It’s no secret that you need a sizeable case to house the likes of the RTX 4090, with Founders Edition and third party cooler designs both pushing the boundaries of just how large a graphics card can get. While some of these cards based on the latest top-end Nvidia GPU are gargantuan, though, Zotac holds the accolade of the largest on the scene. This pixel pusher isn’t for everyone, however, and not just because of its size.
It’s always been typical for the best graphics cards to feature large coolers, given the amount of power their GPUs can draw. This remains true with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series, but graphics card manufacturers have gone especially big this generation, with the likes of the RTX 4090 arriving with a TDP of 450W.
The biggest of them all, though, the Zotac PGF, was relegated to the history books following the RTX 4090 ban in China. However, following the release of the RTX 4090 D in the country, the cooler has since reclaimed its place as the largest graphics card around, measuring 38.1cm in length.
While this might be huge, size really isn’t everything. After all, regardless of the cooler, there is simply no topping the original RTX 4090 given the RTX 4090 D’s cutback specs. However, the real disappointment here is the overclocking headroom on offer, as revealed by a review conducted by Expreview (via Videocardz).
The outlet managed to increase performance on the RTX 4090 D by 3.7% in 3DMark Time Spy, from 35,308 to 36,608, still shy of the 37,261 we observed in our RTX 4090 review with base clocks.
It’s unlikely that we will see Nvidia bring the RTX 4090 D to markets outside of China, as AMD has done with its RX 7900 GRE, as the only graphics card it would compete against would be Nvidia’s own RTX 4090. Still, seeing Zotac’s cooler design make it outside of the region would be a welcome novel gesture.
Perhaps we’ll see a refined version of the Zotac PGF cooler on the RTX 5090 when it eventually leaves the Nvidia lab. Until then, though, be sure to check out our RTX 4080 Super review if you’re after the closest option to an RTX 4090 that’s far less expensive.