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Power requirements for NVIDIA Geforce RTX 30-series GPUs

By July 20, 2022No Comments

Now that RTX 30-series video cards are available at near-MSRP prices, the time for building gaming PCs has returned! But if you aren’t up to date with current video cards, you might be wondering what type of power supply you’ll need for that new RTX 3000 series video card.

When NVidia first announced the RTX 3000 series, people were speculating that the power requirements for the new cards would be a little bit different than what consumers were used to. Some people claimed the 30-series GPUs would take a single 8-pin power cable, some claimed one card needed three 8-pin connectors, and others threw out weird combinations of 6-pins and 8-pins. As it turns out, these rumors probably came about due to a new type of power connector NVIDIA opted to use on the cards, but we’ll get into that later.

But now that we are several years away from launch, we fully know the power requirements of the RTX 3000 series and you can know exactly what your new card will require without having to guess.

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How many 8-pin connectors do 30-Series cards need?

As it turns out, some of the new 30-Series GPUs require two of the PCIe 8-pin connections (otherwise known as “6+2” connectors), while others require three – and even within the 3080 product line specifically, the power connection needs vary depending on the specific card. We’ve broken down the most relevant information below, to help you plan out your upgrade and make the purchase that’s best for you.

Note: This information is pulled directly from NVIDIA’s official spec sheet for the new 30-series graphics cards, as well as official spec sheets from various manufacturers.

ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 DirectX 12 ROG-STRIX-RTX3080-10G-GAMING 10GB 320-Bit GDDR6X power requiements

NVIDIA

Nvidia Geforce RTX 3070 Founders Edition Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080 Founders Edition Nvidia Geforce RTX 3090 Founders Edition
One PCIe 8-pin power cable (1x PCIe 8-pin) Two PCIe 8-pin power cables (2x PCIe 8-pin) Two PCIe 8-pin power cables (2x PCIe 8-pin)
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 220W 320W 350W
Required system power: 650W 750W 750W

MSI

GeForce RTX 3090 GAMING X TRIO 24G GeForce RTX 3090 VENTUS 3X 24G GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING X TRIO 10G GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
GAMING X TRIO
GeForce RTX 3070
VENTUS 2X
3x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin 3x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 370W 350W 340W 310W 220W
Required system power: 750W 750W 750W 750W 650W

ASUS

ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24G Gaming ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3080 10G Gaming ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3070 8G Gaming V2 OC Edition ASUS TUF RTX 3070 Ti GAMING OC
3x PCIe 8-pin 3x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 750W 320W 220W 290W
Required system power:  850W 850W 750W 600W

EVGA

EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 XC3 GAMING EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 GAMING EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 GAMING EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 ULTRA GAMING
2x PCIe 8-pin 3x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin 3x PCIe 8-pin
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 350W 350W 320W 290W
750W 750W 750W 750W

GIGABYTE

AORUS GeForce RTX 3090 XTREME 24G GIGABYTE Gaming OC GeForce RTX 3080 10GB (rev. 2.0) (LHR) GIGABYTE AORUS GeForce RTX 3070 Ti 8GB GIGABYTE Gaming OC GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GIGABYTE Eagle OC GeForce RTX 3060 12GB
3x PCIe 8-pin 2x PCIe 8-pin 3x PCIe 8-pin 1 x PCIe 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin 1x PCIe 8-pin
Thermal Design Power (TDP): 350W 320W 290W Not provided 170W
Required system power: 850W 750W 600W 750W 550W

 

RTX 4000 Series Power Requirements – What Do We Know So Far?

The power requirements of the upcoming RTX 4000 series video cards have yet to be announced, though that hasn’t stopped leaks and speculation. Leakers let slip that the RTX 4080 would have a TDP of 450W, while rumors peg the RTX 4070 at 300W TDP. Those numbers hint at some pretty spicy power supplies to meet the minimum requirements. In fact, commenters and rumor articles speculate that a 1000W power supply could be required on mid-range cards and 1500W for the high-end RTX 4090.

For more information on how to choose a new power supply for your build, you can read our PSU guide.

Author Aaron Mickunas

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