Need help with my first ever PC - What 4090 to buy?

[Airmati]

So I'm building a very powerful PC that's set to take me through university
I'm building a very high PC with a 7950X Ryzen CPU, 64GB RAM and a 4090.
However, I do not know what 4090 to get. I keep reading reviews online and I see MANY different opinions.
These are the 4 I'm interested in:

Gigabyte Gaming OC 4090
Zotac Trinity OC
Zotac AMP Extreme Airo
MSI Gaming Trio/Gaming X Trio

They're roughly in the price range I can afford, but I don't know which to get as I keep hearing things about them.
Gigabyte apparently having cracked pcbs that the company refuses to refund I heard
Zotac having extremely loud fans and are "not worth" the 4090 experience I heard because they're cheap
MSI Gaming Trio having high idle temps. And I was told "If you can afford to get the Gaming Trio, you might as well rip out a few more pounds and get the Suprim X".
I really don't know, any help is MASSIVELY appreciated
I've bought the other parts I need, I checked the dimensions of these GPUs and they fit in my 5000X iCue case. I'm just struggling with the GPU and what "brand" I should go with.

Thank you!

 

[Tykey]

So I'm building a very powerful PC that's set to take me through university
I'm building a very high PC with a 7950X Ryzen CPU, 64GB RAM and a 4090.
However, I do not know what 4090 to get. I keep reading reviews online and I see MANY different opinions.
These are the 4 I'm interested in:

Gigabyte Gaming OC 4090
Zotac Trinity OC
Zotac AMP Extreme Airo
MSI Gaming Trio/Gaming X Trio

They're roughly in the price range I can afford, but I don't know which to get as I keep hearing things about them.
Gigabyte apparently having cracked pcbs that the company refuses to refund I heard
Zotac having extremely loud fans and are "not worth" the 4090 experience I heard because they're cheap
MSI Gaming Trio having high idle temps. And I was told "If you can afford to get the Gaming Trio, you might as well rip out a few more pounds and get the Suprim X".
I really don't know, any help is MASSIVELY appreciated
I've bought the other parts I need, I checked the dimensions of these GPUs and they fit in my 5000X iCue case. I'm just struggling with the GPU and what "brand" I should go with.

Thank you!

I have the trio and it's been great, i haven't noticed high idle temps. It's quiet with no coil whine. Not the best overclocker but i think that's down to just pure luck. I think it's 1 of the cheapest 4090s afaik. Tbh i don't think you can go far wrong in buying most 4090s, for me i selected mine because it was the cheapest well established brand with broadly similar gaming performance to significantly more expensive models.

 

[Quartz]

Zotac have UK RMA. I have a Zotac Trinity and there’s been no coil whine from it, plus it’s been quiet - no fan issues here.

 

[gjbf1]

I'd go Zotac trinity. 5 years warranty, UK RMA as mentioned above. The cheapest.

The factory overclocked models don't tend it give much greater performance but do generally use a hell of a lot more power (heat).

 

[Gray2233]

The cheapest Zotac for the 5 year UK based warranty.

Otherwise you're just paying for brand and marketing in 98% of cases, there's very little difference between them all and certainly not enough to justify higher prices for the average user.

 

[Airmati]

The cheapest Zotac for the 5 year UK based warranty.

Otherwise you're just paying for brand and marketing in 98% of cases, there's very little difference between them all and certainly not enough to justify higher prices for the average user.

Thanks for all your responses. But I don’t think I’ll be just the average user.
Mainly productivity work with Unreal Engine 5, 3D Rendering , Blendrr, After Effects, Sony Vegas Pro

Even then does it make a difference? And should I just save money and go with the Zotac

 

[Tetras]

Even then does it make a difference? And should I just save money and go with the Zotac

If you're doing things that are going to run the card at 100% load for long periods, you might want to get a decent cooler, yeah, but I have no idea how the 4090 coolers compare. Have you looked at the 4090 threads (e.g. coil whine and owners) in the graphics card forum?

A roundup of 4070s, this is the wrong card obviously, but it does give you an idea which models are higher or lower end:

9 RTX 4070's Tested, GPU & Memory Thermals, Clocks, Power & Noise Normalized Testing

Visit Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/GPUs-Video-Graphics-Devices/Category/ID-38Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Float...

www.youtube.com

This has only 5 4090s, but it does include power, core, memory and hotspot (HUB does too):

Which RTX 4090 Should You Get? - 5 Models Tested & Compared

Testing 5 different GeForce RTX 4090 - Shop for one here: https://geni.us/xYgzkU (affiliate)Sponsor: Seasonic Prime PSUs are awesome! Get yours: https://geni...

www.youtube.com

The Gaming X Trio looks like a good model in how the cooler performs generically in other series, but 2 years less warranty on a £1500 card isn't great.

