COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V Review

TweakTown's Rating: 96%

The Bottom Line

COLORFUL has the best GeForce RTX 4090 so far with its new iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V. The detachable LCD display is so cool, and the design has me not taking my eyes away from it...

Pros

• LCD display is BOSS!
• LCD display being detatchable makes it even more OP.
• Another great design by COLORFUL.
• RTX 4090 performance = 4K 120FPS+ gaming.

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

AvoidConsiderShortlistBuy

Introduction

I've had my enthusiast and geek eye fixated on COLORFUL for a number of years now, where I made the effort to create a relationship with the people who work for the company -- as I do with all companies, I'm very real and build an actual friendship with these great people -- where I've reviewed a number of COLORFUL's fantastic custom GeForce series graphics cards.

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COLORFUL's latest entry is the truly outstanding iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V, which takes everything NVIDIA has baked into the gloriously high-end GeForce RTX 4090 and made it "COLORFUL" with their own take. We're talking about an aesthetic that is my favorite yet, a thermal solution that will keep your AD102-300 GPU nice and cool, and a detachable -- yes, you can remove it -- LCD display.

The company has used LCD displays on previous iGame designs, but the new iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V takes it to another level with the detachable screen. I love having the display on the card to show GPU temps, clock speeds, power consumption, and more... but having the ability to detach it and place it on my desk next to me? That's wicked.

• Read more: COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 3050 Ultra W DUO OC 8G Review
• Read more: COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 3060 Bilibili E-sports Edition OC Review
• Read more: COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 3080 Vulcan OC 10G-V Review
• Read more: COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 3060 Advanced OC Review

COLORFUL's new iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V costs $1770, which makes it $170 more than NVIDIA's "starting from" $1599 price on the GeForce RTX 4090... $20 more expensive than MSI's custom RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID X, and $230 cheaper than the ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC Edition.

That is, if you can find the COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V in your market, it's not going to be found worldwide, which is a pity because the card is so damn good.

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace + DLSS 3 + Frame Generation + Optical Flow Accelerator

Instead of repeating everything throughout the custom GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card reviews, I thought I would have a single spot to point you in the right direction.

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Here's everything you need to know about who is Ada Lovelace, the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture, as well as NVIDIA's new DLSS 3, Frame Generation + Ray Tracing that are super-advanced on the Ada Lovelace GPU architecture. DLSS 3, Frame Generation, and the Optical Flow Accelerator are all exclusive to Ada Lovelace and the new GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs.

Detailed Look

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Upon opening the box, I could see that COLORFUL had sent me THE VERY BEST gift that a geek could ask for: a kick-ass LEGO-inspired COLORFUL iGame PC. I mean, this thing is awesome... I didn't have time to get it built before the review was finished, or else I'd have some pictures of the finished product. Still, thanks for the gift, COLORFUL!

COLORFUL has a fantastic retail package for its new flagship iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card, where if it existed on any retail shelf for more than a few minutes it'd be sold out. It looks gorgeous, and as someone who spent over 10 years working in IT retail selling computer hardware, I can tell you this is what I'd have right in the center of my shelves. Great looking box, COLORFUL -- great for a collector.

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Inside, the retail packaging opens up to explain "LOVE WHAT YOU PLAY" to which I answer: hell yes, I do... it's the amazing new COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card!

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Opening the package up and you get some goodies to tweak your graphics card: including the detachable LCD display (on the left covered up). There's a screwdriver in here too, as well as a GPU mount so your expensive new iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V doesn't sag. You wouldn't want that.

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I love that COLORFUL tweaks its designs just a little, and in some ways so much between generations of graphics cards... and the new iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V is no different. It has a beautiful style that has some sharper angles than the previous generation cards, as well as a slick grey and black theme that looks beautiful under RGB lighting (as you can see in some of these photos).

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From the back of the card, we have some amazing aesthetic detail here, I'm loving the edge work here on the back... and those red lines are doing something to my body. Just those red lines add SOO much flair to the back of the card, and while it has some ASRock Phantom GPU styling, COLORFUL does it WAY better here with the iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card.

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It's a thicc boi, that's for sure.

