Modifying graphics cards to cross the limits set by the manufacturer is nothing new. Professional overclockers have spent years flashing BIOSes, transplanting cores, and using external regulators to inject more power into cards. The GeForce RTX 4090 is a tempting option for obvious reasons, but there are also certain conditions that allow it to be configured to extreme levels, and Linus of Linus Tech Tips decided to put it to the test with his team…
The latest generations of processors and graphics cards can adjust frequencies and voltages dynamically. Temperature plays a fundamental role in those adjustments, and it demands cooling improvements that manufacturers have adopted without thinking twice. That brings us to the most recent graphics card models: if you've ever wondered why they take up four slots in an ATX case and are as long as an arm, it's because they can reach 450 watts… and a lot of heat has to be dissipated.
One of those cards is the GeForce RTX 4090. 450W TDP, 24 GB of VRAM, 76.3 billion transistors, $1599… one of the best cards money can buy. Nvidia decided to limit the 4090 (in fact, it is believed the original plan was to offer this hardware at 600W), but there are some modified BIOSes on the web that take the TDP to 1000 watts and, by extension, remove any restriction. Obviously, certain conditions must be met before you can play, but Linus Tech Tips has the resources…
Taking a GeForce RTX 4090 to the Max
The main limitations any enthusiast will face with the RTX 4090 (and other cards) are three: thermal, voltage, and current. The modified BIOS disables thermal and current protections, but voltage adjustments require an external module like ElmorLabs EVC2SE. With some changes in MSI Afterburner or a direct alternative (in this case, Asus GPU Tweak), you can apply a modest overclock and exceed 400 watts in the process, but once the ElmorLabs module kicks in, power consumption jumps to almost 600 watts… (on air, and using the stock BIOS).
The combination of the ElmorLabs module, the modified BIOS, and a chiller for liquid cooling allowed the card to reach core clocks of 3.1 GHz and get close to 610 watts, however, its performance hit a ceiling it could never break through. In summary, Linus concludes that Nvidia did a great job setting a 450W barrier for the RTX 4090, but I imagine someone better equipped (say, with liquid nitrogen or helium) will manage to get even more performance.
