Nvidia RTX 5090 rumor suggests flagship GPU might not guzzle as much power as previously claimed – but don’t get too excited
Scared the Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU will run your gaming PC’s power supply ragged? New rumor offers a glimmer of hope.
Nvidia RTX 5090 has been rumored to guzzle 600W in the past
A leaker on X has suggested it might use ‘slightly’ less power
This comes alongside assurances that RTX 5070 Ti won’t be a power hog
Nvidia’s RTX 5090 might not be quite as much of a power hog as some PC gamers fear based on the latest nugget from the GPU grapevine.
As you may recall, the rumor mill has previously insisted that the Blackwell flagship graphics card might tip the scales at a weighty 600W of power use.
According to some fresh info from regular leaker on X, Kopite7kimi, we can at least be somewhat hopeful that the RTX 5090 may not make quite so heavy a demand on your PC’s power supply.
This info popped up in a thread on X which was discussing the purported RTX 5070 Ti – a GPU that could be launched third by Nvidia, after the RTX 5090 and 5080 – and specifically that graphics card’s power requirements of 350W.
Kopite7kimi noted that while 350W is a possible configuration Nvidia is exploring, the latest the leaker has heard is that it’ll be 285W, so considerably less – which prompted an X user to question whether the RTX 5090 might’ve had its power use revised downwards (from 600W), too.
The leaker replied to indicate that yes, this “may” be the case, although it might only be a “slight decrease” in the power chugged by the next-gen flagship.
There may be a slight decrease.December 14, 2024
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
Analysis: You’ll still need a mighty power supply
Clearly, take all this with plenty of seasoning, but doubtless PC enthusiasts looking at this mighty next-gen flagship will take anything that sounds like remotely good news for the power consumption of the RTX 5090.
The catch is that the leaker sounds uncertain, and if there’s some downward movement, it’s not likely to be a great deal. So, are we looking at 570W or 580W maybe? Or something more towards 550W if we’re lucky, perhaps? Obviously it’s guesswork at this point, and Nvidia may not have finalized the exact spec itself (or more likely has just done so, maybe – and the rumor mill is yet to catch up).
With the RTX 5090 about to launch, in theory, inside a few weeks at CES 2025, everything about the board is likely nailed down right about now, and we could hear some more definitive sounding leaks in the next week or so. While the flagship is expected to be a seriously powerful graphics card, aside from the power usage worries, the other main concern is pricing – and how far Nvidia might push that.
We can believe a 550W power usage a lot more readily than Nvidia sticking with the same MSRP as the RTX 4090, and not hiking it at all, put it this way.
You might also like
Nvidia’s RTX 5090 now rumored to have superfast clock speeds – as well as being super-slim – could this GPU be too good to be true?
The best graphics card in 2024: our picks for all budgets
Best PC games: must-play titles you don’t want to miss