MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer

If you want one of the very best graphics cards money can buy, MSI has your (silent) dreams with its GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X.

Published
Manufacturer: MSI
11 minutes & 29 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 99%
TweakTown award

The Bottom Line

If you've got the money and want a blazing fast, ninja-quiet GeForce RTX 3090 then MSI has you in safe hands with the RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. It's everything the GAMING X wasn't, the RTX 3090 SUPRIM X is top notch.

Introduction

MSI has already released its GAMING X variant of the GeForce RTX 3090, but it wasn't a premium enough card -- the new SUPRIM X is here to fix that and I have in my hands the highest-end RTX 3090 version of it. Let's do this.

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I just finished reviewing MSI's new GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X graphics card, but now it is time for the big brother -- that costs $1750, a $250 premium on NVIDIA's own GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition graphics card. MSI boasts more performance here than the RTX 3090 FE, and its RTX 3090 GAMING X TRIO.

Not only does it offer better performance, it's cooler, quieter, and looks amazing. MSI has put some work into the design tweaks to the SUPRIM X cards. The company has used some gorgeous brushed aluminum on the shroud and backplate, which looks absolutely stunning in person with RGB lighting flashing off of it -- in my case, 32GB of G.SKILL Trident Z RGB memory. It seriously looks so nice installed into the PC.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X commands a $250 premium over the GeForce RTX 3090 FE which costs $1499, so we're looking at $1750 or so (if you can find them).

Everything You Need to Know About Ampere

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  • Ampere GPU architecture: NVIDIA has so much going on under the Ampere GPU hood, with the GA102 GPU packing a huge 28 billion transistors (that's 28,000,000,000) on the Samsung 8nm node. We have a huge 10496 CUDA cores on GA102, over double the 4608 CUDA cores on the TITAN RTX.
  • RTX improvements: NVIDIA has effectively doubled everything when it comes to RTX, where it will rips and tears your games and delivers them to your eyeballs faster than ever before with Ampere. If you want to run any RTX-powered games, you'll want a new GeForce RTX 3080.
  • GDDR6X memory: The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 has 10GB of GDDR6X memory on a 320-bit memory bus, with a huge 760GB/sec of memory bandwidth. You should see the 4K gaming results for the evidence of the Ampere GPU + GDDR6X memory slaying it.
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  • PCIe 4.0 connectivity: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 30 series graphics cards are now PCIe 4.0 compatible, so if you're building a new AMD Ryzen 3000 series system with an X570 motherboard -- you will be ready to rock and roll with PCIe 4.0 connectivity.
  • HDMI 2.1: 4K 120Hz + 8K 60Hz = single cable: If you are buying a new TV in the coming months or years, HDMI 2.1 is going to be something you want. It opens up the bandwidth floodgates to 4K 120Hz and 8K 60Hz over the single HDMI 2.1 cable.
  • RTX IO: NVIDIA's introduction of RTX IO with Ampere is very similar to the ultra-fast game load times on the next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles. You can read all about RTX IO right here, which is something we'll see build more foundation in 2021 and beyond.

MSI marketing

Normally I'd show you what MSI has to tease you with its marketing on its landing page for the card, but the company has made a really nice page for the GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X -- it deserves a look yourself right here.

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Detailed Look

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Right out of the box and MSI has my eye -- hell, the second I took it out of the box I was like 'oh wow'. I didn't have that with the GAMING X TRIO, but I had that insta-love with the SUPRIM X.

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Even better is the backplate, of which I'm a huge fan of (in general). MSI has one of the best here.

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The GeForce RTX 3090 has NVLink compatibility, so you can run two of these if you had the money -- and were playing SLI-capable games.

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It's a thick card, with some beautiful heat pipes and heat sink work here keeping the card nice and chill -- and silent, during gaming loads.

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Once again from the top, where you can see the RGB lighting bar and SUPRIM and GeForce RTX branding.

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You will need 3 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

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MSI ships the GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X with the Quiet BIOS enabled, I ran the card with the Gaming BIOS before starting my review.

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Test System Specs

Latest upgrade:

Sabrent sent over their huge Rocket Q 8TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSD, which will be my new Games install SSD inside of my main test bed.

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I've got a new upgrade inside of my GPU test bed before my change to a next-gen test bed, where I will be preparing for NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere graphics cards and AMD's next-gen RDNA 2 graphics cards.

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Sabrent helped out with some new storage for my GPU test beds, sending over a slew of crazy-fast Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 SSDs. I've got this installed into my GPU test bed as the new Games Storage drive, since games are so damn big now. Thanks to Sabrent, I've got 2TB of super-fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD storage now.

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Anthony's GPU Test System Specifications

I've recently upgraded my GPU test bed -- at least for now, until AMD's new Ryzen 9 5950X processor is unleashed then the final update for 2020 will happen and we'll be all good for RDNA 2 and future Ampere GPU releases. You can read my article here: TweakTown GPU Test Bed Upgrade for 2021, But Then Zen 3 Was Announced.

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Benchmarks - Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike

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3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark TimeSpy

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Heaven - 1080p

Heaven benchmark

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Benchmarks - 1080p

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Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

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Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

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Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

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1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

I've got a new game in the benchmark line up with Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, where the MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X starts out ahead in -- beating the RTX 3080 FE and equaling the RTX 3090 FE when overclocked. Not too damn bad at all. But the RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT really scale well here in AC:V.

Shadow of War sees the MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X destroying the charts at 1080p, and nearly again in Metro Exodus except the RTX 3090 FE beats the RTX 3080 SUPRIM X by 4FPS at 100FPS versus 96FPS. You're looking at over 240FPS average in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which should kinda just -- probably just be OK.

