REVIEW Palit RTX 5090 GameRock Review - Vs The Overclocked 4090

I don’t often review things anymore, it used to be one of the tasks that came with getting access to hardware for xocing and was never my favourite part of it all. Given I have this and the previous flagship both sitting on my desk currently though I thought it would be a lost opportunity to not compare them in my own usage style. That means some overclocking, and the settings sliders all pushed to the right in games.

I’ll break this small review into a few parts:
A quick touch on the physical design
4K Game testing vs an oc’d 4090
DLDSR 2.25x game testing
Undervolting
Issues
Conclusion and thoughts



Palit’s GameRock line of cards have often certainly been a bit of an acquired taste, and I don’t think that’s any different here. The faux crystal design seen in the 30 and 40s series makes way for a shiny chameleon like finish on the shroud of the card. While still subtle enough in a horizontal orientation, this will certainly stand out if you were to use a vertical mount.



The card appears well built however I wouldn’t label it very premium, it certainly presents itself as the msrp level design it is. The backplate is metal however there don’t appear to be any thermal pads on the rear of the pcb. The shroud itself is all plastic but it is a solid design and doesn’t creek or flex in the hand. My one complaint would be the prison bar like structure on the side, let the heatsink fins breathe!



At 332mm it is at least one of the shorter 5090s you can find but you’ll still need 4 slots of space for it to occupy.



Temperatures settle in at around 75c with extended use with fan speeds around 1800-1900rpm keeping it there. This results in a definitely not silent, but not blistering loud experience either. The fan noise is easy to live with and doesn't exhibit any motor noise or humm. Some coil whine is present at high framerates.

Test Setup:
Ryzen 7 9800X3D - Pbo Enabled +200mhz fmax -30CO
Gigabyte X870E Aorus Master
2x16gb Trident Z 6000c30
Lian Li Edge 1300w PSU
3x360mm loop with the 4090 watercooled
2x360mm loop with only the 9800x3d cooled with 5090 installed

 

4K Game Testing

9 games tested
Cyberpunk 2077 - Max settings, path tracing enabled, dlss quality
Silent Hill 2 - Epic preset, Rt On, dlss quality
The Witcher 3 Next Gen - Max settings, rt on, dlss quality
Jedi Survivor - Max settings, rt on, dlss quality
Black Myth Wukong - Cinematic settings, rt on, dlss quality
The Callisto Protocol - Max settings, rt on, native 4k
Alan Wake 2 - Max settings, path tracing, dlss quality
The Last Of Us Part 1 - Max settings, dlaa
Returnal - Max settings, rt on, native 4k


The TL;DR of this whole section is that the 5090 averages an increase of 23% improvement over my watercooled and tweaked 4090. Applying a quick overclock to the air cooled 5090 eeks out another 5% to lift that to 28% over all. While it’s not an increase to get too excited over, in this selection of games that can be the difference between settings some would consider playable vs not.


Here in CP2077 we see an increase of 25% to the stock 5090, and 30% to the overclock. Now averaging over 60fps maxed out with dlss quality we are at comfortably playable framerates with path tracing enabled - especially if you don’t mind using some 2x fg.



Another increase of 24% to the stock 5090 and 28% when overclocked. This game continues to be a stutter fest that messes with 1% lows and even the increased averages don’t go a long way to improve that experience.



An unbelievably demanding game for its age thanks to the next gen update and raytracing suite. The stock 5090 has an uplift of 32% here and 36% when overclocked. Pushing the average into the 90s and lifting the 1% lows out of the 60s does improve the experience here.


Another terrible port here that stutters like it’s paid to do so. 5090 improves the average by 19% and 24% when overclocked. There’s no fixing this game.


One of my favourite games of last year, extremely demanding when cranked at 4k. The 5090 increases things by 29% stock and 33% when overclocked to just touch that illusive 60fps average. Perhaps now a worthy candidate for 2x fg.


Oh look it’s another stutterer. What a time to be alive. 5090 improves the average by 25% at stock and 33% with an overclock.


A tough pick between this and CP2077 for best looking game for me, however demanding it is. 5090 uplifts the average by 27% stock and 31% overclocked. So close to 60fps, though the game will often fare better than this as the forest section I tested in is incredibly demanding.


This one started as an abysmal port but credit to the devs who actually managed to fix a lot of it. It’s also a beautiful looking game even by today’s standards. 5090 raises the average by 15% stock and 24% overclocked. A bit of a low responder, but higher than usual increase when ocing. A great experience on either card however.


