Nvidia's flagship RTX 4090 gets a green and gold makeover

Shared photographs from X user hongxing2020 revealed that MSI seems to be preparing a special edition of the GeForce RTX 4090, one of the best graphics cards. The graphics card is based on the existing GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X design, but with a new color theme.

While Asus has its own thing going with Evangelion, it looks like MSI is sort of following in its competitor's footsteps. The official model name of MSI's upcoming graphics card is unknown. But we're temporarily calling it the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition, since it does take after the Ruan Mei character from Honkai: Star Rail developed by miHoYo, the same studio that produced the smash hit Genshin Impact.

According to a thread on the NGA forums, the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition appears to be a user mod. But since packaging and other marketing materials revolve around the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition, it could be a collaboration between the forum starter and MSI. The exact terms are unknown.

The GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition utilizes the same triple-fan Suprim X cooling system. Therefore, the graphics card retains the same triple-slot design and dimensions. The shroud is predominantly green with gold, perfectly highlighting the new design. Meanwhile, the backplate pays homage to Ruan Mei and retains the same green and gold theme.

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The specifications for the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition should be identical to the vanilla model since it's just an aesthetic mod. By nature, the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X features a 2,625 MHz boost clock, but you can push it to 2,640 MHz via the MSI Center software. The GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X has a 4.8% higher boost clock speed than the GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition.

Display connectors still come down to three DisplayPort 1.4a outputs and one HDMI 2.1a port. MSI rates the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X with a 450W power consumption in silent mode and up to 480W in gaming mode. Like all custom GeForce RTX 4090 models, the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X draws external power from the 16-pin power connector (12VHPWR).

The timing of releasing a special edition GeForce RTX 4090 is odd since the U.S. government has banned Nvidia from shipping the GeForce RTX 4090 to China. In any case, a new offering would likely be based on the GeForce RTX 4090 D, not the regular model. Traffickers are smuggling GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards into China, whereas Chinese factories are repurposing the graphics cards into AI accelerators. If the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition even makes it to the market, it'll likely end up in the hands of a firm that wants the Ada Lovelace flagship for AI work.

According to the modder, the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition should launch around the Spring Festival, the first three days of the Chinese New Year. We don't expect the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition to be available outside the Asian market. Pricing remains a mystery, but the GeForce RTX 4090 already sells for absurd prices in Asia, so the GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X Ruan Mei Edition will carry a premium on top of the price hike.