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MagyarGigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box review: Nvidia's fastest consumer graphics card is massively restrained by Thunderbolt
The Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box is an external graphics card that can be connected to the computer via Thunderbolt. As its name already reveals, Gigabyte uses an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 here. An AiO cooling solution is also included. Instead of a mobile GeForce RTX 4090, a regular desktop graphics card is used here, so the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box is equipped with 24 GB of VRAM working memory. In terms of the power consumption, Gigabyte conforms to the prespecified limits, which means that the graphics card can consume up to 450 watts of power. To reach such a high value, there needs to be a very high load, and with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 inside a regular desktop system this is mainly reached with an extremely high resolution and high detail level when playing demanding games.
The back of the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box offers HDMI 2.1a (1x) and DisplayPort 1.4a (3x) allowing you to connect monitors directly. In addition, there is also a Gbit LAN port and two USB ports. The front houses an additional USB-C port.
Basically, the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box can be connected to any PC or laptop that offers a Thunderbolt 3 connection. It is also compatible with USB 4 or lower connections. For this test, we use the Minisforum EliteMini UM780 XTX.
Information on our Test System
Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box in Detail
Case - Aluminum with some discrete accents
Gigabyte houses the GeForce RTX 4090 together with a 240-mm (~9.4 in) AiO and 850-Watt power supply inside a very compact and robust case. It is mainly made of metal and also offers an excellent quality. At a price significantly higher than 2,000 Euros (~$2,171), this can also be expected. The case lid and side covers can be removed without using any tools. In addition, the side covers include dust filters that can be simply pulled out toward the back, even while the side covers are still connected. The case and included components inside can also be taken apart further. Unfortunately, the metallic case surfaces are also magnets for fingerprints.
There are no complaints about the quality of the workmanship. Visually, the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box presents itself with a discretely illuminated logo in front. The Gigabyte Control Center allows you to select various illumination effects here, but those who aren't fans of illumination effects can also deactivate them completely.
Software - The Gigabyte Control Center
It is recommended to install the Gigabyte Control Center for making the necessary adjustments around the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box. The current version is offered for download directly from the manufacturer. We didn't encounter any problems with the Gigabyte Control Center during our test. It allows you to make adjustments in the illumination, the fan control, and also the performance.
Test Conditions
As already mentioned in the beginning, we use the Minisforum EliteMini UM780 XTX as the base PC connected to the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box. The mini PC is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, 32 GB of DDR5-RAM, and a 1-TB SSD. We did not perform any optimizations of the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box, and all the following tests and measurements are based on the device in the state of delivery.
Clock Rates and Problems of the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 in the Gaming Box
In terms of the theoretical clock speeds, Gigabyte exactly follows the values of the Founders Edition from Nvidia. While the Boost is specified at 2,520 MHz here, we often see 2,700 MHz in our practical tests, which means that the manufacturer's specifications can also be clearly exceeded. The power consumption is specified at 450 watts, and this value can be reached if you try. But during regular gaming operation, you will hardly or never reach such a high value. What is the bottleneck here is the PCIe connection. Due to the Thunderbolt connection, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 only runs at PCIe x4 3.0 speed. In our experience with various mini PCs in combination with eGPUs, we were able to see what performance losses this can bring in many cases. However, the performance of the iGPU can still be surpassed by multiples. Although we limited ourselves earlier to only a midrange model (Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti), we already saw some clear disadvantages compared to a regular built-in graphics card with a full PCIe connection. With the top model from Nvidia that is included here inside the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box, the differences turn out significantly higher, and we almost always hit the bandwidth limit of the Thunderbolt connection.
It would have been better, if Gigabyte could have added an alternative OCuLink connection to the Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box. This would have increased the bandwidth from 40 Gbit/s to 63 Gbit/s, allowing for PCIe x4 4.0 speed. A performance increase of almost 20% would be possible and important, even if the OCuLink connection would still restrain the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090. We recently did a performance comparison between Thunderbolt and OCuLink using the GPD G1 eGPU. You can find additional details in our review.
