Gameplay Performance at 4K
We have a selected suite of games to test the MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X at 4K. All our selections were set at the maximum in-game graphic settings or custom combinations. We will run the video card with and without Ray Tracing enabled in-game. DLSS and/or FSR are utilized in games that support the technology. Our video card will be compared to the AMD Radeon 7900 XTX. The AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX was chosen as a top card versus a top card scenario.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II
Call of Duty Modern Warfare II was released on October 27, 2022, on the PC and uses the IW 9.0 gaming engine. The game supports all upscaling methods, including NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Image Scaling, AMD FSR 2.1, AMD Fidelity FX CAS, and Intel XeSS. We use the highest quality option of each. We customize every graphics setting to the maximum value for the best image quality and enable everything. We use the built-in benchmark.
Both graphics cards have no problem with this game. The results are blistering. Overclocking here gains 5%. The MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X is faster by 9% and 6% with upscaling enabled.
F1 2022
F1 2022 was released on June 28th, 2022 on the PC and uses Codemasters Ego engine. The game supports Ray Tracing, DLSS, AMD FidelityFX, and FSR. We ran the game with the highest quality settings of “Ultra High” and TAA+FidelityFX. DLSS and FSR were enabled as needed at the Quality setting for both. The built-in benchmark was used at the Imola track, in dry conditions with a far-chasing cam.
The results here are almost unbelievable. The MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM X doubles the 7900 XTX results, which are crazy fast as well. The overclocked and default results are nearly the same.
Dying Light 2
Dying Light 2 was released in February 2022 on the PC. It uses Techland’s C-Engine and supports Ray Tracing for various environmental effects including Ray Traced Soft Shadows, Ray Traced Ambient Occlusion, Ray Traced Global Illumination, and Ray Traced Reflections. It also supports both DLSS and FSR 2.0 upscaling technologies. We are using the game’s built-in benchmark. We use the game patched to 1.9.3p
Things tighten up a bit as this game is very graphically challenging. The MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM X is still on top by over 23% with and without upscaling enabled. It is refreshing to see such fast frame rates in this graphically challenging game, even without upscaling. The game is very smooth. Overclocking gains 2.5% in this game.
Far Cry 6
Far Cry 6 was released in October of 2021 and uses the Dunia Engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and turned on. We utilize the “Ultra” graphics preset which sets all options to the highest game settings. We also test the game’s support of AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 1.0 to improve performance on both GPUs.
Far Cry is a beautiful game and fairly easy on the graphics card. Both cards give excellent results without upscaling actually being needed. The gap is 24% in default use and closes to 8% when upscaling is enabled. Overclocking is not much help in this case.
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 was released in December 2020 and uses the REDengine 4. We have the game patched to version 1.61 for our testing. We test using the built-in benchmark. Preset options for Ultra quality are used. Ray Tracing testing uses the “Ultra” presets. This game also supports DLSS and AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution FSR 2.1. We test DLSS Quality on NVIDIA GPUs and FSR 2.1 Ultra Quality on AMD GPUs. Testing on our AMD video card shows no frame rate advantage FSR 1.0 versus FSR 2.1.
Here we are in the toughest territory we have graphically. The default results are quite fast. The MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM X is 12.5% faster here. The results are almost equal when upscaling is enabled, with the 7900 XTX only trailing by 7%. The overclock once again is not exciting, 2.4% gain.
Watch Dogs Legion
Watch Dogs Legion was released on the PC in October of 2020 and uses the Disrupt game engine. We utilize the built-in benchmark for testing. We have the HD Texture pack installed and enabled for testing. We use the built-in graphics preset of “Ultra” for testing. Only DLSS is available in this game as an upscaling option.
The closest match so far. Only 3% separate the two video cards and the default card actually eeeks out the win by 1 FPS. The MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM X is 25% faster with upscaling, but has an unfair advantage, no FSR here. Given the nearly exact results, this most likely represents maximum system effort rather than graphical limitations.
Discussion (4 replies)
Join Discussion →Nice review. I remember really wanting this card when the 4090's came out, but couldn't find one. I ended up with the Gigabyte card instead which was fine. Now I own the Asus card which is a great card as well, so basically you can't go wrong with a 4090 right now.
Thanks for the great review @magoo ! I know that I really love the Liquid cooled version of this card. In terms of overclocking, I mostly had the same exact experiences as you but had to dial it back a little more for complete stability for all the games I play. I think I've got something like +120 on the core, don't remember the voltage but it ends up being ~1.050V as well, and averages 2850-2925 MHz. I was able to break 3000 MHz but Witcher 3 was very cranky with it. With the liquid version, I just leave the fan profile at stock and I've never seen it go above 66c but usually hangs 62-65 during extended gaming sessions. I also found the overclocking the memory didn't seem to provide any real gains so I leave it at stock. I also have seen pretty much the exact same power draw with my system.
I got my first Suprim X card, a 3090, a couple of years back and have become a fan of the line since. The build quality just blew me away but they are huge and heavy. If I didn't already have so many great cards in the house, plus some debt to pay off, I'd consider getting a 2nd Suprim X liquid for the 3700X rig but at this point, it wouldn't really make sense. However, when the time comes it'll inherit the one in the other rig whenever I do upgrade that one.
Nice writeup! I've got the same card and it's performed admirably (and better, for what it cost).
A few super minor bits I noticed while reading - on page two, the test system lists an "Enegmax" AIO, which I assume is an Enermax. :D
Resizeable BAR is also detailed there as being enabled for all testing, but the GPU-Z screenshot on page three shows it as being disabled.
Which BIOS was used for the testing? The card has a switch that can select two profiles, silent and game. The silent BIOS has a slightly lower power limit (480W) than the game mode (520W). I freely admit that I may have overlooked this part, but the note near the end about not seeing board power higher than ~420W during testing got me thinking about it. Either way, there's virtually no difference between them if you're not hitting power limits with something like 3DMark's Port Royal test (where I have seen 500W+). The fan curves are so close in both modes - which is to say, quiet - that I couldn't tell them apart if you paid me.
Again, great review as always.
@AKBrian , ReBar is enabled on my system, double checked, I saw that too.
Gaming BIOS used throughout.
As for Enegmax.....I suck at typing.