Rumors about the consumption of the GeForce RTX 40 sowed many doubts. Some rumors said that the GeForce RTX 4090 was going to have a consumption of more than 600 watts, and that in order to move it we were going to need a power supply of more than 1,000 watts. In the end all this has been denied, although as a result of the confirmation of the TGP of said graphics card, a new story has emerged that, frankly, there is nowhere to take it either.
This story says that the leaked consumption of the GeForce RTX 40 was so high because that generation was conceived under Samsung’s 8nm nodeand that when NVIDIA jumped to the 5nm node those consumption values were reduced. He has neither feet nor head because the green giant was not going to make the mistake of conceiving a new graphics generation under the same node as the previous generation, especially when AMD had already used the 7nm node. That is why we have not echoed the news, because it has neither head nor tail, although it does not hurt to give you our point of view on the matter.
All in all, I know that many of our readers who are considering buying a GeForce RTX 4090 still have doubts in this regard, and for this reason I wanted to shape this article, where I am going to solve three big questions about food of the new top-of-the-range graphics card from NVIDIA. I am going to limit myself to the official information that we already saw during the GeForce RTX 4090 unbox, and I remind you that on October 11 at 3:00 p.m. (Spanish time) we will publish our analysis, where you will find all the key information about said Graphic card.
What power supply do I need to smoothly drive a GeForce RTX 4090?
The answer is that depends on your computer configurationbut I can give you two references that will be of great help:
- 850 watt power supply if you have a configuration that does not have high power needs at the CPU level, and you are not going to overclock the GeForce RTX 4090. For example, a computer with a Ryzen 7 5800X3D or a Core i5-12600K would fall into this category.
- 1,000 watt power supply if you have a configuration with high power needs at the CPU level and you are going to overclock the GeForce RTX 4090. For example, a computer with a Ryzen 9 7950X or a Core i9-12900K would fall into this category.
Please note that the 450 Watt TGP refers to the total consumption of the GeForce RTX 4090 under normal conditions, and at stock frequencies. With an 850 watt power supply we would still have quite a considerable headroom (400 watts) to power the rest of the equipment.
Is it true that I need four additional 8-pin power connectors?
No, that’s not true. The GeForce RTX 4090 comes with an adapter that allows us to connect up to four additional 8-pin power cables, but we will only need to connect three if we are not going to overclock the graphics card.
On the other hand, keep in mind that many of the big brands in the world of power supplies, such as Corsair and Seasonic for example, 8-pin to 16-pin cables are now available that plug directly into the power supply, and that only use two connections to supply up to 600 watts. These facilitate cable management and achieve a more aesthetic termination.
Remember that the graphics card not only draws power from the connectors, it also draws up to 75 watts from the PCIe slot, so don’t worry, you won’t have anything to worry about. Check, yes, that your power supply is compatible if you are going to use the 16-pin cable that some power supply manufacturers already offer, because if it turns out that it is not compatible you could get a scare.
Could you use the GeForce RTX 4090 with a lower power supply?
Yes, it would be possible because in the end its TGP is 450 watts, but you have to keep in mind that you could end up having stability issues if the total consumption of your equipment is above the power of your power supply. In the end, it is best not to take risks with this issue, since those stability problems could end up turning into a failure of the power supply, and this could take other components with it.
It is best not to take risks in this regard and stick to that minimum of 850 watts. Today we can find power supplies with that level of power and a good level of quality for less than 100 euros. A good example would be the EVGA BQ 850W 80 Plus Bronze Modular, which costs €99.99.
Note: This selection contains some links from our affiliates, but none of the products included have been proposed or recommended by them or their manufacturers, but chosen at our own discretion.
