A first look at Nvidia’s flagship RTX 5090 compared to the RTX 4090

Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card will arrive later this month, and we were able to unbox one and compare its design with the RTX 4090. Just like our own graphics card First look at the RTX 5090This is not a review. Performance numbers, benchmarks and impressions beyond hardware will come later.

The first thing to notice about the RTX 5090 is that the packaging design has completely changed since the Founders Edition RTX 40 series. Nvidia has switched to placing the RTX 5090 inside a smaller, bone-shaped gray cardboard case that is housed inside a much larger brown cardboard box.

The outer box — which reads “Inspired by gamers. Powered by AI. Built by Nvidia.” — contains a new power adapter cable for the RTX 5090 that includes an updated version of the regular 12VHPWR connector. You’ll need to use four regular eight-pin PCIe power connectors with this Adapter, or new 12V-2×6 cable The 12V-2×6 is almost identical to the existing 12VHPWR, as the new connector has shorter sensor pins. And slightly longer connector terminals, the slight difference means that existing 12VHPWR cables will work with the RTX 5090 just fine.

The RTX 5090 itself is the same width and length as the RTX 4090, but it’s much thinner now that it’s just a two-slot card. Compared to the triple-slot RTX 4090, it’s impressive to see that Nvidia has managed to shrink its latest flagship GPU down to such a smaller form factor.

These external design changes also mean that Nvidia has overhauled its cooling system for the RTX 5090. It has moved to dual-flow fans that suck in cool air from the bottom and blow it over the RTX 5090 to the rest of the case. There’s no rear exhaust on the RTX 5090 like there are on the RTX 40 series Founders Edition cards, but there are two small vents on either side to create an airflow boundary of sorts so that warm air that exhausts the top doesn’t recirculate below.

The RTX 5090’s PCB is now located in the middle of the GPU, surrounded by large heat pipes that get cool air from dual flow fans. This allows Nvidia to adopt the small form factor of the RTX 5090 Founders Edition, so it can fit into a variety of small cases. Nvidia has also moved the power connector to be angled to the side, so it should be easier to fit in situations where the side panel comes close to touching the power cable.

On the back there are three DisplayPort 2.1b ports and one HDMI 2.1b port. Interestingly, Nvidia has flipped the ports upside down, so if you’re used to connecting your cables a certain way or have tight cable management at the back of your computer, you’ll need to flip your cables accordingly.

Just like previous Founders Edition cards, the RTX 5090 also has LEDs that light up the top and sides of the card in white. Nvidia has also chosen a slightly darker gray color for the RTX 5090’s metal chassis. It’s not as light as the regular RTX 40-series Founders Edition cards, but it’s also nowhere near as black as the RTX 40-series Super variants. It’s a classy color between the two.

We’re not allowed to show the RTX 5090 inside a PC or running it with burning LEDs just yet, but I got Jayztwocents “Special permission” to create a small form factor if you’re interested in seeing how it squeezes into a small case. We’ll be back soon with a full review of the RTX 5090 to see exactly how it compares to the RTX 4090.