Synthetic Benchmarks
The synthetic benchmarks quickly show that the performance of the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box isn't comparable to that of a regular built-in Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 of a desktop PC. In the cumulative performance of the benchmark results, our test sample is about 33% slower. With increasing GPU load in the individual benchmarks, the disadvantage to the Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC can be slightly reduced. The bandwidth limit of the Thunderbolt connection brings a clear disadvantage concerning the performance capabilities here.
In the device combination that we are using to test the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box here, the external Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 places between the KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG and AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT. At times we can also see significantly better values, if the Thunderbolt connection doesn't become the bottleneck. In the LuxMark and ComputeMark tests, the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box is even able to reach second place. But we cannot really make any general statements about the performance of the eGPU. This is a bit frustrating, since the users can therefore only try out and test things for themselves.
Professional Applications
Those who want to use their laptop or mini PC with the external graphics solution for professional 3D computations also have to accept some performance limitations here. But basically, you have to first check, which graphics cards are supported. Nvidia and also AMD have specific models in their portfolio that might be better suited for this, due to their specific driver optimizations.
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) | Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC | KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG | KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer | KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer | KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX | KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 1-Click-OC 2X KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 1-Click-OC 2X | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FE | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE | AMD Radeon RX 6800 AMD Radeon RX 6800 | AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition | Average of class | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPECviewperf 12 | 36% | 27% | 13% | -2% | -20% | -31% | -38% | 340% | 304% | 260% | 225% | 181% | 127% | -19% | |
| 1900x1060 3ds Max (3dsmax-05) | 217 | 571 163% | 502 131% | 436 101% | 382 76% | 289 33% | 251 16% | 252 16% | 553 155% | 502 131% | 444 105% | 424 95% | 363 67% | 279 29% | 192.2 ? -11% |
| 1900x1060 Catia (catia-04) | 231 | 257 11% | 221 -4% | 192 -17% | 161 -30% | 127 -45% | 113 -51% | 109 -53% | 536 132% | 481 108% | 448 94% | 396 71% | 339 47% | 273 18% | 102.3 ? -56% |
| 1900x1060 Creo (creo-01) | 103 | 115 12% | 110 7% | 99.4 -3% | 89.1 -13% | 74 -28% | 60.6 -41% | 57.8 -44% | 187 82% | 176 71% | 155 50% | 160 55% | 152 48% | 115 12% | 62.9 ? -39% |
| 1900x1060 Energy (energy-01) | 60.5 | 54.7 -10% | 58.8 -3% | 48 -21% | 31.7 -48% | 22.9 -62% | 15.9 -74% | 13.9 -77% | 85.2 41% | 72.4 20% | 40.3 -33% | 48.4 -20% | 40.6 -33% | 25.5 -58% | 14.6 ? -76% |
| 1900x1060 Maya (maya-04) | 245 | 317 29% | 309 26% | 287 17% | 284 16% | 256 4% | 233 -5% | 197 -20% | 367 50% | 347 42% | 323 32% | 304 24% | 268 9% | 236 -4% | 105.4 ? -57% |
| 1900x1060 Medical (medical-01) | 106 | 119 12% | 171 61% | 157 48% | 132 25% | 108 2% | 82.4 -22% | 59.4 -44% | 347 227% | 288 172% | 226 113% | 188 77% | 150 42% | 128 21% | 51.2 ? -52% |
| 1900x1060 Showcase (showcase-01) | 359 | 457 27% | 333 -7% | 244 -32% | 190 -47% | 132 -63% | 109 -70% | 144 -60% | 322 -10% | 278 -23% | 222 -38% | 229 -36% | 176 -51% | 127 -65% | 93.9 ? -74% |
| 1900x1060 Siemens NX (snx-02) | 18 | 27.1 51% | 21.6 20% | 19 6% | 16.4 -9% | 14.5 -19% | 14.2 -21% | 12.3 -32% | 400 2122% | 373 1972% | 341 1794% | 296 1544% | 257 1328% | 210 1067% | 56.3 ? 213% |
| 1900x1060 Solidworks (sw-03) | 99.9 | 126 26% | 113 13% | 118 18% | 109 9% | 95.1 -5% | 91.2 -9% | 71.1 -29% | 360 260% | 342 242% | 319 219% | 315 215% | 275 175% | 221 121% | 83.5 ? -16% |
