• Read more: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090: 2x faster than RTX 3090 Ti for $1599
• Read more: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4080 revealed: 16GB model starts at $1199
• Read more: NVIDIA DLSS 3 announced: 4x faster in Cyberpunk 2077 on Ada Lovelace

ASUS isn't just going to use some off-the-shelf vapor chamber, instead it has used a patented vapor chamber design that adds milled channels underneath the heat pipes. Instead of lying the heat pipes flat against the surface, they sink into the vapor chamber which allows them to more efficiently shift heat to the 4 x 8mm and 3 x 6mm heat pipes and then into the heat sink fins.

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The new ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, from the back

When the new ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card is "subjected to a 500W thermal load" the new cooling system allows for 5C cooler temperatures versus conventional vapor chamber designs. ASUS has also put some work into the Axial-tech fans, with a thicker design that packs 7 blades and full barrier rings that provide 23.8% more airflow and 19.3% more pressure than the previous-gen fans used on the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090.

ASUS says that it was these tweaks to the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card that allows it to keep the same GPU temperatures and acoustics at a similar level to the previous-gen ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 "despite the extra power".

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A single 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power cable is ready for you

Furthermore, ASUS isn't messing around with its flagship ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 featuring a 12+4 phase system that has 70A power stages. There are two power stages per phase fueling the Ada Lovelace GPU, for a total of 24+4. There's a digital controller on the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 that has higher precision when detecting power, as well as better power conversion and balancing for less noise and signal interference.

ASUS says that you should "have no problem driving this beast of a graphics card" with a power supply like its own ROG Thor 1200P2 PSU, given its new ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card features native 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector support.

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The new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, from the front

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The new ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, from the back

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Once again with the single 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector