RTX 4090 review: Spend at least $1,599 for Nvidia’s biggest bargain in years
Enlarge / The Nvidia RTX 4090 founders edition. If you can't tell, those lines are drawn on, though the heft of this $1,599 product might convince you that they're a reflection of real-world motion blur upon opening this massive box. (credit: Sam Machkovech)
The Nvidia RTX 4090 makes me laugh.
Part of that is due to its size. When a standalone GPU is as large as a modern video gaming console-it's nearly identical in total volume to the Xbox Series S and more than double the size of a Nintendo Switch-it's hard not to laugh incredulously at the thing. None of Nvidia's highest-end "reference" GPUs, previously branded as "Titan" models, have ever been so massive, and things only get more ludicrous when you move beyond Nvidia's "Founders Edition" and check out AIB options from third-party partners. (We haven't tested any models other than the 4090 FE yet.)
A gallery of size comparisons. 4090 vs. Xbox Series X gamepad. [credit: Sam Machkovech ]
After figuring out how to safely mount and run power to the RTX 4090, however, the laughs become decidedly different. You're going to consistently laugh with, not at, the RTX 4090, either in joy or excited disbelief.