Its no secret that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 would require some critical energy provide {hardware}. It is following within the footsteps of the RTX 3090 Ti, and we anticipate it is going to quickly sit atop the GPU benchmarks hierarchy whereas additionally being the quickest of the greatest graphics playing cards. Nonetheless, Nvidia’s AIB (add-in board) accomplice’s have wildly various PSU suggestions for his or her numerous RTX 4090 fashions.
Some AIBs comply with Nvidia’s commonplace PSU suggestion of simply 850W, however fairly just a few checklist 1000W because the beneficial PSU capability, and some even go as much as a staggering 1200W. We have referenced all of Nvidia’s accomplice playing cards under, largely sticking with every AIB accomplice’s flagship card, to see simply how far the businesses are able to push the RTX 4090 and Nvidia Ada Lovelace.
| Fashions | Goal Board Energy | Minimal PSU Wattage |
| Asus RTX 4090 ROG Strix OC | Unknown | 1000W |
| Aorus RTX 4090 Grasp | Unknown | 1000W |
| MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X, Suprim Liquid X | Unknown | 850W |
| PNY RTX 4090 Verto Epic-X | 450W | 850W |
| Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Excessive, Trinity | 450W | 1000W |
| Galax RTX 4090 SG, ST | Unknown | 850W |
| All Colourful RTX 4090 Fashions | Unknown | Unknown |
| Inno3D RTX 4090 X3 OC iChill Black | Unknown | 850W |
| Palit RTX 4090 GameRock OC | 450W | 1200W |
| Gainward RTX 4090 Phantom GS | Unknown | Unknown |
Beginning with Asus, for its ROG Strix mannequin, the corporate recommends a 1000W PSU. Asus does word that it assumes customers shall be overclocking each the CPU and GPU, which in fact would enhance potential energy use. The advice finally ends up 150W increased than Nvidia’s reference Founders Version. The identical 1000W PSU suggestion might be discovered on Gigabyte’s Aorus Grasp and Zotac’s AMP Excessive/Trinity RTX 4090 graphics playing cards.
For MSI, PNY, Galax, and Inno3D’s flagship 4090 GPUs, all these fashions step all the way down to Nvidia’s reference PSU suggestion of 850W. That is most likely extra affordable, although we would warning in opposition to making an attempt to make use of a less expensive 850W mannequin — 80 Plus Gold or increased ought to be the minimal for this degree of GPU.
However, the star of the present — or maybe the supernova on this case — is Palit, with its RTX 4090 GameRock graphics card recommending a whopping 1200W PSU. That is by far probably the most demanding spec we have ever see from any graphics card firm thus far, although quad-SLI GTX 980 Ti again within the day might use extra energy. That is clearly with 4 GPUs as an alternative of only one, nonetheless.
Palit uncared for to share its reasoning behind the monstrous 1200W PSU suggestion, but it surely might be on account of a lot of causes. It is attainable that with a take a look at setup that features a energy hungry CPU like a Core i9-12900K, closely overclocked, it would really feel 1200W is warranted. Or perhaps it is based mostly on what you would possibly see from excessive playing cards like a Galax Corridor of Fame (HOF). Besides Palit additionally lists a TBP (Complete Board Energy) of simply 450W on its playing cards.
Gainward and Colourful uncared for to share any energy provide suggestions or graphics card energy necessities for now. Word that Palit is the dad or mum firm of Gainward (and Galax, KFA2, and some others).
How A lot Wattage Do You Actually Want?
This broad number of energy ranges might be complicated for shoppers. Utilizing the mistaken PSU might create issues, and in a worst-case situation, it would even lead to a non-working system. It is why PSU corporations prefer to push issues like 1550W energy provides (opens in new tab). However how a lot energy do you really want?
A lot of the RTX 4090 mannequin’s referenced above are flagship GPUs designed to push the RTX 4090 GPU core as onerous as attainable, whereas staying inside Nvidia’s strict energy and thermal pointers. These playing cards are designed to push the 4090 past its reference or “default” specs. Normally that is executed with overbuilt energy supply, very giant coolers, and better energy limits. Consequently, energy necessities should go up, and on a GPU that pulls 450W as a baseline, that would imply we’ll see RTX 4090 playing cards routinely pulling 500W or extra.
Fortunately, virtually all of Nvidia’s AIB companions have “regular” RTX 4090 SKUs out there that persist with Nvidia’s reference energy necessities and solely advocate an 850W PSU. However its value noting that PSU wattage is not your complete story.
Advisable wattages ought to be taken with a grain of salt, since they will not apply to everybody’s private rig. Some may need a Core i9-12900K overclocked to five.5GHz that consumes over 300W of energy at its peak; others could be working a Ryzen 7 5800X3D that consumes lower than 100W of energy whereas gaming. In the meantime, a Core i9-10980XE with a full blown RAID 10 setup and 10 onerous drives might eat gobs of energy. All of those combos lead to totally different ranges of PSU energy, no matter what the AIB accomplice suggests.
We’d even be seeing an effort to scale back help calls by recommending considerably extra PSU than what most individuals would really want. A 450W card with a high-end CPU plus the remainder of the system might simply breach 750W below load, which is probably going the place Nvidia will get its 850W suggestion. However not all 850W PSUs are created equal, so suggesting a 1000W or 1200W PSU offers a little bit of respiration room.
And if you happen to thought that wasn’t sufficient, there’s additionally the model new ATX 3.0 energy provide specification. These new energy provides are designed particularly with next-generation GPUs in thoughts, just like the RTX 40-series. They need to deal with these tremendous highly effective GPUs and include new know-how requirements to deal with issues like tremendous giant transient spikes. They need to even be outfitted with the brand new 12VHWPR connector that may present as much as 600W over a single cable — and by the way additionally do away with the nightmarish 4-tentacle octopus adapters (opens in new tab) that ship with the 4090 playing cards. (Severely, simply strive making your cable administration look good with that adapter!)
Briefly, if you happen to plan on purchasing for a brand new RTX 4090 card subsequent week, you will additionally wish to have an excellent energy provide. Anybody with the funds for a GPU that prices $1,600 or extra should not have an excessive amount of hassle selecting up a $200–$300 energy provide to go together with it. Any of the greatest PSUs rated at 850W or increased must suffice, except you are working an HEDT platform (might it relaxation in peace).