NVIDIA RTX 4090: 450 W vs 600 W 12VHPWR

[Dragokar]

because it will be the past soon enough. You see 1200W ATX v3.0 PSUs only have six 6+2 PCIe and a single 12+4.

It still has an official naming (i.e. the micro fit number) or common wording that is not legacy. Also, it will not be called legacy, not even by Delta nor Seasonic. They stick with PCIe 8Pin or 6+2 Pin connector.

Legacy could be used for AT or Baby-AT. Even the rare floppy connector isn't called legacy, even if it could fit

 

[xorbe]

Typically yes. I have some detailed graphs on the last page.

I think you misunderstood the question. Were the dips typically before, or after?

 

[mechtech]

I don’t think they are going to compete in the same league.
But I have hope they could be more favorable than 4080, which is an even better point. AMD has a big opportunity here, because series 40 doesn’t look so good so far, but I’m not so confident the “new AMD” will be able to exploit it. Zen 4 demonstrated that they are focused on milking customers.


The sad thing is 1200W units become more common just because Nvidia, Intel and AMD are making unreasonable decisions driven by marketing instead of efficiency. All of that during a worldwide energy crisis.

The cards are fairly efficient due to the TSMC 5nm/4nm node. Issue is (as almost always) who has the biggest fastest thing (truck towing, 0-60, gpu 4k120fps, etc.). Now monitor resolution, and refresh rates have probably driven card size more than anything.................because there are people out there who want 4k and 120fps+ and will pay for it, and you need a monster of a card for that. If these things were on 22nm, that would be scary, and possibly uneconomical.

If the most demanding monitor was 1080p 60hz, we could all run lower powered (electrically & graphically) card.

The system in your specs doesn't really scream out energy miser either

PCs for personal use are chump change compared to other consumers in the house, like an electric dryer using 5000W, or baseboard heating in the winter using 20,000W.

 

[andreiga76]

So no difference between the adapter cable and the single 12VHPWR huh. But here is a thing that's bugging me.

the 3090TI has the same 12VHPWR connector as the 4090. 12+4. so if the 3090TI adapter worked without the 4 pins, shouldn't it also work on the 4090? I mean both the 3090TI and the 4090 have similar PCBs. so what worked for 3090TI should work for the 4090. same power connector. if the 3090TI didn't need the 4 sense pins then the 4090 doesn't need them too right?

Unless Nvidia made the sense pins active on the 4090 but not on the 3090TI. so you must have them on the 4090 but not on the 3090TI. and if that is that case, then why have the 12VHPWR connector on the 3090TI? do those sense pins even work on the 3090TI?

In theory the cables should be both are backwards compatible and forward compatible on both the 3090TI and the 4090 since both cards have the same 12VHPWR power connector.

JayTwoCents used all 4 power cables on a 4090 but removed the 4 pins from the adapter, the card didn't start.
He put only 2 pins back, the card booted and max power was 450w, he added all 4 pins back and max power was 600w.
NVidia clearly changed the way it is using the power based on those 4 pins, also in the article you can see better thermals if all those pins are used.

 

[Asryan]

Hello,
I have a Tuf 4090 and a seasonic prime tx-1000, should I switch to a atx 3 when available?

 

[LFaWolf]

Hello,
I have a Tuf 4090 and a seasonic prime tx-1000, should I switch to a atx 3 when available?

@crmaris can you please chime in? I have a similar question as I am thinking of getting a 4090 and I have evga 1300 g2. Thanks

 

[Godrilla]

Thoughts on new claims about cable being burnt?

 

[maxfly]

Thoughts on new claims about cable being burnt?

I'm sure we will see plenty of examples of hamfisters incorrectly bending their cables. It's the nature of the beast unfortunately. Some people just don't rtfm.

 

[Al Chafai]

Hi there Aris, I just watched your video on YT. Do you have some extra info or insight on the latest 16Pin issue?
I am writing an article about it and would love to get some extra input on the matter.

 

[Max(IT)]

The cards are fairly efficient due to the TSMC 5nm/4nm node. Issue is (as almost always) who has the biggest fastest thing (truck towing, 0-60, gpu 4k120fps, etc.). Now monitor resolution, and refresh rates have probably driven card size more than anything.................because there are people out there who want 4k and 120fps+ and will pay for it, and you need a monster of a card for that. If these things were on 22nm, that would be scary, and possibly uneconomical.

