MSI just launched the most technically advanced graphics card known to man for CES 2026, at least that's what the marketing would have us believe, but the GeForce RTX 5090 32G LIGHTNING Z is quite the graphics card. The brand decided to bring back the legend after seven years as the most powerful card the company has released so far, smashing the competition with power draw, cooling, and test results. To show just how powerful this GPU is, two 12V-2x6 connections are present.

Designed for extreme overclocking with liquid cooling and a full-cover cold plate touching all the hotspots, this 5090 is designed for demanding sessions where the latest games are run at their highest settings. As well as the outright performance of the Nvidia GPU, which has the capability of running titles such as Cyberpunk 2077 at max settings and ray tracing enabled with little trouble, the GeForce RTX 5090 32G LIGHTNING Z has some party tricks that make it quite the pick for enthusiasts.

The king of kings

To start with, we have the company's Lightning Fan thermal architecture to allow the graphics card to run at its maximum without pumping out too much heat. Then there's the precision-molded carbon fiber elements, software controls, and everything else you'd expect from an Nvidia RTX 5090. With this GPU, you've got a full 8-inch display, which is something to write home about in itself, as well as carbon-fiber elements for refining the backplate.

As expected with any MSI graphics card, one can control it through software customization, but the real party trick is what lies beneath the GPU with custom water cooling and other additions that make this one GPU to contend with. But one couldn't ignore the 8-inch display, which can be used to display system stats, animations, and more, much like you would with another component, such as an AIO CPU block.

Speaking of all-in-one liquid cooling, the RTX 5090 also has active cooling to help keep temperatures in check with three fans, a hybrid fin radiator design, and a next-gen pump. We've got quite the power setup with a total of 2500W that can be pulled by the GPU. Taking advantage of this approach and the included Lightning features, MSI achieved 53,207 in Time Spy, which is considerably higher than the mid to high 40,000s this GPU typically achieves. Benchmarks aren't everything, of course, but it's a good indicator as to what we can expect from this thing.

This limited-edition MSI GPU will only be available with 1,300 units worldwide. If you're into buying something a little different for your gaming rig and have the available budget to stretch and cover a limited-edition GPU with ample performance, this could be a great upgrade for older parts. MSI is pushing the boundary here with power delivery, and also launched new power supplies with dedicated safeguards for the GPU supply. We've seen all the issues these 12V-2x6 connections can bring, so it only made sense with new MEG and MAG units with up to 1600W of capacity available.