Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 can really draw 600W

Calculations are based on industry sources and component assumptions.

Nvidia’s next generation flagship graphics card is expected to require at least 450 watts of power to run the graphics card alone, while the total TGP is close to 600 watts. The predictions come from a German insider who insists that the insider information helped him predict the RTX 3090’s power consumption of “almost watts for watts” ahead of release.

The same source reports that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3090 Ti provides insight into the company’s plans for the RTX 4090. Testers have confirmed that GeForce RTX 3090 Ti PCBs will be similar to next-gen graphics cards. However, the insider warns that the rumored contact compatibility remains just wishful thinking, to the best of his knowledge. Rather, the insight that the RTX 3090 Ti PCB design provides is mostly about power supply/consumption.

In this report, the Igor’s Lab editor lays out his past GeForce RTX power consumption predictions, and also applies a similar model to the RTX 4090. We only provide the latest data here, you can check the original source for more information.

(Image credit: Igor’s Lab)

The source also claims a TGP of up to 600W, according to pins and tips from the RTX 3090 Ti design.

From the TGP of 600W, the source subtracts some reasonable sub-component consumption figures. With Ada Lovelace graphics chips, including the RTX 4090, Micron’s new GDDR6X memory is expected to consume 20W less power than the previous generation. Even though the new video memory is getting faster, the amount of power consumed is halved due to increased packaging density. Other important deductions related to the marginal consumption of a graphics card are associated with MOSFEETs, fans, circuit board losses, and wasted energy that is converted to heat.

And while Igor’s Lab has a good track record in this area, a little skepticism, please.

Previous leaks indicate that the fastest graphics chip from the new Ada series, probably the AD102 that forms the RTX 4090, is going to offer up to 18432 CUDA cores (75% more than the RTX 3090). Both figures are likely to drop somewhat in practice when the theoretical card gets a consumer variant. Ada graphics cards may also be the first to run on PCIe 5.0.

Unfortunately, the release of a promising series of GeForce RTX 40xx graphics cards is not expected until September. If the manufacturer sticks to the timeline, leaks should become more intense during the summer. We’re also looking forward to the first Nvidia teasers at Computex.

For some users, waiting for the GeForce RTX 40 is too long, and due to the significant drop in prices for video cards, you could buy something else. If you’re looking for a new graphics card right now, here are the best graphics cards of 2022.