If the most demanding monitor was 1080p 60hz, we could all run lower powered (electrically & graphically) card.

The system in your specs doesn't really scream out energy miser either

PCs for personal use are chump change compared to other consumers in the house, like an electric dryer using 5000W, or baseboard heating in the winter using 20,000W.

Indeed, system in my specs is already a little bit too much…
But it stays well below 400W during usage (my 12700K is a lucky one and doesn’t go north of 150W under heavy load, and my 3080 is undervolted at 900 mV).
My concerns about power usage are the reason I’m very reluctant to upgrade this year, either Intel or AMD.

I don’t have the need , for sure, but being my hobby I’m usually upgrading every cycle, but I really don’t want to feed this trend.

 

[mechtech]

Indeed, system in my specs is already a little bit too much…
But it stays well below 400W during usage (my 12700K is a lucky one and doesn’t go north of 150W under heavy load, and my 3080 is undervolted at 900 mV).
My concerns about power usage are the reason I’m very reluctant to upgrade this year, either Intel or AMD.

I don’t have the need , for sure, but being my hobby I’m usually upgrading every cycle, but I really don’t want to feed this trend.

Ya. Don’t be a slave to the corps. It’s one of my hobbies also. I used to build new every 3 years. Not with kids and mortgage etc etc. it’s about every 6 years now. One thing I did a long time ago was mess around with wife’s old e350 laptop. Bloatware would cripple that thing. So I would trial a bunch of software to see what would actually run good on it. Was good for 2 things. Laptop ram quicker and used less power. Todays desktop CPUs just chew through everything. I think it be cool is TPU did a review on software bloat. Say use 4 pdf programs, 4 media programs etc etc. see which ones have the least overhead.

 

[crmaris]

Thoughts on new claims about cable being burnt?

Made a video about this. Will re-do it under different conditions though.

Hi there Aris, I just watched your video on YT. Do you have some extra info or insight on the latest 16Pin issue?
I am writing an article about it and would love to get some extra input on the matter.

Users and basically all of us need a break-in period with these connectors, to handle them correctly. The same goes for the brands and manufacturers, that make them.

Hello,
I have a Tuf 4090 and a seasonic prime tx-1000, should I switch to a atx 3 when available?

Seasonic provides native cables for its PSUs. You should email them to send you one.

 

[Al Chafai]

Users and basically all of us need a break-in period with these connectors, to handle them correctly. The same goes for the brands and manufacturers, that make them.

Yeah i get that point, it's just a lot of people are asking about this. And there is non better to ask than someone with massive experience in the domain.
Will be looking forward to see some updates and findings from you on this topic.

 

[pavle]

450W vs 600W limit will most likely show in applications which use ray tracing (more fps) or tax GPU exceedingly such as Furmark (more heat).

 

[ModEl4]

I just saw the following der8auer video, very interesting results:

RTX 4090 450W 100% performance
RTX 4090 330W 95% performance
RTX 4090 285W 90% performance

 

[Minxie]

I just saw the following der8auer video, very interesting results:

RTX 4090 450W 100% performance
RTX 4090 330W 95% performance
RTX 4090 285W 90% performance

Great, good job Nvidia, 2x the power for 10% more performance. Meanwhile I'm able to undervolt my 6900 XT to 200W and acquire 3090 Ti performance. Imagine what I'll be able to do with the 7900 XTX. What a disaster on Nvidia's part

 

[LFaWolf]

Great, good job Nvidia, 2x the power for 10% more performance. Meanwhile I'm able to undervolt my 6900 XT to 200W and acquire 3090 Ti performance. Imagine what I'll be able to do with the 7900 XTX. What a disaster on Nvidia's part

At full power, the 6900xt is 15% slower than the 3090ti in 4K. You have to show some proof for your claim.
Source - https://www.techpowerup.com/review/nvidia-geforce-rtx-3090-ti-founders-edition/32.html

 

[John_Boh]

I really don't see the meaning of this test with a 500W MAX-PL BIOS, don't you have a 600W board? Just wait until you take one before testing, this way leads to misunderstandings for most.
I always appreciate your great articles, but not this time.