| SPECviewperf 13 | 38% | 18% | 1% | -14% | -31% | -40% | -43% | 301% | 268% | 245% | 195% | 154% | 112% | -11% | |
| 3ds Max (3dsmax-06) | 216 | 563 161% | 497 130% | 433 100% | 381 76% | 290 34% | 252 17% | 252 17% | 564 161% | 506 134% | 439 103% | 424 96% | 360 67% | 280 30% | 183.9 ? -15% |
| Catia (catia-05) | 360 | 402 12% | 340 -6% | 290 -19% | 241 -33% | 185 -49% | 163 -55% | 161 -55% | 825 129% | 728 102% | 661 84% | 616 71% | 528 47% | 410 14% | 196.9 ? -45% |
| Creo (creo-02) | 470 | 552 17% | 529 13% | 455 -3% | 375 -20% | 295 -37% | 230 -51% | 225 -52% | 613 30% | 567 21% | 470 0% | 431 -8% | 353 -25% | 294 -37% | 199.9 ? -57% |
| Energy (energy-02) | 119 | 126 6% | 92.6 -22% | 72.8 -39% | 54.2 -54% | 44.7 -62% | 34.6 -71% | 25.6 -78% | 187 57% | 147 24% | 150 26% | 93.6 -21% | 74.3 -38% | 82.9 -30% | 35 ? -71% |
| Maya (maya-05) | 558 | 715 28% | 678 22% | 591 6% | 510 -9% | 398 -29% | 343 -39% | 344 -38% | 735 32% | 670 20% | 580 4% | 544 -3% | 462 -17% | 333 -40% | 260 ? -53% |
| Medical (medical-02) | 152 | 186 22% | 150 -1% | 132 -13% | 112 -26% | 91.2 -40% | 76.5 -50% | 72.2 -52% | 263 73% | 237 56% | 372 145% | 166 9% | 148 -3% | 226 49% | 74.5 ? -51% |
| Showcase (showcase-02) | 361 | 455 26% | 334 -7% | 244 -32% | 191 -47% | 133 -63% | 108 -70% | 145 -60% | 323 -11% | 279 -23% | 221 -39% | 230 -36% | 176 -51% | 127 -65% | 117.8 ? -67% |
| Siemens NX (snx-03) | 32.4 | 49.1 52% | 39 20% | 34.1 5% | 29.5 -9% | 26.3 -19% | 25.6 -21% | 22.3 -31% | 725 2138% | 675 1983% | 617 1804% | 537 1557% | 465 1335% | 379 1070% | 126.1 ? 289% |
| Solidworks (sw-04) | 161 | 186 16% | 179 11% | 168 4% | 157 -2% | 136 -16% | 127 -21% | 99.6 -38% | 323 101% | 307 91% | 287 78% | 304 89% | 272 69% | 195 21% | 118.5 ? -26% |
| SPECviewperf 2020 | 28% | 3% | -12% | -25% | -43% | -50% | -51% | 276% | 241% | 209% | 146% | 109% | 80% | -6% | |
| 3840x2160 Siemens NX (snx-04) | 28.6 | 41.3 44% | 31.9 12% | 27.5 -4% | 23.9 -16% | 20 -30% | 19.5 -32% | 18.2 -36% | 514 1697% | 476 1564% | 402 1306% | 330 1054% | 287 903% | 240 739% | 94.1 ? 229% |
| 3840x2160 Medical (medical-03) | 36.1 | 45.9 27% | 32.2 -11% | 26.9 -25% | 22.2 -39% | 17.3 -52% | 13.7 -62% | 11.4 -68% | 62.3 73% | 53.9 49% | 76.1 111% | 36.4 1% | 30.1 -17% | 36.1 0% | 19.8 ? -45% |
| 3840x2160 Maya (maya-06) | 344 | 498 45% | 447 30% | 372 8% | 305 -11% | 236 -31% | 196 -43% | 215 -37% | 481 40% | 401 17% | 346 1% | 331 -4% | 258 -25% | 178 -48% | 206 ? -40% |
| 3840x2160 Energy (energy-03) | 219 | 141 -36% | 90.4 -59% | 75.7 -65% | 57.6 -74% | 44.2 -80% | 33.2 -85% | 14.5 -93% | 129 -41% | 99.6 -55% | 133 -39% | 113 -48% | 52.2 -76% | 67 -69% | 47.9 ? -78% |
| 3840x2160 Creo (creo-03) | 104 | 133 28% | 128 23% | 121 16% | 112 8% | 95.8 -8% | 85.9 -17% | 76.6 -26% | 187 80% | 173 66% | 159 53% | 136 31% | 123 18% | 106 2% | 77.4 ? -26% |
| 3840x2160 CATIA (catia-06) | 79.7 | 95.3 20% | 75.5 -5% | 61.2 -23% | 51.6 -35% | 38.9 -51% | 34 -57% | 37.9 -52% | 127 59% | 113 42% | 107 34% | 92.2 16% | 77.2 -3% | 68 -15% | 46.6 ? -42% |
| 3840x2160 3ds Max (3dsmax-07) | 137 | 228 66% | 179 31% | 147 7% | 122 -11% | 74.6 -46% | 67.4 -51% | 80.1 -42% | 167 22% | 143 4% | 134 -2% | 102 -26% | 85.4 -38% | 72.9 -47% | 79.8 ? -42% |
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | 34% /
34% | 16% /
17% | 1% /
2% | -14% /
-13% | -31% /
-30% | -40% /
-39% | -44% /
-43% | 306% /
308% | 271% /
273% | 238% /
240% | 189% /
192% | 148% /
151% | 106% /
109% | -12% /
-12% |
Gaming Benchmarks
In our gaming tests, the disadvantage of the eGPU is shown even more clearly. While the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS surely isn't comparable to an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, the distance of 42 percentage points in the 2160p tests cannot be traced back to that alone. We should range close to the GPU limits here, but due to the slow PCIe connection, this isn't the case with the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box. The graphics card can only work with what is made available to it for computing the display contents.
