How power-hungry graphics cards affect the rest of your PC

When we experience the excitement of a new version of GPUs, we collectively get mouth watering as specs are revealed to us. Power numbers make us “Ooh” and “Aah” because that often means high performance. In the real world, however, those exclamations can quickly turn into “ohh…” and “ahh…” as we are dealing with the hot, noisy, and power-hungry GPUs of our daily gaming platforms. We’ll tell you what to expect from current and future behemoths in the real world. Noise, nuclear-level thermals and even thermal throttling. Don’t worry, we’ll also walk you through how to deal with those burnt out GPUs and what that means for the rest of your system!

When did GPUs get so hot?

The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 comes with a massive 350W TDP. It doesn’t stop there, with rumors of future iterations such as the “Ti” version eclipsing 450W. This is nothing new: RTX 3090 enthusiasts such as the EVGA Kingpin have pushed the limits with numbers close to 500 W.

The last generation saw the flagship RTX 2080 Ti achieve a paltry 250W TDP in comparison. AMD still holds the lead when it comes to efficiency with its powerful Radeon RX 6900 XT, stopping at 300W. The main difference here is the very fast GDDR6x VRAM found in higher-end RTX 3000 GPUs. They run fast, heat up and need more power. With Nvidia’s Ampere GPUs, more power usually means more performance.

GPU buyer beware

If you’re building a new gaming rig around a high-end RTX 3000 GPU, there’s a plethora of cause-and-effect relationships to consider when it comes to their power consumption. Let’s take a look at the most important ones, one by one:

Power source: you have seen the recommended specifications; 750W minimum power supply for an RTX 3090. Most likely, you will really want 850W or 1000W for more headroom to pair the RTX 3090 with a high end processor. Not only that, you want a high quality and efficient power supply. RTX 3000 GPUs can have power spikes and be picky about the juice that feeds them, so don’t go cheap here.

Don’t care about the expensive RTX 3090? Many of the same basic principles will apply to its more watt-hungry counterparts, such as the RTX 3070 and 3080. They can also be power hungry. The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti? It gives off almost as much heat as the RTX 3090.

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

Heat: Power and high heat are like bees and honey, natural companions. RTX 3000 GPUs can even make you sweat in a smaller room. If you are planning long gaming sessions, make sure there is adequate airflow in your space. No matter how efficient your rig’s cooling system is, all that hot air needs to be dissipated somewhere in the surrounding environment. Again, this is what you’ll feel the most with the RTX 3080, 3080 Ti, and 3090.

Thermal limitation: Speaking of heat, let’s take a closer look at what’s going on inside your rig. Thermal regulation is the safety mechanism built into the PC hardware that basically says, “Hey, it’s too hot in here, so we’re going to reduce performance so the temperature can drop a bit and nothing gets damaged.” ”

Most high-end RTX 3000 GPUs will ship with adequate cooler designs, but they are useless if they lack airflow. (Take a look at our article on the best way to configure your PC fans.)

Blower-style GPU designs, such as the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition of yesteryear, exhaust heat directly from the back. Most GPUs have a traditional cooler with two or three fans, which keeps the GPU cool but also carries that heat directly into your case and onto other components. The best strategy here is a good design of two or three case fans using proper airflow.

Noise: More power, more heat, more noise. If you’ve never heard the deafening scream of a hot server room, you’re in for a treat with a poorly cooled RTX 3000 GPU. The fans will run to handle the heat produced by the TDP. Don’t worry, there are ways to minimize these issues.

How to handle the heat and high TDP of a GPU

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

First, you’ll want to choose a case that will fit your GPU well with the proper airflow. A closed case won’t work well with an air-cooled RTX 3000 high-end GPU, you will need maximum airflow here. (For more tips, see our recently updated article on how to choose a PC case.)

Second, you’ll want to make sure the air intakes and exhaust fans are properly placed on your rig. Remember to check the clearances: fans need space to generate proper cooling. You can prioritize GPU cooling by increasing CPU heat, for example when using an all-in-one PC. That would mean allowing the front and bottom of your case to suck air for the GPU. The better the quality of fans you have to keep your GPU cool, the more your system will tend to run quietly.

Finally, if all else fails, consider water-cooling your power-loving RTX 3000. GPU core temperatures and VRAM temperatures will improve dramatically, helping to release more performance and avoid bottlenecks. Noise levels will also decrease with enough space for radiators and static pressure optimized fans cooling them. Keep in mind that although heat is dissipated more efficiently in your case, the heat given off to the surrounding room will still be the same level of heat as with an air-cooled GPU.

The future will be more efficient, eventually

Thiago Trevisan / IDG

Power-hungry GPUs are here for at least the next few generations, unfortunately. This is one of the drawbacks of these massive advances in performance. It won’t be that way forever, however. Future chip designs are expected to become increasingly efficient while delivering solid performance, as we are already seeing in many midrange systems and laptops. We just have to wait for them to make their way to the passionate level GPUs, and then we’re really going to cook! (Voluntary pun)