NVIDIA’s next-generation GeForce RTX 40 series launch is just around the corner and based on ongoing rumours and leaks, we at least know that the GPU will go by the codename “Ada Lovelace” and that the TDP for its highest-tier card, the alleged RTX 4090, is expected to be more than 500W. On that last bit, the actual amount of power has reportedly been confirmed at 600W.
That small but crucial detail was supposedly provided by sources close to the YouTuber Tom, who runs the popular tech rumour channel, Moore’s Law is Dead (MLID). According to Tom, his sources seemingly confirmed that the RTX 4090 will have a thermal design power (TDP) of 600W. Mind you, that’s the TDP for the card in its “Founders Edition” or reference design, and not AIB partner boards.
This is an important point to take note of, as MLID goes on to point out that, given the default 600W TDP for the reference RTX 4090, it is inevitable that custom variants of the RTX 4090 will be pulling more than 600W off the wall at launch.
MLID surmises that the reason NVIDIA is reportedly going with a card that consumes 600W is likely due to the GPU brand’s desire to keep its title as king-of-the-hill and it is apparent that it is willing to do a lot of “weird things to not lose this generation” to rival AMD and more specifically, its RDNA3 GPU architecture.
On another note, the fact that MLID’s sources confirms the 600W TDP for the RTX 4090 also means that the adoption of PSUs of 1000W or greater is slowly but surely becoming the new standard in the PC building space.
