In addition to the Suprim, Suprim Liquid, Vanguard, Gaming Trio, Ventus 3X and Inspire models, MSI announced two “special” versions of the GeForce RTX 5090 32G Special Edition graphics cards at CES 2025. Unofficially, these cards are called part of the iconic Lightning series, due to the lightning icon in the word Special, which was previously the most advanced, powerful and premium in the line of MSI gaming graphics accelerators.
Image source: MSI
One of the GeForce RTX 5090 32G Special Edition models is equipped with a maintenance-free HydroCool System liquid cooling system. It includes a water block installed on the video card, which is additionally cooled by two of the latest Stormforce fans. These fans are also used in other custom GeForce RTX 50-series models from MSI. The water block is connected to an external radiator, the liquid in the circuit of which is cooled by four 120 mm fans (two on each side). The company notes that the liquid cooling system cools not only the graphics processor of the video card, but also the video memory chips.
The second version of the GeForce RTX 5090 32G Special Edition is equipped with an impressively sized air cooling system. It includes five fans that provide maximum air flow and accelerate the removal of hot air from components. Three Stormforce fans are located on the front side of the card and work for blowing, and two fans on the back side provide blowing.
MSI said its engineering team is developing special versions of PCBs for both video cards. However, the company has not yet disclosed the technical characteristics of the presented models. Both versions of the GeForce RTX 5090 32G Special Edition are likely to be among the highest performing RTX 5090 variants on the market. Release dates for new products have also not yet been announced.