This chart includes the Zotac AMP:

Zotac GeForce RTX 4090 Amp Extreme Airo Review

Zotac's GeForce RTX 4080 AMP Extreme Airo comes with a mesmerizing RGB implementation that simply looks stunning. As expected, a factory overclock is included on Zotac's new flagship, and the cooler runs very quietly once the dual BIOS is switched to "quiet mode".

www.techpowerup.com

 

[Airmati]

If you're doing things that are going to run the card at 100% load for long periods, you might want to get a decent cooler, yeah, but I have no idea how the 4090 coolers compare. Have you looked at the 4090 threads (e.g. coil whine and owners) in the graphics card forum?

A roundup of 4070s, this is the wrong card obviously, but it does give you an idea which models are higher or lower end:

9 RTX 4070's Tested, GPU & Memory Thermals, Clocks, Power & Noise Normalized Testing

Visit Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/GPUs-Video-Graphics-Devices/Category/ID-38Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hardwareunboxedJoin us on Float...

www.youtube.com

This has only 5 4090s, but it does include power, core, memory and hotspot (HUB does too):

Which RTX 4090 Should You Get? - 5 Models Tested & Compared

Testing 5 different GeForce RTX 4090 - Shop for one here: https://geni.us/xYgzkU (affiliate)Sponsor: Seasonic Prime PSUs are awesome! Get yours: https://geni...

www.youtube.com

The Gaming X Trio looks like a good model in how the cooler performs generically in other series, but 2 years less warranty on a £1500 card isn't great.

This chart includes the Zotac AMP:

Zotac GeForce RTX 4090 Amp Extreme Airo Review

Zotac's GeForce RTX 4080 AMP Extreme Airo comes with a mesmerizing RGB implementation that simply looks stunning. As expected, a factory overclock is included on Zotac's new flagship, and the cooler runs very quietly once the dual BIOS is switched to "quiet mode".

www.techpowerup.com

Yeah Zotac's 4090 5 year warranty is looking like a steal for me. It's just idk why there's a bias against Zotac cards

Which RTX 4090 to BUY and AVOID?! | 35 Cards Compared! Asus, MSI, Galax, Gigabyte, PNY, Palit, Etc.

Which is THE BEST RTX 4090? Let's compare the VRMs, Power Limits and Cooling performance of these different models! Join the O!verclock Club to support me an...

www.youtube.com

This video shows Zotac at the bottom of the barrel

 

[gjbf1]

Yeah Zotac's 4090 5 year warranty is looking like a steal for me. It's just idk why there's a bias against Zotac cards

Which RTX 4090 to BUY and AVOID?! | 35 Cards Compared! Asus, MSI, Galax, Gigabyte, PNY, Palit, Etc.

Which is THE BEST RTX 4090? Let's compare the VRMs, Power Limits and Cooling performance of these different models! Join the O!verclock Club to support me an...

www.youtube.com

This video shows Zotac at the bottom of the barrel

Why?

 

[Airmati]

Why?

I don’t know what to tell you. I might ignore him and just get the Zotac 4090 from OC, seems the people who got them from here have good reviews on it regardless of the Zotac Bias

 

[Tetras]

Why?

From watching the video:

- Zotac Trinity has a basic VRM, matching nvidia's reference spec.
- Zotac AMP has a high tier VRM, similar to the FE, but weaker than the Strix.

- Trinity max power limit: 450 (stock, not adjustable).
- AMP max power limit: 495.

- Trinity cooler: not included in the results.
- AMP cooler: seems to have both high temps and noise, relative to most other cards. Mildly worse than the FE.

All-round pick (based on temps, VRM and price): Gigabyte Gaming OC.

Highest performing (air) cards: Strix, Suprim X.

Based on the video, I don't see the point of the AMP, big VRM, but you can't use it and the cooler doesn't seem great either. The Trinity is a reference spec card, so since it's cheap with a long warranty I think that's fine.

From what I gathered, this isn't actually an independent review with unique benchmarks, it is based on other reviews, so I'm not sure if that impacts the accuracy of the amalgamated charts.

 

[Airmati]

From watching the video:

- Zotac Trinity has a basic VRM, matching nvidia's reference spec.
- Zotac AMP has a high tier VRM, similar to the FE, but weaker than the Strix.

- Trinity max power limit: 450 (stock, not adjustable).
- AMP max power limit: 495.

- Trinity cooler: not included in the results.
- AMP cooler: seems to have both high temps and noise, relative to most other cards. Mildly worse than the FE.

All-round pick (based on temps, VRM and price): Gigabyte Gaming OC.

Highest performing (air) cards: Strix, Suprim X.

