A special Frost edition Gainward RTX 5090 D has been spotted ahead of launch, proving once again China gets all the prettiest gaming hardware
The launch of the Nvidia RTX 50 series cards is just around the corner. To mark the occasion, Gainward has shown off an impressive-looking frosty RTX 5090 D, and I really want it.
As spotted by Videocardz, and verified by checking out Gainward's BiliBili account, the all-white RTX 5090 D has snowflakes all over it, and sharp thorns circling the central fan. It also has Gainward written on both the back and wrapped around the side. Though I'm usually not a fan of a company plastering its name all over its tech, I'll forgive it here as I'd also take credit for something so pretty.
The D series of graphics cards was a workaround implemented first in the RTX 4090 D cards, due to export restriction laws in the US for products headed to China, specifically surrounding AI and cryptocurrency performance. They have a lower peak compute performance, by measuring and limiting total processing performance (TPP) and performance density (TD). This means the 5090 D spotted in the image above won't be as powerful as the RTX 5090 cards you will be able to buy soon.
While battling with these graphics card sanctions, China launched an antitrust investigation into Nvidia late last year over its acquisition of Mellanox Technologies, an Israeli chip maker.
The Chinese government reportedly accepted the original seven-billion-dollar deal, as long as Mellanox Technologies makes its technology available to the Chinese market within 90 days of Nvidia getting them. Sanctions prohibited tech from getting across to China, and lawmakers expressed displeasure with the RTX 4090 D workaround at the time too.
We don't yet know the specific performance of the RTX 5090 D card just yet. It has the same amount of RAM as the usual release (32 GB of GDDR7) and should also have the same amount of CUDA cores (21,760) but we don't yet have a retail price, or know when it will launch in China.
Despite the RTX 5090 still looking very pretty in its usual all-black form, the 5090D is just one in a long line of China-exclusive gaming tech that I'd love to get my grubby mitts on, just for the aesthetic. Razer, for instance, has an excellent collab with Pokémon in China, including (one of my favourites) the purple Gengar set. Even the recent Evangelion-themed OneXPlayer OneXFly F1 Pro, adorned with a red theme and gold accents, can only be bought in China.
However, one can always hold out hope (though if we do get that gorgeous Frost theme, it will hopefully be in a non-D model) as the rather great Sapphire Nitro+ RX 7900 GRE used to be exclusive to the Chinese market. The same is true of Razer's rather adorable Kuromi collection, which can now be purchased worldwide.
The RTX 5090 is a gorgeous bit of tech as is but Gainward has won me over with its icy aesthetic. It may not be as strong but that all-white build is calling my name.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.
Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.
Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.
Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.