One of playstation’s most unique offerings, glad it made its way to pc. 5090 improves by 22% stock and 26% overclocked. 1% lows dip heavily in the benchmark here however the improved framerate will be appreciated in this action paced roguelite.

 

DLDSR 2.25x Testing (5760x3240)

One thing I definitely wanted to touch on here was performance when using dldsr. A great way to increase fidelity when you have some overhead, which with either of these monster gpus can be the case especially if you go a few years back in your library.

3 Games Tested
The Last Of Us Part 1 - Max Settings with DLAA and DLSS Q
God Of War - Max Settings Native
Resident Evil 4 - Max Settings Native


The TL;DR summary is there is a decently larger uplift here than at 4k at 39%. The extra memory bandwidth of the 5090 may be coming into its own here.



You wouldn’t play with these settings with either gpu here, but the 5090 does see a healthy uplift with +44% uplift. Interestingly the 1% lows suffered a little more in comparison but it could be a quirk in my testing.


Using DLSS in combination with DLDSR also works well to increase fidelity for a lower performance penalty as you’re still rendering from a higher base resolution and downsampling back to 4k. The 5090 again has a healthy increase of 41% and is very playable here.


God of War sees an increase of just 32% here bucking the trend set by tlou. Very playable experience and quite impressive by both cards given we’re not using any upscaling.


Finally we round off with RE:4. No upscaling here either and we see another solid increase of 37%, I wouldn’t use DLDSR with the 4090 here with dips under 60fps but the 5090 delivers a great experience.

 

Undervolting

I planned to have an undervolting section here to compare how efficient each card can be however as hard as I’ve tried I can not make it work on the 5090. The curve editor in afterburner is working for some and not for others, put me in camp others.

While the 4090 often works under its quoted 450w tdp with some exceptions, the 5090 takes the opposite approach where it uses most of its tdp with some exceptions. You will seldom see it drinking less than 500-550w in demanding gameplay with stock settings or an overclock.

I will revisit this with driver and afterburner updates if I can get undervolting to work as expected on the 5090.

=====
Update 1/3/25

I got undervolting working finally after a new OS install. The bad news is I had not backed up the 4090 testing files before the re-install so this will have to be a quick stand-alone 5090 piece. Undervolting is still effective this generation and some performance can be picked up over stock while saving some power. Of course you can limit voltage further for more power gains, but in my opinion the gap between the 4090 and 5090 is not wide enough to make such concessions. Everyone will have their own opinion on that however.

Stock = stock out of the box
Undervolt = Targets 2800mhz @ 900mv and + 1000 memory

Just a quick 2 game test here as I'm time poor and want to actually play some games. Cyberpunk and TLOU2 are both good examples of heavy to run games that won't tolerate instability.


Cyberpunk drops over 60w average power draw and picks up 2fps, putting it very close to the overclocked results.


TLOU sees almost exactly the same benefit again shaving over 60w average and putting up 4fps average - sitting almost exactly in the middle of the stock and oc result.

If you are happy with the stock performance of a 5090 then undervolting is a no brainer to shave 60-70w at load. While still a power hungry card either way the gains are significant and makes a tangible difference to thermals and fan speeds for daily use.


Issues

It would be remiss currently to talk about the 5090 without mentioning the various issues some people are having at the moment.

The main ones others have seen:
Black screen issues when applying any load
Inability to boot or install drivers with pcie 5.0 enabled
Melted cables (Real shame we have to go through that again)
Random boosting clock bugs
Some units missing rops and exhibiting a performance deficit -5% of expected. Nvidia have advised users can have these cards replaced.

Issues I have personally experienced:
Random boosting clock bugs - On maybe 1 out of every 6 boots my card will lose approximately 200mhz of boost clock, as if a negative offset has been applied. I only noticed it when going through the logs for these benchmarks and it did result in me having to re-run them all again.

Other than that and my inability to undervolt with the afterburner curve editor I haven’t had any other issues. My time with the card has been limited though so there is always time for more. There is a definite feel of jank to the drivers this time around with those behaviours though and the shine of nvidia’s usual overall polish is missing here.

 

Conclusion and thoughts - The undisputed king, but at what cost?

It has been fun to run through some testing and reminisce in my old days by putting the pen to paper over some hardware again. Largely though nothing I’ve tested really deviates from what the professional reviewers have seen, you can expect 25-30% of raw performance over the 4090. A similar gap between the 4080 and 4090 which in turn holds it a similar position over the 5080 which is a strange conclusion given how held back the 80 was this generation in comparison on the spec sheet. If I had to guess, I would say the 5090 has more in the tank and is power limited. It will be interesting once XOC bios’ make it out into the wild and people shove 700w+ down these cards to see what kind of uplift is possible. That won’t be me however.

