I bought a graphics card (that costs as much as a car)

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My RTX 3080 died a death (temporarily). Here is the graphics card I replaced it with, plus a whole host of other gaming PC modifications.

Basically, I had two choices. Wait a long time to get the 3080 graphics card back (the RMA process has begun). But, of course, that means I would be out of work, unable to make videos until it came back.

Option two was to get another graphics card. The natural progression would be an RTX 4070Ti so you get access to DLSS 3 and some other improvements.

But then I had this big idea. Why don’t I upgrade and get something absolutely ridiculous? Something that costs about the same as a used Fiat Panda.

Shameless plug: If you want to help me recuperate some of the costs you can buy this lovely merchandise.

Now, forgive me for nerding out for quite a lot of the article/video as I explain what I have done, why I have done it, my PC components and all the other modifications along the way.

So, yeah, if you are expecting SnowRunner or anything like that, it will be in the video. But only to show off the graphics card as opposed to me prattling on about digital trucks.

Please note: This is an edited script from my YouTube video, click play above to watch or go here.

The graphics card process

Now, I wrote down a list of things that I needed to do. We will get to the graphics card I bought a bit later. First up, I swapped the fans from in the front area to inside the main case area because they would not fit.

Also, this particular card (this is a bit of a clue) needs four ATX cables, which is a lot of cable to get into an mid-sized case. So I bought the 12VHPWR from Corsair for about £20, which splits into two 8-pin ATX cables.

Each connector can do 300W each because it is 16AWG cabling. Two times 300 equals 600. My new graphics card maxes out at just under 500W so not a problem. However, some cards like the Colourful HoF require a ridiculous 666W.

I was hoping to do a push/pull thing for the CPU because we have now got a GPU that is generating more heat nearer the CPU area.

Unfortunately, it will not fit without me drilling and if I get the drill out there is a strong chance I am going to end up injuring myself and cover all the electrical components in bits of fine metal.

Now, if I am going to buy something instead of a Fiat Panda, I want to show it off. So what I have also done is mounted the graphics card vertically. Hence the Gen 4.0 riser cable that allows it to come out of the PCIe slot and rest on its side.

Given the angled GPU, cooling is especially important. In my case, I have an AIO meaning all-in-one, liquid, radiator and fans, which I use as an exhaust. You do not want to bring heat in, you want to get it out.

Because I originally had so many PCI cables from the power supply unit to the graphics card, nothing would fit and it was already difficult enough as I have the Corsair RGB lighting system to make things look pretty.

I also had a Noctua manual control. Again, all of this stuff takes up a lot of room. Getting the back on the case was not the easiest things.

However, I managed to do it with some very fancy cable routing/cramming it in. Hopefully nothing catches fire. I will run some stress tests so we will see how well I did.

So, yes, the two excess ATX cables are getting removed from the case. I am also going to take out the lovely grey cable extenders. As much as I like the look of them, you are not going to see them now.

I still have the grey cables for the motherboard at the top and the 24-pin and the six-pin or whatever it is in the other corner as extenders make it easier to route everything. It is just that the GPU now has a plain-old black Corsair cable.

Captured card

Now, one the biggest problems is that I have a capture card for Xbox. I bought an internal one because it was a lot cheaper than the external at the time (£350 versus £250).

Upon reflection, it probably would have been better to spend a bit more for the sake of space-saving. Unless the RTX 4090 is an AIO type like the MSI Suprim Liquid, you are going to lose between three and four slots. That means covering other PCIe slots.

I need the AverMedia Live Gamer 4K because it can do 4K 60 frames per second which is what a lot of Xbox Series X games run at.

The problem in mounting the GPU vertically is that it covers even more PCIe slots. So we have a riser Gen 3.0 cable, because we do not need as much speed, to let me to move the AverMedia elsewhere.

Unfortunately, that means it is standing up vertically in a slightly special way behind the card. This affects airflow. However, I have two Noctua 3,000rpm fans and I play with headphones most of the time so I do not necessarily hear them. A very, very steep fan curve negates the problem of cooling.

Although I managed to get the AverMedia Live Gamer 4K in there, the problem is that the card normally pokes out the back, allowing you to easily plug in your HDMI cables for the Xbox and the monitor.

Unfortunately, now they live on the inside so I have to run two HDMI cables all the way through and into the top of the card. Unusual and not the best solution, admittedly, but it is the only one that will work.

12VHPWR cable to the rescue

I did a dummy run without the Corsair 12VHPWR cable cable and temperatures were good. 60-70 Celsius for the CPU, the graphics card was under 70 Celsius in a room that is about 20, 21, 22 degrees Celsius.

Nothing too scary. Honestly, I do not want the hotspot and the memory to be particularly high in temperature because then it is going to degrade faster. Even though this particular GPU has a five year warranty. I would rather things run cool and do not blow upon five years and one day because that is what life does.

