Zotac Gaming RTX 3090 Trinity Review

The graphics card arms race has been a bit one-sided for a while now, with Nvidia continuing to push the limits of gamers PC performance and their wallets. The RTX 2000 series was very fast but prohibitively expensive. Relatively speaking, the RTX 3000 series launch has been somewhat of a bargain, offering performance that thrashes the last-gen, at significantly lower entry prices. Zotac Gaming RTX 3090 Trinity The RTX 3090 is the flagship of the generation so far, and it is going to be quite a bit more expensive than the RTX 3080, but if you want 10,496 of CUDA Cores and 24GB of GDD6X memory, this is the only place you'll get it. That's a big step up from the 8704 CUDA Cores and 10GB GDDR6 of the RTX 3080 and put it this way, GDDR6 ain't cheap. The Zotac RTX 3090 Trinity is priced around the same as a Founders Edition card from Nvidia. However, Zotac has put their own custom cooler on it. If it looks like you're seeing double, yes, it is the same design as their RTX 2080 Trinity we reviewed the other day. CUDA cores: 10496Video Memory: 24GB GDDR6XMemory Bus: 384-bitEngine ClockBoost: 1695 MHzMemory Clock: 19.5 Gbps Features 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Cores3rd Gen Tensor CoresSPECTRA 2.0 RGB LightingIceStorm 2.0 Advanced CoolingActive Fan Control with FREEZE Fan StopMetal Frontplate and RGB LED BackplateFireStorm Utility (Download HERE)NVIDIA NVLink (SLI-ready)VR Ready What Zotac Had to Say "Get Amplified with the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX™ 30 Series based on the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. Built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast GDDR6X memory, the ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3090 Trinity gives rise to the amplified gaming experience with ultra graphics fidelity." - Zotac A Closer Look As I said before, this card is visually identical to the RTX 3080 Trinity we reviewed just a few day ago. That's no bad thing though, as it's still a large triple fan cooler design with a huge heatsink; more than enough to tame the RTX 3080, and I expect it'll do just fine with the RTX 3090 too, as the power consumption isn't a whole lot higher. The fans are really nice though, and all come with Active Fan Control, allowing each to adjust their speed independently. This also includes their FREEZE Fan Stop, allowing the fans to shut off entirely in lower loads and temperatures, giving you a much quieter computer. The card uses a metal shroud that's pretty funky, but not too crazy. It's still a gaming GPU, but they've kept the design fairly toned down. Especially for a Zotac card, which often look completely nuts. However, this is one of the more affordable variants, so perhaps we'll see something crazy when they unleash their tricked out and overclocked cards. Along the side of the card, you'll find a little touch of RGB, not a lot, but enough to garnish the aesthetics. The card draws power from a dual 8-pin configuration, with Zotac claiming a 350W consumption and a 750W PSU as the minimum recommended. There's a full size backplate on the rear of the card too, which comes with an extra touch of RGB in the Zotac logo. The backplate looks great too, with some cool ventilation grooves cut into it. I'm not sure if they'll improve performance, but I do like the design regardless. Finally, at the rear of the card, you can see the card sits in a 2.5 slot form factor. It also does not extend beyond the PCIe bracket, so the card is quite narrow unlike a lot of modern gaming GPUs that are as wide as a mountain. How We Test We continue to update our testing methods around once per year. As such, we re-test older hardware to reflect changes over time. These can be driver updates, Windows updates, game patches, and more; all of which have an impact on performance figures. Furthermore, we update our test bench to newer and more relevant hardware. This means that our new reviews aren’t always comparable to those of older reviews, so please compare the testing methodology on older reviews should you be trying to compare them with newer ones. Replicate Our Results When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory and kept as simple as possible, although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of a graphics card, CPU, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using the benchmarks available to you. