GPU overclocker uses chilled car antifreeze and pond pump to push Intel card to sub-zero temps, sets world record
This is one of those situations where I just have to take a step back, take a deep breath, turn around toward my punching bag, and away from the expensive electronics, to let off some steam for a few minutes.
But, not liking the cold isn't an issue specific to Asus' ROG Astral 5090; it's an Nvidia issue. The RTX 5090 die itself doesn't like being cold, with users of other brands reporting similar experiences. Situations like this make me feel like we could really use a Kingpin right about now. He always had a way to finesse Nvidia into fixing cold bug issues, which isn't something a basement hobbyist can achieve.
But, with that being said, the ROG Astral RTX 5090 can still pull off some pretty impressive feats, without reaching extremely cold temperatures; this card could hit core clock speeds of 3600MHz+.
For comparison, the Asus ROG Matrix 4090, the first GPU to run at over 4 GHz , required cooling down to -190°C to accomplish that feat. Now, just imagine if the RTX 5090 could come close to running at those temperatures, it would simply be absurd. I know that Asus is exploring ways to overcome the cold limits of the RTX 5090 die, and I'll keep testing the new BIOSes they send my way. Hopefully, any amount of additional cold temperature tolerance will yield even greater results.
Meanwhile, with the card safely idling at -20°C, the ROG Astral RTX 5090 demands over 1,000 watts of power when you start a benchmark. This spikes the temperature from -20°C to +10°C instantly, and that's with a five-pound copper pot filled with LN2 attached to it. Whatever the case may be with the cold, the GPU has significant thermal demands, given the amount of power it's sucking up.
This can be tricky to maintain throughout the benchmarking process. If the benchmark ends before you taper down on pouring the LN2, it will drop from +20°C all the way to -50°C instantly when there is no load. That means more black screens, more time waiting to get it back to 0°C, and yes, you'll have to start over and attempt the benchmark again. Needless to say, that punching bag I mentioned earlier is getting a lot of use.
Regardless of all those headaches, once you manage to figure out the perfect cocktail of pouring the LN2 throughout the benchmark, and you see the score pop up, it makes the entire effort worthwhile. After a good amount of trial and error, I was able to set a 3DMark Port Royal record with a score over 48,000. A standard RTX 5090 usually achieves around 35,000.
Additionally, I achieved the GPUPI 32B world record and both Unigine Superposition records with the 1080p and 8K configs. These were achieved a little while ago, so it's likely that you'll spot me elsewhere on the leaderboards, too.
That about wraps it up for the first edition of Splave's Cave on T om's Hardware Premium . Coming up next will be a guide on how to actually set yourself up for extreme overclocking, with a similar setup to the images posted in the article. Keep your eyes peeled, and thanks for reading.
Allen 'Splave' Golibersuch Social Links Navigation A world-champion competitive overclocker who frequently tops the charts at HWBot, a site which tracks speed records, Allen will do just about anything to push a CPU to its limits. He shares his insights into the latest processors with Tom’s Hardware readers from a hardcore, push-it-to-the-limit overclocker’s perspective.
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/overclocking/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/overclocking/splaves-cave-overclocking-the-asus-rtx-5090-astral-and-setting-the-3dmark-port-royal-world-record#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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