Benchmarks - 1440p

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4014

Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

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MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4006

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 119
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4013

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 113
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4002

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 116

1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

The MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X offers identical performance to the RTX 3090 FE in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla at 1440p, with 78FPS average -- but man, once again Big Navi kills it here in AC:V.

We are hitting 149FPS average on the MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X, 2FPS shy of the RTX 3090 FE -- but easily beats everything else on the charts. We have 79FPS average in Metro Exodus at 1440p, with 84FPS when overclocked -- 4FPS behind the RTX 3090 FE.

Benchmarks - 4K

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Assassin's Creed: Valhalla is the latest game to be inserted into our benchmark suite, with Ubisoft Montreal using its AnvilNext engine to power the game. It scales really well across the cards, and has some surprising performance benefits with AMD's new Big Navi GPUs.

You can buy Assassins Creed: Valhalla at Amazon.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 109
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4006

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of War at Amazon.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 118
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4013

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 112
MSI GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X Review: Chart Stomper, Silent Gamer 4002

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

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4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts

4K gaming is where all GeForce RTX 3080s shine, with the overclocked MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X hitting nearly 60FPS average in Assassin's Creed: Valhalla -- something the RTX 3090 gets closer to with 59FPS (vs 56FPS on the MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X) and 59FPS from the Radeon RX 6800 XT at 4K.

MSI comes out on top in a big way with Shadow of War at 4K with 114FPS when overclocked, 3FPS shy of the stock settings -- and 10FPS faster than the RTX 3080 FE. The same performance improvements are found with Metro Exodus and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

Overclocking

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Out of the box I was seeing my sample of the MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM X sitting at an average of 1890MHz GPU boost, with the GPU sitting at around 69C with the fans at 58% (1915RPM).

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But when overclocked, I could get push it pretty damn far -- up to the heights of 2025-2055MHz depending on the resolution, game, etc. With the fans blasting away at 100% we have GPU temps of just 57C... impressive, an overclocked -- and fastest RTX 3090 I've tested, at just 57C.

Power Consumption & Temps

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We are looking at around 50W more power consumption with the MSI RTX 3080 SUPRIM X over the RTX 3080 Founders Edition, and up to 525W when overclocked.

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MSI has temperatures down to just 69C under load with silent gaming loads, while fans at 100% and overclocked the RTX 3080 SUPRIM X runs at just 52C -- seriously low.

What's Hot, What's Not

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  • One of the fastest graphics cards ever: MSI is really flexing performance here, besting the charts where in most (not all, as Big Navi still stomps around) games at all resolutions. You've got a ridiculous amount of memory (24GB) versus 16GB on the Radeon RX 6000 series cards, and over double the 10GB offered on the RTX 3080.
  • Better than RTX 3090 FE performance: The GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition is already a great card, MSI does it much better with a very stylish way with the GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. The backplate alone screams quality.
  • Whisper quiet gaming: You will barely hear this thing in your PC, all that power... and all that silence.
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  • 4K 120FPS beast: I would team this with a nice big 48-inch CX series 4K 120Hz OLED from LG -- they can be had for around $1500 -- cheaper than the MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. If you were to do that, you'd have one of the most unbelievably awesome gaming setups money can buy. 4K 120FPS on a CX series OLED from LG is unparalleled. I used the MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM X on my personal 77-inch CX series 4K 120Hz OLED and it is simply unbelievable. A truly 'you need to see it, and actually play with it' experience.
  • Perfect for the all-out build: If you are dumping some money into a new build and want one of the best, then you have your answer here with the SUPRIM X.

What's Not

The price is prohibitive, but you know what you're getting yourself in for when you're looking on this side of the market. That would be like buying a new Tesla and complaining it was expensive -- you know you're buying something luxurious and filled to the brim with features and things you might not ever use (like 24GB of VRAM).

Final Thoughts

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If you want one of the very best custom GeForce RTX 3090s on the market, or if you want the very best MSI has for now in its family of RTX 3090s -- then the new MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM X is for you. You have brutal performance, beyond the RTX 3090 FE, an amazingly-styled card, and whisper quiet operation.

You can't really ask for more than that, but MSI does that and more -- it'll just cost you $1750 for the pleasure. At this price point, spending that much money on a single component is not right -- when the RTX 3080 offers nearly the same performance for half the cost -- or the RX 6800 XT that costs even less.

But, MSI knows this -- you know this, I know this. MSI's over-the-top GeForce RTX 3090 SUPRIM X is just that -- OTT. It costs close to $2K but it will give you performance that is virtually unbeatable on the market right now, and all in style.

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Out of the box you're going to get amazing perofrmance at whisper quiet levels, with a nice little bump of OC headroom if you want to tweak the card. All-in-all, a return to grace from MSI from some of the letdowns of the RTX 3090 GAMING X.

But my new question to MSI is: when will we see the RTX 3090 LIGHTNING Z? Or possibly, we're going to see them wait and NVIDIA will release the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and then MSI will release a custom RTX 3080 Ti LIGHTNING Z maybe?

For now, the MSI RTX 3090 SUPRIM X is one of -- if not the very best RTX 3090 if you can buy it.

Performance

100%

Quality

100%

Features

100%

Value

95%

Overall

99%

The Bottom Line

If you've got the money and want a blazing fast, ninja-quiet GeForce RTX 3090 then MSI has you in safe hands with the RTX 3090 SUPRIM X. It's everything the GAMING X wasn't, the RTX 3090 SUPRIM X is top notch.

TweakTown award

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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