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware tested here to give you a ballpark figure of how much of an upgrade this will provide you with. Graphics Card Test System MotherboardASUS Crosshair VIII Hero (Wi-Fi)ProcessorAMD Ryzen 9 3900XTRAMTEAMGroup DarkZa 16GB 3600MHz (2x8GB)CPU CoolerNoctua NH-D15SPower SupplyPhanteks Revolt Pro 850StorageSeagate FireCuda 520 2TBChassisOpen BenchtableMonitorDell UP3218KOSWindows 10 Pro Version 2004 Additional Hardware Killawatt style electricity usage meter wall plugPrecision Gold N05CC Decibel meter Gaming To gauge performance levels which are easily reproduced time after time, by both ourselves and our readers, we now stick strictly to games default profiles. We now use the “High” profiles for all games or their respective equivalent at all resolutions. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, as are FreeSync and G-Sync technologies or similar. Graphics card power usage is set to optimised or balance, and the system power mode set to High Performance within Windows and the available GPU driver software. Identical settings are used for all resolutions unless otherwise stated. Games Deus Ex: Mankind DividedShadow of the Tomb RaiderFinal Fantasy XVDoom EternalBorderlands 3Metro ExodusBattlefield VApex LegendsControlGears of War 5FarCry New DawnGhost Recon WildlandsWolfenstein Youngblood Workstation Tests Please note that workstation tests are only featured in relevant graphics card reviews and that page may not be present in some reviews. It's purely reserved for the flagship cards. V-Ray OTOY Octane 2020.1LuxMark v3.1Specviewperf 1080p & 4K3dsmax-06catia-05creo-02 energy-02 maya-05 medical-02 showcase-02 snx-03 sw-04Davinci Resolve Wedding_Heavy_StylesBlender 2.90 CUDABlender 2.90 OPTIX Resolutions Tested 1080p (Full HD)1440p (2K)2160p (4K)4320p (8K) Some tests will also include features such as Nvidia DLSS and Ray Tracing. However, these will be clearly labelled and may only appear in reviews for graphics cards that support those features. Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download)FireStrikeFireStrike UltraPort Royal DXRTimeSpyTimeSpy ExtremeUnigine Superposition (download)4K Optimised BenchmarkHWMonitor (download)GPU-Z (download)MSI Afterburner (download) Noise Everyone has a reasonable noise level preference when it comes to components on a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down; some want an entirely silent computer. To accurately gauge the noise output of a graphics card, we position a Precision Gold N05CC one meter above our open-air test bench and take an average reading at idle and load. Power Consumption We take power readings during the idle state with no background applications running. Then again at 50% completion of the Unigine Superposition benchmark, using the average as the final published result. Temperatures We take temperature readings after 10 minutes of desktop idle with no background programs running, then take the recorded maximum delivered from Unigine Superposition after a 4K optimised run, confirming the numbers are accurate with HWMonitor. Furthermore, the ambient temperature is always kept +/- 1c from 21c. Synthetic Benchmarks 3DMark FireStrike - 304023DMark FireStrike Ultra - 117763DMark TimeSpy - 169893DMark TimeSpy Extreme - 89863DMark Port Royal (DXR) - 12269Unigine Superposition 4K Optimised - 15397 3DMark FireStrike 3DMark FireStrike Ultra 3DMark TimeSpy 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme 3DMark Port Royal (DXR) Unigine Superposition 4K Optimised Now an experienced covert operative, Adam Jensen is forced to operate in a world that has grown to despise his kind. Armed with a new arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons and augmentations, he must choose the right approach, along with who to trust, in order to unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy. Available now on Steam. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Performance 1080p Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 139.51440p Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 131.72160p Deus Ex Mankind Divided - 84.2 Experience Lara Croft’s defining moment as she becomes the Tomb Raider. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Lara must master a deadly jungle, overcome terrifying tombs, and persevere through her darkest hour. As she races to save the world from a Maya apocalypse, Lara will ultimately be forged into the Tomb Raider she is destined to be. Available now on Steam. Shadow of the Tomb Raider Performance 1080p Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 1411440p Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 1372160p Shadow of the Tomb Raider - 104 For the first time, players take control of Noctis's greatest foe in this brand-new episode of FINAL FANTASY XV! Delve into the dark tale of scorned saviour Ardyn Lucis Caelum and unravel the secrets surrounding his mysterious past. Available now on Steam. Final Fantasy XV Performance 1080p Final Fantasy XV - 137261440p Final Fantasy XV - 122002160p Final Fantasy XV - 8048 Experience Aloy’s entire legendary quest to unravel the mysteries of a world ruled by deadly Machines. An outcast from her tribe, the young hunter fights to uncover her past, discover her destiny… and stop a catastrophic threat to the future. Unleash devastating, tactical attacks against unique Machines and rival tribes as you explore an open world teeming with wildlife and danger. Horizon Zero Dawn™ is a multi-award-winning action role-playing game – and this Complete Edition for PC includes the huge expansion The Frozen Wilds, featuring new lands, skills, weapons and Machines. Available now on Steam. Horizon Zero Dawn Performance 1080p Horizon Zero Dawn - 1421440p Horizon Zero Dawn - 1322160p Horizon Zero Dawn - 89 Hell’s armies have invaded Earth. Become the Slayer in an epic single-player campaign to conquer demons across dimensions and stop the final destruction of humanity. The only thing they fear... is you. Available now on Steam. Doom Eternal Performance 1080p Doom Eternal - 351.551440p Doom Eternal - 305.4092160p Doom Eternal - 188.713 The original shooter-looter returns, packing bazillions of guns and a mayhem-fueled adventure! Blast through new worlds and enemies as one of four new Vault Hunters. Play solo or with friends to take on insane enemies, score loads of loot and save your home from the most ruthless cult leaders in the galaxy. At the hard edge of the galaxy lies a group of planets ruthlessly exploited by militarized corporations. Brimming with loot and violence, this is your home—the Borderlands. Now, a crazed cult known as The Children of the Vault has emerged and is spreading like an interstellar plague. Play solo or co-op as one of four unique Vault Hunters, score loads of loot and save the galaxy from this fanatical threat. Available now on Epic Games Store. Borderlands 3 Performance 1080p Borderlands 3 - 122.411440p Borderlands 3 - 188.012160p Borderlands 3 - 83.41 Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first-person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created. Flee the shattered ruins of dead Moscow and embark on an epic, continent-spanning journey across post-apocalyptic Russia in the greatest Metro adventure yet. Explore the Russian wilderness in vast, non-linear levels and follow a thrilling story-line inspired by the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky that spans an entire year through spring, summer and autumn to the depths of nuclear winter. Available now on Epic Game Store. Metro Exodus Performance 1080p Metro Exodus - 123.411440p Metro Exodus - 117.042160p Metro Exodus - 84.49 Enter mankind’s greatest conflict with Battlefield™ V in the most intense, immersive, and innovative Battlefield yet. Lead your squad to victory in all-new multiplayer experiences like the multi-map Grand Operations. Fight for survival in Firestorm – battle royale, reimagined for Battlefield. Witness a never-before-seen portrayal of WW2 in the single-player War Stories campaign. Assemble your Company of customized soldiers, weapons, and vehicles – then take them on an expanding journey where every chapter brings a new battlefield. You will never be the same. Available now on Origin. Battlefield V Performance 1080p Battlefield V - 165.5281440p Battlefield V - 162.0322160p Battlefield V - 111.551 Conquer with character in Apex Legends, a free-to-play Battle Royale shooter where legendary characters with powerful abilities team up to battle for fame & fortune on the fringes of the Frontier. Master an ever-growing roster of diverse Legends, deep tactical squad play and bold new innovations that level up the Battle Royale experience—all within a rugged world where anything goes. Welcome to the next evolution of Battle Royale. Available now on Steam. Apex Legends Performance 1080p Apex Legends - 143.7931440p Apex Legends - 143.8072160p Apex Legends - 139.804 A corruptive presence has invaded the Federal Bureau of Control…Only you have the power to stop it. The world is now your weapon in an epic fight to annihilate an ominous enemy through deep and unpredictable environments. Containment has failed, humanity is at stake. Will you regain control? Winner of over 80 awards, Control is a visually stunning third-person action-adventure that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Blending open-ended environments