NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU Gets Dual-Slot & Dual-Fan Cooling Solution

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics cards are going to feature a more compact cooler than the RTX 4090 Founders Edition.

Reports surrounding the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition and its brand-new cooling and PCB solution seem to be picking up the heat. The latest information from Kopite7kimi suggests that the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card should be more compact than the existing RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card.

No, RTX 5090 FE has a 2-slot cooler.

— kopite7kimi (@kopite7kimi) May 29, 2024

While the current NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 & RTX 4080 Founders Edition GPUs adopted a triple-slot and dual-axial tech fan design, the GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition is expected to slim things out a bit with a dual-slot cooling solution with a dual-fan cooler. Now it is unknown if the card would use the same dual-axial and flow-through design as the RTX 4090 Founders Edition or go with a front-facing design.

Going with a dual-slot design would mean that NVIDIA has made some radical changes to the cooling solution that will allow it to dissipate over 400W of heat in a smaller package. Or that the NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs might be cool chips that produce high performance without generating high amounts of heat. NVIDIA is testing several coolers for its next-gen lineup so it will be interesting to see the final Founders Edition designs. We hope NVIDIA sticks with the all-black design recently introduced on the "SUPER" FE models.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 is also rumored to utilize a brand new PCB design which is segmented into three different boards which include the main PCB that would house the GPU, VRAM, and VRM, a power-delivery board with the 12V-2x6 power connectors and a connector interface which should adopt the Gen 5.0 x16 link.

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5090 graphics cards are anticipated to feature the top GB202 "Blackwell" Gaming GPU die (albeit in a slightly cut-down design). The GPU is expected to feature a 512-bit interface and should feature support for the latest GDDR7 memory interface, offering up to 32 GB memory capacities powered by 16 memory modules and speeds starting at 28 Gbps but knowing NVIDIA, we may see the top SKUs end up with faster memory solutions as NVIDIA can change the design parameters and specs close to the announcement.

NVIDIA is anticipated to introduce its first Blackwell "RTX 50" gaming graphics cards in Q4 2024 which should see the launch of the RTX 5080 first followed by the RTX 5090 a few weeks later as far as retail availability goes. Based on these details, we can expect some big upgrades and a 2-slot design to make the flagship far more convenient than previous designs in the 3-4-slot range. Currently, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 can go as high as 4.5 slots in custom models such as the recently revealed MSI SUPRIM FUZION.