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The aforementioned LCD display is included in the package for COLORFUL iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card, which can be attached to the graphics card itself (like the previous-gen RTX 30 series GPUs from the company) or it -- this generation only -- be detached and put onto the wicked little stand that comes with it.

This makes the COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card one of, if not the most unique of the RTX 4090s, simply for its detachable LCD display. Hands down it's the best thing I've tested with an RTX 4090 so far, and that includes the AIO-cooled MSI RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID X graphics card.

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Seriously, even the styling work that COLORFUL has put on the end of the card... the attention to detail is amazing. So cool.

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Here's the LCD display attached to the top of the card.

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There's the regular display connectivity here on the back of the card: 1 x HDMI 2.1 port, and 3 x DisplayPort 1.4 connectors that are all 4K 120Hz and 8K 60Hz compatible. COLORFUL exclusively provides a physical Turbo bottom on the back of the card, which enables the OC profile on the card (and doubles as a way to flash the BIOS on your card, if need be).

Test System Specs

I've recently upgraded my major GPU test bed for 2022, but I will be upgrading again soon enough once Intel launches its new 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" CPUs and Z790 motherboards, and AMD with its upcoming Ryzen 7000 series "Zen 4" CPUs and X670E motherboards.

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The new upgrades include the shift to the Intel Core i9-12900K processor, ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard, 64GB of Sabrent Rocket DDR5-4800 memory, and 8TB of Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD goodness. Intel's flagship Core i9-12900K is a beast, with the Alder Lake CPU packing 8 Performance cores (P-cores) and 8 Efficient cores (E-cores) at up to 5.2GHz.

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme

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I've got that installed into the bigger-than-life ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme motherboard, which is absolutely loaded to the brim with technologies and features that it houses everything you need. We're talking about one of the best-looking designs on a motherboard yet, PCIe 5.0 support, enthusiast-grade 10GbE networking, and oh-so-much more.

RAM: 64GB Sabrent Rocket DDR5-4800

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Sabrent helped out in a huge way by sending over 64GB of DDR5-4800 memory in the form of 4 x 16GB DDR5-4800 modules of its new Sabrent Rocket DDR5 memory. The company also helped out in an even bigger way, supplying us with a gigantic and super-fast 8TB model of its Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD.

SSD: 8TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus M.2

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We're talking about 7.5GB/sec+ (7500MB/sec) from a single M.2 SSD, along with a gigantic 8TB of capacity. The 2TB drives aren't big enough for all of our game installs for GPU testing... the 4TB is much better, but the 8TB gives us room to move into 2023 without worrying about installing multiple games that are 200GB+ in size.

Some glory shots, of course.

Displays: ASUS ROG Strix 43-inch 4K 120Hz

ASUS has been a tight partner of TweakTown for many years, with the fine folks at ASUS Australia sending over their ROG Strix XG438Q and ROG Swift PG43UQ gaming monitors for our GPU test benches. They're both capable of 4K 120Hz+ through their DisplayPort 1.4 connectivity.

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I will be upgrading these in the near future, over to some DisplayPort 2.0-capable panels and some new HDMI 2.1-enabled 4K 165Hz panels in OLED form of course...given that next-gen GPUs are right around the corner, there has been no better time to upgrade your display or TV.

I've been working on this system for a while now, but now we're stretching its legs with the newly-released PC port of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered. Not just in 1080p or 1440p, not even in just 4K... but at 8K with a native resolution of 7680 x 4320. I've run through some of the very fastest GPU silicon on the planet.

• CPU: Intel Core i9-12900K (buy from Amazon)
• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Maximus Z690 Extreme (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: CORSAIR iCUE H150i ELITE LCD Display (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket 64GB DDR5-4800 (4 x 16GB) (F4-3600C18Q-32GTZN) (buy from Amazon)
• SSD: Sabrent 8TB Rocket 4 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD (buy from Amazon)
• PSU: MSI MPG A1000G Gaming Power Supply 1000W (buy from Amazon)
• Case: InWin X-Frame 2.0
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro x64 (buy from Amazon)
• Display: ASUS ROG Swift PG43UQ (4K 120Hz) (buy from Amazon)

Benchmarks - Synthetic

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Benchmarks - 1080p

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Benchmarks - 1440p

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Benchmarks - 4K

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Temps & Power Consumption

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COLORFUL keeps things nice and cool with its custom iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card, with the next-gen AD102 "Ada Lovelace" GPU staying at under 62C under stress, while the GPU hotspot didn't breach 70C. This is with the fans on auto, spinning at 48% (1845RPM or so).