Below, we show a graph of the gaming resolutions that are most used (2160p, 1440p. 1080p) in maximum details. You can see that with increasing resolutions, the performance disadvantage compared to the Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC clearly decreases. In 1080p resolution, our test system even falls behind an AMD Radeon RX 7600. In 1440p resolution, it still doesn't look much better at times, and the performance is only sufficient to barely place ahead of a KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX. In the highest resolution, the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box finally places barely ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE, but it is still not sufficient to surpass an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. Considering the enormously high cost of purchase, this makes us wonder whether the Gaming Box is worth it.
Those who put the focus on pure gaming with the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box should be aware of the performance losses stemming from the Thunderbolt connection. In addition, we should also mention that we are unable to give a clear general answer on the performance of the external Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 model. We list all the games we tested with the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box in the table below. The range of performance between just barely playable and excellently playable is extremely high here. So judging how the performance will turn out in future games unfortunately remains a gamble.
| F1 2021 - 3840x2160 Ultra High Preset + Raytracing AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (874931) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (874931) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (874931) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (874931) | |
| F1 22 - 3840x2160 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (923662) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (939134) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (939134) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (939134) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (959964) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (959964) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (959964) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (959964) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (959964) | |
| GRID Legends - 3840x2160 Ultra Preset | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (591708) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (643827) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (643827) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (643827) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (800660) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (712825) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (800660) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (712825) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (800660) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (800660) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (800660) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (800660) | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark - 3840x2160 High Quality | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (1.3) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (1.3) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (1.3) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (1.3) | |
| F1 2021 - 2560x1440 Ultra High Preset + Raytracing AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (874931) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (874931) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (874931) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (874931) | |
| F1 22 - 2560x1440 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (923662) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (939134) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (939134) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (939134) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (959964) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (959964) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (959964) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (959964) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (959964) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (959964) | |