Based on the video, I don't see the point of the AMP, big VRM, but you can't use it and the cooler doesn't seem great either. The Trinity is a reference spec card, so since it's cheap with a long warranty I think that's fine.

From what I gathered, this isn't actually an independent review with unique benchmarks, it is based on other reviews, so I'm not sure if that impacts the accuracy of the amalgamated charts.

So I can go with the Zotac?
I was either going to go with the Trinity, the MSI Gaming Trio, or Suprim X
Gigabyte is out of the question due to the recent cracking pcb issues and them refusing RMA
Between the Zotac, Gaming Trio and Suprim X what would you recommend based off the video?

 

[Tetras]

Between the Zotac, Gaming Trio and Suprim X what would you recommend based off the video?

(This is purely based on my impression of the video, I don't own any of these)

I'd rule out the Gaming X Trio, because it seems to perform surprisingly badly (considering in HUB's 4070 roundup, it was one of the strongest cards).

I'd also rule out the Zotac AMP, for the same reasons given in my post above.

The Suprim X did great, but £300+ premium is a lot and you still lose 2 years of warranty.

So, the Zotac Trinity would be my choice. A boring card, but the best warranty.

That said, with the kind of work you're doing, maybe the premium will feel justified if it runs a chunk cooler and quieter, though you could always tune the Trinity to get temps, power and noise down.

 

[rchads89]

Msi gaming x trio gets my vote got one not had a problem with it and i don't have any issues with noise or coil whine. Performs really well for me and not heard of any reports of it under performing??

 

[Tetras]

Msi gaming x trio gets my vote got one not had a problem with it and i don't have any issues with noise or coil whine. Performs really well for me and not heard of any reports of it under performing??

I'm just going by the video, but I do find it odd that it seemed to perform so badly (relative to the other cards), maybe the reviewer they took the results from had a bad sample.

TPU said this, in their review:

"MSI's RTX 4090 Gaming X Trio comes with a more cost-efficient cooler than the Suprim X. While the Suprim X uses a vapor-chamber base, the Gaming X uses a classic solid baseplate design. Other parts of the cooler have also been designed to be less expensive, which makes perfect sense if you're building a custom-design that's targeted at lower price points. Our apples-to-apples cooler comparison test confirms that the Gaming X cooler is among the weaker ones of all the RTX 4090s that I've tested so far. The range between best and worst air cooler is 9°C at the same fan noise and heat load—not that much. The Gaming X Trio's cooler is still more powerful than that on the NVIDIA Founders Edition, by around 5°C.

The good news is that MSI did the right thing and found perfect fan settings, given the RTX 4090 GPU's heat output and the cooler's capabilities. With the default (silent) BIOS, the card runs very quietly, making it quieter than most other non-MSI RTX 4090 models that we've tested. Only the super-expensive ASUS STRIX when switched to the quiet BIOS is a little bit quieter—all the other RTX 4090s from all the big vendors are louder—pretty impressive. Temperatures. which are higher than other cards are still good, reaching 72°C on the GPU, 81°C on the hot spot and 72°C on the memory. Nothing to lose sleep over about. Still, if you prefer lower temperatures, MSI has you covered. Switch to the "Gaming" BIOS, which runs a more aggressive fan curve that brings down temperatures by around 5°C. This fan setting is still pretty quiet with 34 dBA, roughly matching the Founders Edition."

 

[rchads89]

I'm just going by the video, but I do find it odd that it seemed to perform so badly (relative to the other cards), maybe the reviewer they took the results from had a bad sample.

TPU said this, in their review:

Performed badly as in temperatures compared to other cards? cant wait video right now at work

 

[Tetras]

Performed badly as in temperatures compared to other cards? cant wait video right now at work

It was at the bottom of their snapshot chart, with the highest temps, though noise was missing and it performed worse than the FE, which isn't consistent with TPU's results. In the cooling tier list, they placed it at the bottom, alongside the FE, Zotac models and no higher than the Ventus, which is technically a tier below (in MSI's heirarchy).

 

[rchads89]

It was at the bottom of their snapshot chart, with the highest temps, though noise was missing and it performed worse than the FE, which isn't consistent with TPU's results. In the cooling tier list, they placed it at the bottom, alongside the FE, Zotac models and no higher than the Ventus, which is technically a tier below (in MSI's heirarchy).

must have had a bad example as the cooling on mine although I've not got another 4090 to compare to its been really good with a massive plus of not having coil whine

 

[jigger]

Nvidia reference from Nvidia. Great price, quality HSF and no moving target returns policy.

 

[gjbf1]

Nvidia reference from Nvidia. Great price, quality HSF and no moving target returns policy.

Over the Zotac warranty?