At these settings, the card was using 390W or so on average which is fantastic -- under most of the RTX 4090s that I've tested so far. You don't need 500W+ to run a GeForce RTX 4090, and you'll see that the more you read about them, and eventually use one. They're not so power hungry.

What's Hot, What's Not

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What's Hot

• LCD display: I wish more graphics cards would come with an LCD display, but nope... it leaves COLORFUL to be one of the only with an awesome LCD display on its new flagship iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card. If it were between two different RTX 4090s and one of them didn't have the LCD display, I know which one I'd go for.
• LCD display is detachable: Better than just a regular LCD display on your graphics card, COLORFUL makes the LCD display on its iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V detachable. This gives you the flexibility of putting it anywhere: in your case, outside of your case, or even on your desk. So very cool, nice work there, COLORFUL!

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• One of the best-looking RTX 4090 cards: Every single GeForce RTX 4090 is going to be a fantastic, super-performing gaming beast... but when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, it comes down to style. I'm absolutely loving the work COLORFUL has shown us this generation, as this is peak design from the company IMO.
• 4K 120FPS+ gaming: I'm a 4K 120FPS+ gamer and this card is exactly what you want. Match it with a huge 4K 120FPS+ gaming monitor or better yet, a huge 4K 120FPS+ OLED TV or gaming monitor. Oh yeah.

What's Not

• Can't buy COLORFUL cards everywhere: It's very unfortunate because I think they would be great sellers globally. If you do find the COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V graphics card in your market, don't hesitate to buy it!
• No DisplayPort 2.0 connector, WTF: NVIDIA not including the new display connector moving forward -- DP2.0 -- is a huge mistake. It means anyone buying a $1500+ graphics card in the tail end of 2022 is not going to be able to use next-gen DP2.0-capable gaming monitors that we'll begin seeing debut in the coming months, probably at CES 2023 in January. WTF, NVIDIA? Even Intel's is-it-even-real Arc GPUs have a DP2.0 port.

Final Thoughts

COLORFUL never ceases to impress me, they might look like they're this smaller Chinese brand but they've blown away some of the big boys with the GeForce RTX 4090. ASUS doesn't come close to as good as COLORFUL with its flagship ROG Strix RTX 4090, with the COLORFUL iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V being just as fast... but better, with an LCD display, and more.

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I got a pile of custom NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards last week, but I left the COLORFUL iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V til last (as it was the last card I got) but man, it has left a lasting impression on me. COLORFUL's custom cards usually do, but the detachable LCD display in a sea of me-too RTX 4090s is great to see.

You could buy the cheapest or most expensive GeForce RTX 4090 and you're still going to get within a few FPS of each other, but why not get an RTX 4090 that gives you something different? MSI has an AIO-cooled RTX 4090, ASUS has a huge ROG Strix RTX 4090, and COLORFUL has the most exciting with its iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V. It's just a pity you can't find COLORFUL everywhere.

Out-of-the-box performance matches everything else, with overclocking headroom providing some fun if you want to push the card. My sample of the COLORFUL iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V actually beat out the more expensive (and you'd think, better) ASUS ROG Strix RTX 4090 OC Edition by a few FPS across the board, and the ASUS is meant to be the monster overclocker.

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COLORFUL's new iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V is my favorite GeForce RTX 4090 so far, after testing NVIDIA's own GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition, the new flagship ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition, and the AIO-cooled MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID X graphics cards. I've got a few left here, but I can safely say that COLORFUL has it.

Seriously, I wish they were available everywhere else: you've got everything inside that makes the RTX 4090 the best GPU on the market right now, with COLORFUL performing their very best work on the iGame RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V.

Five stars, COLORFUL! Can't wait to see what you do next.