As for the Anidees AI Crystal Lite M (ATX, not MATX as I state in the video), it is quite old and is missing the newer version’s vertical slot. But it does have lovely black glass so all is mostly forgiven.

Fortunately, there are various vertical mounts you that can put in the case from different brands. Lian Li, Cooler Master and some other cheaper ones. I got mine from Amazon UK for about £70, but if you are patient you can get it for about £40, £50, £60-ish.

The good thing about the V3 instead of the V1 and the V2 is that it has a removable section of metal to reduce its slot number requirement. Instead of it taking up the full six slots, it uses three or four. This allows you to have it up or down a bit or make it work inside a smaller case.

The V3 is also cool because it has two mechanisms that let you slide the card left and right so you can centre it. More importantly, it allows you to fit the HDMI and DisplayPort cables into your case.

You can also move the graphics card forwards and backwards, allowing you to have it futher away from the glass at the front. Because being vertically arranged means there is not as much of a gap between the fans and side panel for airflow.

A Gen 4.0 riser cable comes with the V3 mount so it is not too bad value because a cable is about £30 or £40 alone for a good one. And it is worth getting a good one so it is shielded and actually lives up to the performance you want.

Vertical dreams

Mounting your card vertically has another benefit in the fact it does not sag. However, in my case I was unable to get the L-shaped screw prong things in. The screw would not reach. Luckily, it has a sliding mechanism you can screw tight and I have put some little plastic washers to hold it there so the GPU mount will not droop.

The important bit is that the strain is on the holder and not the card itself so it is not pushing the motherboard off or damaging the 16x slot. You may see the metal sagging, but because it has a screwed-in lower connection for the card it does not matter. It is more of a visual thing if you want the graphics card to be level.

This particular card comes with a little stand, which helps hold the GPU away from the glass as well as maintain the vertical and horizontal levels.

In terms of cooling, I am using a top-mounted AIO CPU cooler known as the DeepCool Castle 240 EX. I could have mounted the radiator at the front, but that would pull in hot air for the GPU.

Mounting it on the front can make sense if your CPU is generally hotter than your GPU, which might be because you do CPU-intensive stuff as opposed to gaming.

For me, the GPU is the bit I am most worried about. Based on early testing, I actually found the CPU does get a little warmer now, but neither is at a point where I am worried. Not yet, anyway.

If I upgrade in future, I would be tempted to cram a 360mm radiator at the top for lower CPU temperatures. Once the piggy bank recovers.

If you have the 7900 or the forthcoming 7950X, these run hot. The Intel 13900K et al are also particularly warm so may affect your finished airflow configuration.

Anyway, you have seen the finished result. The lovely RTX 4090 graphics card that I still feel a bit sick about purchasing. It is a phenomenal card with a five-year guarantee so, in theory, I should be set for a while.

Ultimately, that means I get to show you games at their very best. So if a game does not run well with this, then you are going to know it is not the well optimised. This is despite the fact I do not have the best processor in the world. But the AMD 5950X is still one of the fastest processors that money can buy.

Honestly, it should not affect the frame rate too much. Of course, I can check the utilisation of the GPU and the CPU as I go. So if I am hitting 100 per cent on either of those I will know I have a bottleneck.

Now some of you will say “why did you spend that much on a graphics card?”. Because, yes, they are exceedingly expensive if you get something particularly powerful. Not only that, GPUs are insanely priced compared with how it used to be. Long gone are the days of GTX 1080 Ti at a few hundred. That genie is not going back in the lamp.

But then (justification mode initiated) the five year warranty on this card works out at about £300-something a year. For relatively little money per month, I have something capable of everything I need and running games at their absolute best. Not a bad investment for a gaming-heavy YouTube channel.

Of course, the other thing to remember is that the 3090 Ti cost more at launch. We had a Titan card that also cost more at launch. When you put it like that, it is not so bad. This card can do 4K 60FPS in pretty much any game. Or 4K 120. Or even 4K 144Hz if you have a monitor capable of that. There just has not been a graphics card capable of all this.

Normally, you have to make compromises. With the RTX 3080, I had settings at high, not ultra, and couple of things at medium because I had to record 4K at the same time (more strain on the system). Doable, but not ideal.

Not only does the RTX 4090 allow me to do 4K 120 or 144Hz in certain games (not ray-tracing Cyberpunk 2077 without DLSS 3), it gives me that little bit of extra headroom for recording.

And, honestly (first world problem alert), I just want to hit record, max the settings and show you any game at its best. Simplifying my workflow is a big plus.

But, yeah, I feel a little bit sick because this is the most expensive upgrade I have ever bought for a PC and it is the second or third most expensive thing I have ever bought in my life.

Was it worth it? Time will tell although I suspect so. Microsoft Flight Simulator has never looked so good and never run as smoothly. That alone to a big nerd like me is priceless.