| GRID Legends - 2560x1440 Ultra Preset | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (643827) | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (591708) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (643827) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (643827) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (712825) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (800660) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (800660) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (712825) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (800660) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (800660) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (800660) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (800660) | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark - 2560x1440 High Quality | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (1.3) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (1.3) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (1.3) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (1.3) | |
| F1 2021 - 1920x1080 Ultra High Preset + Raytracing AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (874931) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (874931) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (874931) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (874931) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (874931) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (874931) | |
| F1 22 - 1920x1080 Ultra High Preset AA:T AF:16x | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (939134) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (939134) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (939134) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (959964) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (959964) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (959964) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (959964) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (959964) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (959964) | |
| GRID Legends - 1920x1080 Ultra Preset | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (643827) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (643827) | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (591708) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (643827) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (712825) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (712825) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (800660) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (800660) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (800660) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (800660) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (800660) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (800660) | |
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark - 1920x1080 High Quality | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 GRE (1.3) | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) (1.3) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT (1.3) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX (1.3) | |
| Acemagic Tank03 (Performance) (1.3) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition (1.3) | |
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K DLSS | 4K | |
| GTA V (2015) | 183.8 | 179.1 | 169.5 | 112.5 | 112.5 | 167.7 | |
| The Witcher 3 (2015) | 299 | 212 | 173.9 | 95.2 | 90.8 | 128.1 | |
| Dota 2 Reborn (2015) | 167.8 | 150.2 | 143.1 | 136.9 | 129.9 | ||
| Final Fantasy XV Benchmark (2018) | 223 | 213 | 163 | 147.8 | 108.6 | ||
| X-Plane 11.11 (2018) | 135.7 | 119.8 | 93.1 | 81 | |||
| Far Cry 5 (2018) | 158 | 142 | 137 | 128 | 128 | 118 | |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) | 159.1 | 136.2 | 136.5 | 131 | 127.6 | 114.9 | |
| Far Cry New Dawn (2019) | 138 | 123 | 119 | 108 | 107 | 101 | |
| Metro Exodus (2019) | 164.6 | 125.8 | 101.9 | 78.2 | 73.9 | 63.4 | |
| Anno 1800 (2019) | 117 | 110.6 | 93.1 | 48 | 47.2 | 44.5 | |
| Control (2019) | 214 | 160.8 | 143.4 | 118.2 | 53 | 78.5 | |
| Borderlands 3 (2019) | 142.3 | 127 | 117.7 | 110.3 | 111.4 | 96.4 | |
| F1 2020 (2020) | 266 | 171.3 | 175.7 | 146.8 | 139.7 | 123.2 | |
