Nvidia RTX 5090 Review: Ray Tracing, DLSS 4, and Raw Power

For our temperature testing, we measure steady-state GPU temperatures under load. A reading under load comes from running A Plague Tale: Requiem for 30 minutes.

As for thermals, it's quite something to see a dual-slot graphics card deal with 575W of heat in such an effective manner. Over the thirty minute stress test, the GPU core settled at just 72C, while the VRAM was warmer – but still well within safe limits – at 88C.

It's also worth adding that no software I tried was able to accurately read a hot spot temperature for the GPU, likely due to a bug. I asked Nvidia about this and they suggested any software tools will need an update, but most interestingly, Nvidia said ‘GPU hotspot temperature has never been a relevant metric for GeForce GPUs, it does not affect GPU Boost clocks or behaviour and never has. Instead, it is the “GPU Temperature” that affects boost clock functionality.'

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