Nvidia’s upcoming GeForce RTX 40 series cards are likely to be the company’s most powerful GPUs yet. Given that these GPUs reportedly deliver double the performance of the RTX 30 series, we expect them to be power-hungry cards. Recent leaks reveal this to be the case, as the highest-end RTX 40 series card may require a massive 1,200-watt power supply unit.
As NotebookCheck reports, known leaker “harukaze5719” was on Twitter commenting about Nvidia’s Lovelace boards (Lovelace being the codename we believe Nvidia to be using for its 40 series cards) and Intel’s Raptor Lake CPUs. The user said: “Expecting i9-13900K + RTX 4090 Ti recommend PSU at least 1,000 W GOLD.”
Expecting i9 13900K + RTX 4090 Ti recommand PSU at least 1000W GOLDJanuary 16, 2022
Known leaker “Greymon55” soon joined the conversation and said that 1,000W “is not enough.”
Expecting i9 13900K + RTX 4090 Ti recommand PSU at least 1000W GOLDJanuary 16, 2022
Greymon55 is a regular leaker who has previously posted details of what they claim we should expect from Nvidia Lovelace. The user has stated that Lovelace boards would offer “double performance” over the RTX 3090, and that lines up with rumors we've heard that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series has some killer specs, including up to 18,432 CUDA cores (the RTX 3090 has 10,496). A card like that would need some serious juice, and Greymon believes it will be 600W for either the GeForce RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 Ti -- though they noted that such an estimate was for a reference card from Nvidia, not a custom card from a third-party manufacturer like Asus.
Another leak reported by Digital Trends lends credence to the supposed 1,200W PSU needed for the RTX 40 series. The leak in question indicates that the upcoming Nvidia RTX 3090 Ti has a TDP (thermal design power, often used as a measurement of power demand) of 480W, which would require a minimum of 1,000 PSU.
If the RTX 40 series cards do indeed deliver double the performance of their predecessors then it’s not so surprising that the top-end card will consume a lot of power. If you want an RTX 4090 or RTX 4090 Ti, you’ll need to be sure you have a power supply that can handle them.
As I opined in a recent editorial, I can’t get excited about Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series cards. After all, it’s all but impossible to buy the current RTX 30 series thanks to the ongoing chip shortage (not to mention scalpers). Reports say the semiconductor shortage could last through 2023. This means the RTX 40 series cards will no doubt be as difficult to procure as their RTX 30 predecessors.
For more information on the Geforce RTX 40 series, be sure to check out our hub featuring the most up-to-date rumors on Nvidia’s upcoming GPUs.
