Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+ 24GB GDDR6 Silver
Sapphire
96 Overall Score
vs
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING 32GB GDDR7 Black
MSI
92 Overall Score
Choose Sapphire Radeon RX if...
Content creators, YouTubers, and anyone who wants the absolute fastest GPU available and can stomach the extreme price and 1500W PSU requirement.
Choose MSI GeForce RTX if...
Gamers who want excellent 4K performance, 24GB of VRAM for longevity, and a quiet, reliable card without selling a kidney or upgrading their entire power setup.
Key Differences
- The MSI scores 38,958 on PassMark G3D vs 31,427 for the Sapphire, a roughly 24% lead in raw compute that also shows up in the 26,734 vs 17,736 GPU Compute gap.
- Power draw is night and day: the MSI pulls 800W TDP and demands a 1500W PSU, while the Sapphire sips 339W and only needs 800W. That's a massive difference in your electric bill and build requirements.
- VRAM and memory tech favor the MSI with 32GB of GDDR7 on a 512-bit bus vs 24GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, which matters for heavy content creation and future-proofing at 4K.
- The MSI uses an AIO liquid cooler and has 3 DisplayPort outputs, while the Sapphire runs a triple-fan air cooler with 2 DisplayPorts and 2 HDMI ports, giving the Sapphire more flexibility for dual HDMI setups.
- Customer sentiment tells the real story: MSI owners love the card but admit the price is extreme for roughly 10% gains over cheaper 5090 models, while Sapphire owners consistently praise the quiet operation, compact size, and lack of coil whine across 688 reviews.
What Buyers Say
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+ 24GB GDDR6 Silver
88 out of 100 high confidence 43 reviews
The Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 XTX earns strong praise for its blistering 4K performance, quiet operation, and reliable cooling. Most verified buyers highlight its compact size relative to competing high-end cards, the generous 24GB VRAM, and the absence of coil whine as major pluses. A few reviewers note that coil whine can occasionally occur, and the card demands a robust 850W+ PSU, but overall sentiment is overwhelmingly positive.
Pros
- Excellent 4K gaming performance
- Very quiet operation
- Efficient cooling with low temperatures
- Compact size for a high-end card
- 24GB VRAM for longevity
Cons
- High power consumption
- Occasional coil whine
- Requires 850W+ PSU minimum
- Large 4-slot design
Performance 4k 12
Noise level 15
Cooling efficiency 14
Build quality 8
Coil whine 7
Power consumption 6
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING 32GB GDDR7 Black
No customer feedback yet
Scores
Gaming 4k
Ray Tracing
Content Creation
Ai Llm
Gaming 1440p
Gaming 1080p
Workstation
Budget
Specifications
| Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+ | MSI GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING | |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | ||
| GPU Chipset | Radeon RX 7900 XTX | GeForce RTX 5090 |
| Brand | AMD | NVIDIA |
| Architecture | RDNA 3 | Blackwell |
| Class | consumer | consumer |
| Process | 5★ | — |
| Memory | ||
| VRAM | 24 GB | 32 GB★ |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR7★ |
| Memory Bus | ||
| Bandwidth | No data | |
| Compute | ||
| CUDA Cores | No data | |
| Stream Processors | No data | |
| Tensor Cores | No data | |
| RT Cores | 96★ | — |
| Base Clock | ||
| Boost Clock | ||
| FP16 TFLOPS | No data | |
| FP32 TFLOPS | 61.38999938964844★ | — |
| Performance | ||
| PassMark G3D | ||
| GPU Compute | ||
| Power & Cooling | ||
| TDP | 339★ | 800 |
| Recommended PSU | 800★ | 1,500 |
| Power Connectors | 3 x 8-Pin | 16-pin x 2 |
| Cooler | Triple Fan | AIO Liquid★ |
| Fans | 3 | 3 |
| Connectivity | ||
| Interface | PCI Express 4.0 x16 | PCI Express 5.0 x16 |
| DisplayPort | 2 | 3★ |
| HDMI | 2★ | 1 |
| USB-C | 1 | 1 |
| Max Displays | 4 | 4 |
| Max Resolution | 7680 x 4320 | 7680 x 4320 |
| Physical | ||
| Length | 320 | 260★ |
| Slot Width | 4 | 2.9000000953674316★ |
| Form Factor | ATX | ATX |
| Weight | 1.00 kg★ | — |
| Features | ||
| Ray Tracing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Upscaling | FSR 3.1 | DLSS Support |
| AV1 Encode | ✓ | ✓ |
| DirectX | 12 Ultimate | 12 Ultimate |
| RGB | ✓ | ✓ |
Pros & Cons
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+ 24GB GDDR6 Silver
- Strong connectivity (99th percentile)99th %ile
- Strong rt (96th percentile)96th %ile
- Strong compute (96th percentile)96th %ile
- Strong ai (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Below average affordability (16th percentile)16th %ile
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING 32GB GDDR7 Black
- Strong connectivity (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong compute (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong thermal (100th percentile)100th %ile
- Strong raster (99th percentile)99th %ile
- Below average affordability (2nd percentile)2nd %ile
- Below average efficiency (20th percentile)20th %ile
Pricing
Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+ 24GB GDDR6 Silver
MSI GeForce RTX 5090 LIGHTNING 32GB GDDR7 Black
No current pricing available
Verdict
Winner: Sapphire Radeon RX 7900 XTX NITRO+
Scores 96 overall, wins 1 of 8 usage categories and 11 of 39 specs.
