CES 2026: MSI launched “extreme” GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z graphics card
By ForGeeks
At CES 2026, MSI revealed one of the most radical graphics cards in recent times — the GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z. With this announcement, the manufacturer officially brought the Lightning Z series back to life after a long hiatus, making it clear that the new product is not just for regular gaming PCs.
At CES 2026, MSI showed off the most radical graphics card in recent memory, the GeForce RTX 5090 Lightning Z.
The RTX 5090 Lightning Z was designed specifically for extreme overclocking. MSI has equipped the graphics card with a massive 394 × 120 × 56 mm heatsink that houses a large display. The screen can display system metrics or custom graphics, but it also emphasizes how far this model is from the mainstream segment.
The power system deserves special attention. The graphics card uses two 12V-2×6 connectors and can draw up to 1600W in standard mode. Activating a separate BIOS version increases the power limit to an impressive 2500W — this mode is strictly for competitive benchmarking. Overclockers have already been able to overclock the GPU to around 3.74GHz using liquid nitrogen.
The model matches the flagship RTX 5090 in terms of base specs, but with a noticeable margin in terms of features. The graphics card has 21,760 CUDA cores, performance mode frequencies approaching 2.8GHz, and 32GB of 512-bit GDDR7 memory. Stability is ensured by an enhanced 40-phase power supply, and video outputs include the latest DisplayPort 2.1b.
MSI plans to release just 1,300 units of the RTX 5090 Lightning Z worldwide. Sales are expected to begin near the end of February 2026. The price has not yet been announced, but it’s clear that it will be significantly higher than the already high cost of the regular RTX 5090 models.
MMSI is planning to release only 1,300 units of the RTX 5090 Lightning Z worldwide.
This graphics card is clearly not designed for everyday use. The combination of extreme power consumption and limited edition availability makes the RTX 5090 Lightning Z a demonstration product — a tool for enthusiasts hunting for world records rather than practical performance.