with the signature world-building and storytelling of renowned developer, Remedy Entertainment, Control presents an expansive and intensely gratifying gameplay experience. Available now on Steam. Control Performance 1080p Control - 168.7831440p Control - 121.0442160p Control - 63.719 Squad up with Dom Santiago in Operation 4 Brothers in Arms, available now. Play today with new heroes, new maps and new rewards. From one of gaming’s most acclaimed sagas, Gears is bigger than ever, with five thrilling modes and the deepest campaign yet. Available now on Steam. Gears of War 5 Performance 1080p Gears of War 5 - 121.61440p Gears of War 5 - 127.22160p Gears of War 5 - 99.7 Seventeen years after a global nuclear catastrophe, civilization re-emerges from the chaos to find a world dramatically changed. In Hope County, Montana, the remaining populace has gathered into different groups, each with their own rules for survival. In this new world order, the vicious Highwaymen, led by twin sisters Mickey and Lou, travel from place to place bleeding people dry of all available resources. As the Survivors try to defend their lands against the Highwaymen's relentless onslaught, it's up to you to come to their aid and lead the fight. In the latest instalment of the award-winning Far Cry franchise, you are the last line of defence in a transformed, post-apocalyptic Hope County. Help the community of Survivors grow stronger, craft a makeshift arsenal through Turf Wars and cross-country Expeditions, and form unexpected alliances to fight for survival in a dangerous new frontier. Available now on UPlay. Far Cry New Dawn Performance 1080p Far Cry New Dawn - 1171440p Far Cry New Dawn - 1132160p Far Cry New Dawn - 96 The Ghosts, an elite US Special Forces team, are sent behind enemy lines to wreak havoc, destabilize, and eventually break the alliance between the cartel and the corrupted government. Facing an almighty enemy in a massive and hostile environment, the Ghosts will need to make critical moral choices and engage in tough battles to complete their mission – their grittiest and most dangerous operation to date. Available now on UPlay. Ghost Recon: Wildlands Performance 1080p Ghost Recon Wildlands - 158.041440p Ghost Recon Wildlands - 140.542160p Ghost Recon Wildlands - 95.94 Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint puts you in the boots of the Ghosts, an Elite US Special Operations Unit stranded behind enemy lines. This time there is no briefing. All contact has been lost with Auroa. This archipelago is home to Skell Technology, a high-tech company. You are sent there with your unit for a recon mission, but your helicopters are shot down: Skell Tech has fallen into the wrong hands. The Wolves, a lethal ex-US military unit gone rogue, have taken over the island. Led by your ex-brother-in-arms, Colonel Cole D. Walker, they have reprogrammed Skell’s drones into killing machines and are ready to use them, no matter the casualties. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint is a military shooter set in a diverse, hostile, and mysterious open world that you can play entirely solo or in four-player co-op. Injured, without support, and hunted down by ex-Ghosts, you must fight to survive while lost in Auroa. Choose the right alliances and decide how to take down your toughest enemy. Available now on UPLAY. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint 1080p Breakpoint - 1771440p Breakpoint - 1712160p Breakpoint - 134 Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the first modern co-op Wolfenstein adventure. Nineteen years after the events of Wolfenstein II, BJ Blazkowicz has disappeared after a mission into Nazi-occupied Paris. Now, after years of training from their battle-hardened father, BJ’s twin daughters, Jess and Soph Blazkowicz, are forced into action. Team up with a friend or play alone. Level up, explore, and complete missions to unlock new abilities, weapons, gadgets, cosmetics, and more to complement your playstyle and customize your appearance. Wolfenstein: Youngblood features the most open-ended Wolfenstein experience to date. From a new base of operations located deep in the heart of the Paris catacombs, plan how and when to attack and dismantle the Nazi regime. Available now on Steam. Wolfenstein Youngblood Performance 1080p Wolfenstein Youngblood - 3701440p Wolfenstein Youngblood - 2862160p Wolfenstein Youngblood - 163 It's time to separate the weak from the strong, as this test is all about punishment. The issue with this, it's 4x the resolution of 4K, and that means it's going to put a frankly appalling