| Death Stranding (2020) | 127.7 | 123.7 | 120.3 | 116.6 | 112.4 | 99.7 | |
| Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) | 104 | 103 | 98 | 93 | 92 | 86 | 77 |
| F1 2021 (2021) | 187.1 | 152.8 | 100.9 | 75.3 | 71.7 | 56.4 | |
| Far Cry 6 (2021) | 98.4 | 85.1 | 73.2 | 65.8 | 63.9 | 63.1 | |
| Forza Horizon 5 (2021) | 131 | 93 | 86 | 59 | 58 | 54 | |
| God of War (2022) | 151.9 | 145.8 | 132.9 | 112.6 | 103.8 | 84.4 | |
| GRID Legends (2022) | 140.7 | 111.4 | 95.7 | 84.6 | 82.2 | 74.2 | |
| Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022) | 222 | 194.6 | 174.1 | 157.6 | 134.6 | 92.2 | |
| F1 22 (2022) | 88.6 | 83.3 | 64.7 | 45.3 | 42 | 39.5 | |
| A Plague Tale Requiem (2022) | 96.7 | 83.8 | 73.5 | 65.2 | 59.1 | 84.8 | 44.7 |
| Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection (2022) | 59.7 | 57.4 | 57.8 | 54.3 | 55.2 | 52.8 | |
| The Callisto Protocol (2022) | 146.3 | 136.6 | 134.3 | 127.6 | 123.1 | 106.4 | |
| Need for Speed Unbound (2022) | 84.8 | 80 | 62.2 | 62 | 60.2 | 56.7 | |
| High On Life (2023) | 219 | 195.4 | 168.3 | 156.2 | 128.4 | 72.7 | |
| The Witcher 3 v4.00 (2023) | 159.5 | 139.5 | 125.9 | 115.7 | 116.3 | 91.6 | |
| Dead Space Remake (2023) | 90.7 | 91.5 | 88.3 | 87.3 | 79.7 | 55.9 | |
| Returnal (2023) | 82 | 84 | 81 | 78 | 77 | 79 | |
| Atomic Heart (2023) | 159.2 | 126.4 | 103.7 | 94 | 85.3 | 65 | |
| Company of Heroes 3 (2023) | 129.5 | 119.6 | 117.7 | 116.5 | 110.7 | 104.1 | |
| Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023) | 128.2 | 117.5 | 118.4 | 97.6 | 95.9 | 86.7 | |
| The Last of Us (2023) | 105.5 | 97.4 | 91 | 87.5 | 80.9 | 73 | 56.3 |
| Star Wars Jedi Survivor (2023) | 66.8 | 63.2 | 61.4 | 60.4 | 61.2 | 60.5 | |
| F1 23 (2023) | 98.9 | 97.4 | 82.9 | 52.8 | 51.3 | 49.4 | 48.6 |
| Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart (2023) | 65.7 | 59.6 | 51.1 | 38.8 | 39.8 | 41.2 | |
| Baldur's Gate 3 (2023) | 59.4 | 56.8 | 58 | 56.1 | 60.9 | 58.5 | 56.9 |
| Starfield (2023) | 64.1 | 61.2 | 58 | 56.4 | 52.6 | 43.4 | |
| Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 Phantom Liberty (2023) | 112.6 | 109.8 | 100.4 | 96.3 | 78.4 | 49.5 | |
| Counter-Strike 2 (2023) | 252 | 191 | 185.5 | 166.4 | 124.5 | 158.3 | |
| Assassin's Creed Mirage (2023) | 120 | 115 | 110 | 80 | 80 | 80 | 72 |
| Total War Pharaoh (2023) | 307.9 | 205.6 | 131.3 | 101 | 94.2 | 74.9 | |
| Lords of the Fallen (2023) | 77 | 71.8 | 70.3 | 68.9 | 64.9 | 62 | 40.3 |
| Alan Wake 2 (2023) | 37.4 | 37.8 | 37.7 | 36.8 | 57 | 35.7 | |
| EA Sports WRC (2023) | 93.1 | 79.7 | 75.8 | 72.9 | 66.4 | 62.5 | 53.9 |
| Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 2023 (2023) | 165 | 149 | 134 | 128 | 116 | 100 | 96 |
| Avatar Frontiers of Pandora (2023) | 117 | 112 | 103 | 92 | 77 | 72 | 51 |
| The Finals (2023) | 161.3 | 143.6 | 142.7 | 143.2 | 146.9 | 166.7 | 116.8 |
| Ready or Not (2023) | 205 | 199.6 | 194.7 | 188 | 157.5 | 151.7 | 93.8 |
Emissions - Clearly audible despite the AiO cooling unit
Noise Emissions
The Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box includes an AiO cooling solution with a 240-mm (~9.4 in) radiator. The system still doesn't remain completely quiet while running, and our measurement equipment shows slightly more than 41 dB(A) even during idle operation. The pump of the AiO cooling unit always remains quietly audible. Under moderate load, the noise level only increases slightly, and during the stress test it increases further to 47.7 dB(A). Since the maximum performance of the graphics card is only barely reached, you should hardly encounter such a level during regular operation.
Noise Level
| Idle |
| 41.1 / 41.2 / 41.4 dB(A) |
| Load |
| 42.3 / 47.7 dB(A) |
 | ||
30 dB silent 40 dB(A) audible 50 dB(A) loud |
||
min:  , med:  , max:  Earthworks M23R (15 cm distance) environment noise: 25.5 dB(A) | ||
Temperatures
The AiO cooling solution does a good job, and the graphics card is able to reach its maximum power limit of 450 watts. Fresh air enters on the case sides and is then pushed back out of the top of the case by the radiator. The case also warms up noticeably and should be placed in a well-vented location. HWiNFO shows a maximum temperature of 72.6 °C (162.7 °F) for the graphics chip. The VRAM gets slightly warmer, but 82 °C (180 °F) still gives no reason for concern here.
