Doomed EVGA RTX 4090 FTW3 surfaces with a capable cooling solution

EVGA leaving the GPU business was big news for the graphics industry in general and Nvidia GeForce enthusiasts in particular. Before the company decided to exit the AIB GPU market, it had been a long-time partner of Team Green with a slew of memorable GeForce boards under its belt. Unsurprisingly, it has now come to the surface that EVGA was deep in the development of its GeForce RTX 40 series cards as a prototype RTX 4090 FTW3 has made its way to the hands of some tech YouTubers.

Tech YouTubers JayzTwoCents and Gamers Nexus recently debuted the canceled GPU. Labeled the “EVGA Next Gen Graphics” with a familiar “FTW3” badge, the exterior of the board lacks any mentions of the exact GPU model. Upon disassembling the card, Gamers Nexus (GN) uncovered a Qualification Sample (QS) Nvidia AD102 chip, confirming that it is indeed an RTX 4090.

EVGA’s RTX 4090 FTW3 is substantially larger than the RTX 3090 Ti FTW3. But, as shown by GN, EVGA has managed to keep the overall footprint smaller than many other RTX 4090 AIB models. To be exact, the card is 12.5 inches long, 2.85 inches deep, and 5.2 inches tall. Interestingly, EVGA put the troublesome 12VHPWR connector off to the side, theoretically making cable management easier.

When it comes to cooling the GPU, the RTX 4090 FTW3 uses three 100 mm fans to pump air over a considerably dense fin stack. The AD102 GPU dumps heat into a vapor chamber which transfers energy to the fin stack through 8 mm thick copper heat pipes. All in all, the cooling solution on show appears to be a robust one.

While we won’t get to see the true gaming performance of the EVGA RTX 4090 FTW3, JayzTwoCents did put the GPU inside a PC. The YouTuber managed to overclock the board to over 3 GHz, at <60°C temperature with fans going full throttle.

In short, it is a shame that EVGA has left the AIB graphics market as the RTX 4090 FTW3, even in its prototype stage, looks quite capable.

Buy the Nvidia RTX 3090 TI Founders Edition on Amazon