Nvidia's next generation Ada Lovelace GPUs are rumored to consume scary amounts of power

By Chris Szewczyk
published

Up to 850W for the flagship? Surely not.

GeForce RTX 3090
(Image credit: Nvidia)

As we move deeper into 2022, we increasingly turn our eyes and ears towards the launch of next generation video cards. Nvidia’s Ada Lovelace (opens in new tab) and AMD’s RDNA3 (opens in new tab) cards are due to launch in the second half of the year, and as we get closer, rumors begin to swirl. 

This latest rumor is a scary one. Frankly though, it’s one that we're highly skeptical of. It suggests that Nvidia’s next generation flagship AD102 RTX 40 series card could carry a TGP as high as 800W or more. If true, that’s shocking.

One of our favorite hardware moles, Greymon55 (opens in new tab) suggests that Nvidia will launch its new series in September. They go on to have a discussion with kopite7kimi (opens in new tab), another notable leaker. Both indicate that their sources have mentioned TGP’s in the region of 450 to 850W for AD102 GPUs. This GPU will presumably end up in cards called the RTX 4080, 4080 Ti and 4090.

It’s important to note that both sources are far from certain, and there’s the possibility that specifications can change. Nevertheless, it’s looking increasingly certain that next generation cards will consume a lot more power than those around today.

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Graphics card power consumption is already high. The RTX 3090 (opens in new tab) carries a TDP of 350W, with higher ratings for 3rd party cards. Many top tier Ampere cards come with a very large triple slot cooler. Some, like the Gigabyte Xtreme come with a quad slot cooler despite having a TDP that’s just half of the rumored 800W. Bad luck if you live in the south west of the USA or Australia. Gaming might be off the agenda in summertime.

Tips and advice

The Nvidia RTX 3070 and AMD RX 6700 XT side by side on a colourful background

(Image credit: Future)

How to buy a graphics card (opens in new tab): tips on buying a graphics card in the barren silicon landscape that is 2022

If you’re building a system with an eye towards upgrading to a next gen high end GPU, you’ll need a powerful PSU, even if the final final power requirements aren’t anywhere near 800W. You’ll want to get one with a next gen PCIe 5.0 power connector (opens in new tab), or at the very least a good quality one that’s rated at 1200W or more.

800W! We hope that’s one rumor that doesn’t turn out to be true. In some regions, tripping a power mains switch becomes a very real possibility. It looks like you’ll be able to serve up a nicely cooked egg (opens in new tab). Add a slice or two of bacon? Though in this case it’d probably burn.

Chris Szewczyk
Chris Szewczyk
Hardware Writer

Chris' gaming experiences go back to the mid-nineties when he conned his parents into buying an 'educational PC' that was conveniently overpowered to play Doom and Tie Fighter. He developed a love of extreme overclocking that destroyed his savings despite the cheaper hardware on offer via his job at a PC store. To afford more LN2 he began moonlighting as a reviewer for VR-Zone before jumping the fence to work for MSI Australia. Since then, he's gone back to journalism, enthusiastically reviewing the latest and greatest components for PC & Tech Authority, PC Powerplay and currently Australian Personal Computer magazine and PC Gamer. Chris still puts far too many hours into Borderlands 3, always striving to become a more efficient killer.

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