Power Consumption
We determined the power consumption together with the mini PC, in order to avoid any advantage compared to the other graphics cards. The efficient mini PC surely helps in reaching lower values during idle operation. But once the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box is put under full load, the power consumption also increases steeply. At least, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 is also able to consume up to 450 watts here. This was reached in our stress test with FurMark, where we also measured a total of 523 watts at the outlet. The previously mentioned bandwidth limit that prevents the eGPU from performing at the expected level also brings slightly better values in the performance consumption. With 248 watts during gaming, our test setup is even fairly efficient. But in relation to the performance, the efficiency of the graphics card suffers significantly.
| Power Consumption / The Witcher 3 ultra (external Monitor) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (Idle: 86.5 W) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3080 SG | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (Idle: 86.4 W) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (Idle: 84.6 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti SG (Idle: 88.9 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | |
| Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6750 XT | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition (Idle: 111.39 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition | |
| Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6650 XT | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX | |
| MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) | |
| Power Consumption / FurMark 1.19 GPU Stress Test (external Monitor) | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (Idle: 86.5 W) | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT (Idle: 84.6 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3080 SG | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti SG (Idle: 88.9 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG (Idle: 86.4 W) | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer | |
| Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6750 XT | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition (Idle: 111.39 W) | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition | |
| Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6650 XT | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer | |
| MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX | |
| Power Consumption / Witcher 3 ultra Efficiency (external Monitor) | |
| Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4080 SG | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 Ti EX Gamer | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4070 EX Gamer | |
| MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Gaming X Trio 8G | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti EX | |
| AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT | |
| Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box (eGPU) | |
| Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 6750 XT | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition | |
| XFX Speedster QICK 308 Radeon RX 7600 Black Edition | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3070 Ti SG | |
| KFA2 GeForce RTX 3080 SG | |
| Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6650 XT | |
| NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition | |
* ... smaller is better
Power Consumption With External Monitor
Pros
Cons
Verdict - RTX 4090 massively restrained by Thunderbolt
The basic idea of giving more usability options to compact devices by adding an external graphics card is fine. But currently there aren't that many models on the market for this, which also shows that the demand for them isn't very high. However, we can still find some individual products from time to time that serve this market. What is far more widespread is cases that allow you to install a graphics card yourself. In contrast, you get the total package with the model from Gigabyte, including an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and AiO cooling solution. In addition to the option to connect several monitors, the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box also offers several external connections such as a LAN port and additional USB ports. A Thunderbolt connection provides the complete communication channel between the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box and the base PC. This prevents the graphics card, which should really be extremely fast, from reaching its full potential. The performance reductions are in parts very drastic and also clearly noticeable. Those who then also want to add additional external devices to the eGPU will reduce the available performance even further.
The Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box represents a good approach to turn small laptops or mini-PCs into powerful gaming devices. But by combining an extremely powerful graphics card with a weak Thunderbolt connection, Gigabyte has hobbled itself.
Gigabyte and other providers of such eGPU solutions are stuck in a dilemma here. The current standards that are widespread and provide these options are Thunderbolt and USB 4. But you will quickly hit their bandwidth limits here. Only with Thunderbolt 5 will there be a clear increase in the data transfer rates. At this time, there are only few devices that offer an OCuLink connection, which is clearly superior compared to the current USB 4 connections. It is unfortunate, that Gigabyte doesn't include this as an additional option, providing the Gigabyte Aorus RTX 4090 Gaming Box with this connection port. However, even such a connection wouldn't allow you to close the large performance gap to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 inside a regular desktop system. But it would still be good to fight for each percentage point of performance here, since buyers will pay almost 2,300 Euros (~$2,497) for the external graphics card.
In terms of the materials used and workmanship, Gigabyte didn't make any mistakes, and we also didn't encounter any problems with the software package that offers a bunch of adjustment options.
Price and Availability
In the US, the Gigabyte Aorus Gaming Box eGPU is available with an RTX 3080 for example from Amazon, starting from $1,670 or with an RTX 3080 Ti for $2,300. Amazon currently lists the RTX 4090 Gaming Box as unavailable, and NewEgg shows it for ~$3,750.
Transparency
The present review sample was made available to the author as a loan by the manufacturer or a shop for the purposes of review. The lender had no influence on this review, nor did the manufacturer receive a copy of this review before publication. There was no obligation to publish this review.