strain on VRAM, even on flagship cards. However, it's fun, and we're doing this. Any result showing a zero either would not run or typically failed during the run and wouldn't complete. To push things even further, any charts in red represent games tested at 8K with maximum or extremely demanding settings. These charts may not be included on non-flagship GPU reviews. Ray tracing is the true next-gen feature that many of us have been watching develop over the last couple of years. However, with more and more cards, as well as next-gen consoles supporting the feature, it's expected to take off in a big way now. Obviously, AMD cards are omitted from this test right now, but we're certain it won't be long before we see some competition in these benchmarks. While we won't be running this section of benchmarks for every graphics card review, it's something we will include with the more extreme and workstation friendly cards. This is for those of you buying the flagship graphics cards for rendering and development. We perform tests on V-Ray, Specviewperf, Davinci Resolve and similar. Again, these aren't things that are of interest to your average consumer, but they're a good indication of the other uses for modern cards. Power Consumption Temperatures Acoustics How Much Does It Cost? Unfortunately, it seems everything that launches recently is getting struck by bots and scalpers. Not to mention just general stock issues due to the ongoing covid crisis. If you want to check up to date prices and stock, you can do so on Amazon UK here and Amazon US here. Overview Obviously, the flagship of the Nvidia range doesn't come cheap. It's fairly clear to me that the performance difference isn't about gaming. There are more cores, and it does run faster, but it's not as far ahead from the RTX 3080 as the RTX 2080 Ti was from the RTX 2080. The performance difference is marginal in some benchmarks due to it being CPU limited. It sounds silly, even with us using some of the latest processors here, that I don't think we're getting everything we can from the RTX 3090 cards. There's clear CPU limiting in some of the gaming benchmarks. That being said, hitting the limit on these new GPUs still results in record breaking performance, so I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. So what are they for? Well, as Andy was saying in the video review, content creation and heavy workstation tasks. They're marketed as gaming cards too, which is fine, I'm sure the deep pocketed enthusiast market will love them. However, while it's an expensive "gaming" card it's half the price of the Titan RTX, and offers some pretty significant performance in Specviewperf, V-Ray, Blender and more. Furthermore, that wealth of VRAM is insane. For game development and 3D rendering, having all that memory is going to be vital to creating truly next-gen content experiences. Why Choose the Zotac Gaming RTX 3090 Trinity? As I said earlier, this card looks identical to the Zotac Gaming RTX 3080 Trinity, as it uses the exact same PCB and cooler design. Actually, I best make sure I put them back in the right boxes! It's an MSRP card, which means it's Zotac's take on the founders edition or reference model. That should be reflected in the price though, as this could even be cheaper than the FE, while still offering basically the same performance. Despite being a base model, don't be fooled, this is still one of the fastest consumer GPUs ever created. Furthermore, Zotac has equipped it with their equally impressive triple fan cooler and a massive heatsink, so even with this level of performance, cooling isn't really a big issue. 4K and Beyond When it came to the more extreme end of the gaming spectrum, the Zotac card managed to keep pace with the other RTX 3090's we've tested. It may not have been the fastest, but any performance difference was very small. Impressive really given this isn't a factory overclocked model. You'll be able to max out the latest games at 4K with ease, and even 8K gaming proved possible with Doom Eternal hitting 59 FPS! Ray tracing and DLSS is superb too, with all major titles hitting those golden numbers even at 4K. Should I Buy One? The RTX 3090 series clearly isn't for everyone, it's very expensive and the performance leap from the RTX 3080 isn't massive. However, for the absolute best performance at extreme resolutions, it's still the fastest chipset out there. The Zotac card looks great and it performs really well. Furtermore, for workstation tasks, it offers incredible performance thanks to the huge amount of VRAM, and still costs about half that of an RTX Titan.