At the beginning of this February, we looked at our first NVIDIA 4000 series Ada Lovelace GPU, the ASUS ROG Strix 4090 OC. Today we will look at the following GeForce RTX 4090 in the ASUS SKU list called the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition. The TUF 4090 OC is one SKU below the Strix, but it is still marketed primarily for gamers. On the other hand, it is a formidable GPU and given the ~$1,750 MSRP is also in the range where many buyers are going to be creative professionals without the budget to move to non-GeForce cards. We expect performance to be very similar to the Strix as they are based on the same Ada Lovelace Chip.
If you want to learn more about the architecture, STH covered the NVIDIA 4000 Ada Lovelace series architecture in this article, NVIDIA GTC 2022 Fall Keynote Coverage.
ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Overview
The ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition is geared toward gamers and supports many features gamers want, but we find it handles workstation-type applications just fine. Here we take a look at the retail box art.
Let us take the GPU out of the box and check out the front of the card.
The TUF version is notably shorter than the Strix version. Length measures 13.7″ for the TUF and 16.54″ for the Strix. The shorter length will help in fitting in tight cases.
The back of the ASUS TUF 4090 OC is very close to the Strix, with a metal backplate covering the main PCB and a large vent area to allow for better airflow. We wish metal backplates were standard features on all GPUs.
Here we are looking down at the top of the ASUS TUC 4090 OC is a large opening to allow for better airflow to aid in cooling.
The front end of the card is slightly more blocked off with the different case design. It still includes a large opening for airflow.
The IO end has 3x DisplayPort 1.4a and 2x native 2.1a HDMI ports.
The ASUS TUF 4090 OC is wider than the Strix. The TUF comes in at 3.65 slots vs. the Strix at 3.5 slots. Both are effectively 4 slots, given the size. As an example, the card extends to cover the second PCIe slot on our ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 HERO motherboard completely.
Many may like that the ASUS TUF 4090 OC uses minimal RGB effects. These can be changed or turned off if one uses Armoury Crate.
Now let us move on to the Key Features and Specifications of the ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition.
Soon the PC form factor will need to change: the mobo will be installed in a slot in the nVidia GPU.