£1,499 Gainward Phantom for me with the 4090 18 months ago off of OCUK. If I get a 5090, I'll get the cheapest model or one of the cheapest models again.
Nothing wrong with the cheapest models as they most perform the same more or less. For those who have played with plenty of 4xxx series the performance uplift is not in the card that can do 3mhz or 3.1mhz but the card which can drive the memory clock the fastest.
When basing cards on the price levels there are some things to take into consideration I found. Here's are some of the thing found from these past two years of owning 4090's and other 4 series cards.
3 asus strix 4090's and one strix 4080. Probably overall the best clocking cards for me. But they all had coil whine to varying degrees and the most expensive 4xxx series cards. Also the coolest running whether it be gpu hotspot or memory temps. And the quietest.
Asus Tuf 4070ti super. I loved this card as it was a good clocker, cool running and not much in the way of coil whine so to speak although it was pricier than other manufacturers
3 suprim X's 4090. Overall the best built 4090 and second only to the strix in thermals. All 3 had coil whine to varying degree. As well built as it is and as large as it is, (chonkier than a strix) It could not beat out the strix and it tends to run the memory way hotter than the strix's. It always baffled me why as well engineered as the card is why it was power limited by bios and why it didn't outperform a strix.
Msi ventus 4070 ti super and Msi trio slimline X 4070ti super. Hated the ventus 4070ti super found it noisy and and ran hotter than what I am use to 4xxx series wise. The gaming trio slim was much better. Thermals wise even though it was a 'slim' model it perform pretty close to the Tuf gaming 4070ti super only like a degree or two out. But clocking wise the Tuf was superior. No coil whine
Zotac 4090, 4080, 4070 ti. A more budget offering compared to the the bigger name brands but to its credit none of them exhibit coil whine. But seeming as I got these on release day with the suprims and strixs it had a funky fan sound that some of the cards on the initial batch had. That fan noise drove me up the wall. More affordable than most of the manufacturers but terrible clockers.
Founder edition 4090. NGL I actually liked this card. I had a 3080ti founders edition before and it was a howler. Super super noisy AF. Now this iteration of the founders edition is way quieter but it is still more audible than AIB's. Had no coil whine and no funky fan noise. I do remember on release that some users complained about a wobbly fan noise. I like the build quality and the thermals were decent. Fully unlocked power limit if you were that way inclined. Some of the 4090's were super chonky and wouldn't fit in small cases, small builds. I liked the form factor of this particular 4090. It was also the cheapest on release and represents excellent value for money 4090 series wise but in the overall scheme of things still an expensive card. Super hard to get hold of. I liked the look of it as well. Kinda of like an industrial no frills look.
KFA 2 4080 Has a 'gamer' look to it. Normally I hate on 4080 as they are the ginger step child of the 4 series. But this card had no coil whine. Pretty affordable. To be honest the card did nothing wrong but then again it never really excelled compared to other manufacturers. I was hoping the supplied fan which you can bolt on the card could elevate the thermal performance but I found it to do nothing. Looks cheap and feels cheap hence the lowish price.
Gigabyte ex OC 4090. Many moons ago I use to get only the windforce cards. But for quite a few years I have not bought them so I was expecting great things from them. Had no coil whine, Okayish temps - not the lowest but neither the highest. Okay I get why they call their fans windforce. While it didn't have the funky fan noise of the early zotacs the fans are loudish. Looks cheap and feels cheap. The bios is not that good either I found. Whether I ran the card at 80% or 100% it still used teh same juice. If you lower the power limit to 60% then the power draw drops. Disappointment was an understatement and wish I had got the aorus master instead.
So out of all of them my faves were the strix 4090, the suprim 4090, FE 4090 and the Asus tuf 4070ti super.