Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Nvidia’s RTX 4090 Ti could require a huge amount of power

By

With Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 40 series reportedly doubling the performance of its predecessor, it shouldn’t be too surprising that either the RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 Ti may require a massive 1,200-watt power supply unit (PSU).

Twitter user harukaze5719 made a general tweet regarding Intel’s upcoming Raptor Lake CPUs, as well as Nvidia’s Lovelace GPUs. He mentioned that specs could be “literally exploded.”

https://twitter.com/harukaze5719/status/1482540765872259072

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

A follow-up tweet added some further context; “Expecting i9 13900K + RTX 4090 Ti recommand PSU at least 1000W GOLD.” However, another well-known leaker responded to the aforementioned tweet by claiming 1,000 watts will not be enough to power the upcoming Nvidia graphics card.

https://twitter.com/greymon55/status/1482547038172549120

As pointed out by NotebookCheck, Greymon55 has regularly provided updates pertaining to the RTX 40 series. One such update was revealing that Lovelace video cards would deliver “double performance” of the GeForce RTX 3090. 18,432 CUDA cores will inevitably need a considerable amount of power. Greymon55 believes a 600W power supply will thus be required for either the GeForce RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 Ti. That said, according to the leaker, the 600W PSU is attached to a reference board as opposed to a custom model.

Therefore, should Greymon55’s sources turn out to be correct, anyone interested in the GeForce RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 Ti will be required to integrate a 1,200W PSU when building their system. As NotebookCheck highlights, a high level of power is essential in order to handle the GPU’s performance and sufficiently provide enough juice for other components.

Lending credence to the claim of a 1,200W PSU is a leak indicating that the GeForce RTX 4090’s predecessor, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, features a TDP of 480W, which would need at least a 1,000W PSU in order to power the card.

As for other technical specifications for the RTX 4090, the video card will reportedly offer a clock speed between 2.3GHz and 2.5GHz. The Lovelace AD102 GPU it is based on would be able to deliver 66.4 TFLOPs in FP32 at 1.8 GHz. Comparatively, the RTX 3090 is said to deliver 35.6 TFLOPs in FP32.

Elsewhere, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti is set to become the most expensive graphics card to ever hit the market. With 10,752 CUDA cores, 24GB of GDDR6X memory, and 21Gbps of bandwidth, a recent leak shows the GPU could come with a $4,500 price tag.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Zak Islam
Zak Islam
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Zak Islam was a freelance writer at Digital Trends covering the latest news in the technology world, particularly the…
CableMod’s adapters damaged up to $74K worth of Nvidia GPUs
Melted 12VHPWR connector made by CableMod for the RTX 4090.

CableMod's adapters were meant to fix the problem of melting connectors on Nvidia's top GPU, the RTX 4090, but it appears that things didn't go as planned. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a notice that the CableMod 12VHPWR angled adapters are being recalled due to fire and burn hazards. More than 25,300 adapters are to be returned, and the affected customers are eligible for a full refund.

The connectors on the RTX 4090 have been melting ever since the GPU hit the shelves in late 2022, and so far, the only fix seems to lie in careful installation and picking the right PC case that can accommodate this monstrous card. CableMod's angled adapters showed a lot of promise, at least initially. Seeing as bending the cable can contribute to the overheating, an angled adapter should have been just the fix -- but unfortunately, the melting continued, even with the use of CableMod's solution.

Read more
The Nvidia RTX 4080 Super just trounced AMD
The Nvidia RTX 4080 Super on a pink background.

Whether you pick the RTX 4080 Super or the RX 7900 XTX, you're getting a powerful GPU that's capable of seamless gaming at 4K. But which one is better for the money? There used to be a clear answer to that question when we were only dealing with the RTX 4080, but the release of its Super successor made it a lot less straightforward.

Both the RTX 4080 Super and the RX 7900 XTX are among the best graphics cards that money can buy. While they're close in performance, they're not exactly the same, and the scales might now be tipping in an unexpected direction.
Pricing and availability

Read more