Some RTX 4090 Graphics Cards Recommend a 1200W Power Supply
It’s no secret that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4090 requires serious power hardware. This follows in his RTX 3090 Ti’s footsteps and is expected to be the fastest among the best graphics cards while also placing high on the GPU benchmark hierarchy soon. Still, Nvidia’s AIB (add-in board) partners recommend different PSUs for different RTX 4090 models.
Some AIBs follow Nvidia’s standard PSU recommendation of just 850W, but quite a few list 1000W as their recommended PSU capacity, with some going as high as a staggering 1200W. We looked at all the partner cards and mostly stuck to each AIB partner’s flagship card to see just how far the company is ready to push the RTX 4090 and Nvidia Ada Lovelace.
model | Target board power | Minimum PSU Wattage |
Asus RTX 4090 ROG Strix OC | do not know | 1000W |
Aorus RTX 4090 Master | do not know | 1000W |
MSI RTX 4090 Suprim X, Suprim Liquid X | do not know | 850W |
PNY RTX 4090 Belt Epic-X | 450W | 850W |
Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme, Trinity | 450W | 1000W |
Galax RTX 4090 SG, ST | do not know | 850W |
All colorful RTX 4090 models | do not know | do not know |
Inno3D RTX 4090 X3 OC iChill Black | do not know | 850W |
Palit RTX 4090 Game Rock OC | 450W | 1200W |
Gainward RTX 4090 Phantom GS | do not know | do not know |
Starting with Asus, on ROG Strix models, the company recommends a 1000W PSU. Note that Asus assumes you will overclock both the CPU and GPU. Of course, it increases potential power usage. The recommended value is 150W higher than Nvidia’s Reference Founders Edition. The same 1000W PSU recommendation can be found on Gigabyte’s Aorus Master and Zotac’s AMP Extreme/Trinity RTX 4090 graphics cards.
For MSI, PNY, Galax and Inno3D’s flagship 4090 GPU, these models all drop to Nvidia’s reference PSU recommendation of 850W. That’s probably more reasonable, but you have to be careful not to try to go with the cheaper 850W model — 80 Plus Gold or better is the bare minimum for this level of GPU.
But the star of the show, or perhaps a supernova in this case, is Palit, whose RTX 4090 GameRock graphics card recommends a whopping 1200W PSU. The Quad SLI GTX 980 Ti could use more power back then, which is the most demanding spec we’ve seen from any graphics card company to date. However, it is clear that there are four GPUs instead of one.
Palit neglected to share the reasoning behind the giant 1200W PSU recommendation, but there could be several reasons for that. If you overclock your setup heavily, 1200W can feel like a guarantee. Or maybe it’s based on what we see from extreme cards like the Galax Hall of Fame (HOF). Except for Palit, the cards also list a TBP (Total Board Power) of just 450W.
Gainward and Colorful have neglected to share their power supply recommendations and graphics card power requirements for now. Please note that Palit is the parent company of Gainward (and Galax, KFA2, etc.).
How many watts do you really need?
This wide power range can confuse consumers. Using the wrong PSU for him can cause problems, and in the worst case, can even render the system non-functional. That’s why the PSU maker pushes his 1550W power supply and more. (opens in new tab)But how much power do you really need?
Most of the RTX 4090 models referenced above are flagship GPUs designed to push the RTX 4090 GPU cores as hard as possible while staying within Nvidia’s strict power and thermal guidelines. These cards are designed to push the 4090 beyond its reference or “default” specification. Usually this is done with excessive power supplies, very large coolers, and higher power limits. As a result, power requirements need to be boosted, and with GPUs drawing 450W as a baseline, this could mean RTX 4090 cards routinely draw 500W or more.
Thankfully, almost all of Nvidia’s AIB partners have ‘regular’ RTX 4090 SKUs available that comply with Nvidia’s reference power requirements and recommend 850W PSUs only. But keep in mind that PSU wattage isn’t everything.
The wattage recommendations don’t apply to every individual rig, so take salinity into account. Some people overclock their Core i9-12900K to 5.5 GHz and consume over 300W of power at peak. Others may be running a Ryzen 7 5800X3D that consumes less than 100W of power while gaming. , which can consume a lot of power. All of these combinations result in varying levels of PSU power, regardless of what the AIB partners propose.
You might also see efforts to reduce support calls by recommending far more PSUs than most people actually need. A 450W card with a high-end CPU and the rest of the system could easily exceed 750W under load and Nvidia might get an 850W recommendation. Not all are created equal, so suggesting a 1000W or 1200W PSU gives you a little leeway.
And if that’s not enough, there’s also the all-new ATX 3.0 power specification. These new power supplies are specifically designed with next-generation GPUs such as the RTX 40 series in mind. We need to have a new technology standard to handle these super-powerful GPUs and handle super-large transient spikes and more. It should also be equipped with a new 12VHWPR connector that can deliver up to 600W over a single cable. Nightmare 4 Tentacle Octopus Adapter (opens in new tab) Included with the 4090 card. (Seriously, try to make your cable management look nice with that adapter!)
That said, if you’re planning on buying a new RTX 4090 card next week, you’ll also need a good power supply. Anyone with $1,600+ for his GPU should have no trouble getting a $200-$300 power supply to match. As long as you’re not running the HEDT platform (rest in peace), his highest PSU rated at 850W or higher will suffice.