So, how do I feel about the 5090 as a GPU? Well, I am a little conflicted. On the one hand it does sit deservedly on its throne as the new king, nothing is touching it. A 4090 even with a waterblock, 600w bios of its own, and a perfected overclock that took weeks to lock in can’t make it flinch. On the other hand it achieves this with a fierce brute force, power consumption increases by 28% and the msrp increases by 36% to match. That’s of course ignoring the current situation and reality that you will be paying much, much more if you actually find one. Don’t get me wrong, the card on the spec sheet and in practice is a beast however the lack of an increase in efficiency or affordability makes it feel more like a refresh of an existing product than a new generation offering. Halo performance was always exciting because you knew it would trickle down to lower tiers in the next launch, the days of this happening are fast vanishing now.

One has to wonder when the line is going to be drawn in the sand by enthusiasts for how nvidia are approaching the market. It evidently hasn’t been drawn yet with the high demand for these hard to obtain cards, but I would have to think we are getting very, very close.


In ending if you are an uber enthusiast sitting in front of a 4k monitor and have to have the best of the best, this is it. In some cases it is the difference between a comfortably playable experience with cranked settings and a more compromised experience, that reality will only continue as new games continue to push graphical and lighting boundaries. Good luck on your hunt. For everyone else, keep an eye on 5070ti pricing as supply increases, as well as amd’s 9070xt which I may also pick up for some testing.

 

No 8K Rocket League with DLDSR?

Are you even trying here?

But seriously, despite all the negatives, the 5090 uplift is impressive when you realise it's 74fps to 96fps. That a tangible improvement in real world use.

 

“the king, but at what cost?” captures the sentiment perfectly: if the raw power is worth the hefty investment, it’s the best card out there. If not, the 4090 is still close enough—and more mature— and will more than satisfy most of us enthusiasts.

The real question is whether we’ll see midrange cards in the upcoming series truly benefit from any efficiency improvements, or if Nvidia will continue this trend of gains through sheer wattage. it will be interesting to watch the 5070 Ti and AMD’s 9070 XT releases to see if some of these concerns get addressed in a more balanced package.

Edit: p.s the Palit actually looks better than I thought it would.

 

On the scale of 1-oh snap, how worried about it melting the 16 pin? And is yours part of the ROPs affected batch?

 

I’d also be super interested in seeing results with reducing power targets to save the card/heat etc etc

 

Shunt mod when ?

 

Excellent review mate! Also would love to see some Monster Hunter Wilds benchmarks while you still have some time to play with it before it releases on Friday.

Hope you get to do more of these in future.

 

Awesome work, nice to see local content!

 

Confirming I have all 176 rops on this card. The power connector is a tricky one, I have some level of confidence because of my experience with the 4090 but you never know. Obsessing over it or checking the cable/connector constantly is ill advised as it can add to the chance of a failure so until something happens - this is fine.jpg

I definitely want to do some undervolting testing, just need to figure out that quirk with the curve editor not working.

Never

Thank you sir, it was good fun. I forgot about the MHW benchmarks, I'll run them and update as I'm curious too.

 

I’m a bit ambivalent about mine as well. It’s a beast of a card but not that great a jump on the 4090 where it actually makes a difference in games. The 4090 was an insane card.

 

nVidia are moving away from (at least accessible/moddable) shunt resistors wherever possible

 

One way to monitor the cable would be to put a temperture probe on the cable itself.

 

Too sensible

 

Trizae Some Monster Hunter Wilds runs for you. Let me know if you want any different settings

Ultra Preset 4k Native with High Raytracing

4090 OC


5090 Stock


5090 OC


5090 OC + DLSSQ and FG for fun


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New 5090 runs as requested
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Ultra Preset 1440P Native with High Raytracing


4k High Preset


1440 High Preset


1080 High Preset


Video runs @ Ultra 1440P and 4K if of any interest. Chapters don't seem to work for nothing channels like mine but there are timestamps in the description

 

You're an absolute LEGEND for this!

Notice you're using .42 and not .47WHQL are you experiencing any black screen issues on the 50series?

Also would love to see some 1440p and also the generic just high for comparision in all 3 resolutions if you have time for sh*ts and gigs with your tweaking to what you finally end up on. I believe new nvidia drivers are coming out for this before Friday as the review embargo has been lifted this morning.