New Nvidia PC Graphics Cards Are Xbox-Sized Power Hogs

Not too long ago, I helped a family friend rebuild their computer. At the time, I thought their choice of a power supply over 1000 was silly. Well, now who looks like an idiot? (It’s okay, I’m used to it.) Size and price aren’t the only supersized elements of the 4000-series GPUs. Based on requirements from card manufacturers, you might be looking at a power supply upgrade as well.

Following the news of the remarkably high price tags and the many jokes about the size of the new 4000-series GPUs being larger than some current-gen consoles, manufacturers like Zotac and Asus, among others, released their wattage requirements for the new cards. As Tom’s Hardware reports, a 4090 ROG Strix comes with a 1000W requirement, while the Palit RTX 4090 wants an additional 200W. Looks like a 1200W PSU is gonna become a lot more common moving forward.

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If you’re into overclocking though, well, add some extra math to that four-digit number. As Tom’s Hardware indicates, manufacturers like Asus aren’t factoring overclocking into the power requirement. Other manufacturers, like Palit, aren’t being terribly clear on why they’re asking for 1,200 though. Even if you have enough wattage, though, you’re still going to have to contend with their enormous size.

Nvidia’s lowest power supply recommendation comes in at a more reasonable 850 watts, as reported by Digital Trends, but that only covers Nvidia’s own “Founders Edition” cards, as well as some offerings from MSI, PNY, and Galax to name a few.

How much of a jump is this over the last generation of cards? A 3090, according to Newegg, should at least go into a system with a 750W power supply. Not an unreasonable number to have these days. The way things are going with the power-hungry 4000 cards, however, it’s looking like a 1,000W minimum might be the best way to plan for the years ahead.