How many watts do I need? 2.0 (Intel 10/Nvidia 3000 series update)

[LukeSavenije]

Introduction:

By the popular concept of @Aniallation, who since retired from the forum, the "How many watts do I need" is still one of the most asked question by many people wanting to build a PC. By similar methodology, here a simple guideline to how much your PC would need, assuming the quality of the PSU itself is good. These numbers are estimations based off a stress maximum load, one you will likely never reach in normal use. Take these numbers as a guideline, but feel free to ask on the forum itself if you're still not sure what you need with your exact configuration.

 

Methodology:

CPU+GPU+50=estimated wattage, chosen worst case out of the configs

 

Low-end APU system:

Quote

CPU:

AMD: 200ge/220ge/240ge/3000g

 

GPU:

none

 

Total estimated wattage:

68w

Recommended:

Tier C or higher, any wattage

 

Midrange APU system:

Quote

CPU:
AMD: 2200g/2400g

 

GPU:

none

Total estimated wattage:

135w

Recommended:

Tier C or higher, any wattage

 

Low-end gaming:

Quote

CPU:

AMD: 1200/3100

Intel: 7600(k)/8100/8350k/9100/10100

GPU:

AMD: 550/560

Nvidia: 1030/1050 (ti)/1650 (super)

 

Total estimated wattage:

260w

Recommended:

Tier C or higher, 400w+

 

Midrange gaming:

Quote

CPU:

AMD: 1600(x)/2600(x)/3600(x)

Intel: 7700(k)/8400/8600(k)/9600(k)/10400/10500

GPU:

AMD: 470/480/570/580/590/5500xt/5600xt
Nvidia: 1060/1070/1660 (super/ti)/2060 (super/KO)

Total estimated wattage:

425w

Recommeded:

Tier B or higher, 450w+

 

Mid-high gaming:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 8600(k)/8700(k)/9700(k)/10600(k)

AMD: 1700(x)/2700(x)/3600(x)/3700x/3800x

GPU:
AMD: vega 56/vega 64/5700/5700xt

Nvidia: 1070 ti/1080/2070 (super)

Total estimated wattage:

540w

Recommended:

Tier B or higher, 550w+

 

High-end gaming:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 8700(k)/9700(k)/9900(k)/10700(k)/10900(k)
AMD: 3700x/3800x/3900x/3950x

GPU:
AMD: VII

Nvidia: 1080 ti/2080 (super/ti)/titan V/Titan RTX/Titan XP (Pascal)/3070

Total estimated wattage:

598w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 650w+

 

High-end 3080 gaming:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 8700(k)/9700(k)/9900(k)/10700(k)/10900(k)
AMD: 3700x/3800x/3900x/3950x

GPU:

Nvidia: 3080

Total estimated wattage:

717w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 750w+

 

High-End 3090 gaming:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 8700(k)/9700(k)/9900(k)/10700(k)/10900(k)
AMD: 3700x/3800x/3900x/3950x

GPU:

Nvidia: 3090

Total estimated wattage:

815w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 850w+

 

Low-end hedt/tr:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 7900x/7920x
AMD: 1900x/2920x

GPU:

Nvidia: 2080 ti

Total estimated wattage:

578w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 650w+

 

Midrange hedt/tr:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 7940x/7960x
AMD: 1920x/1950x/2950x/3960x/3970x

 

GPU:

Nvidia: 2080 ti

Total estimated wattage:

653w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 750w+

 

High-end hedt/tr:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 7980xe/9980xe/10980xe
AMD: 2970wx/3970x

 

GPU:

Nvidia: 2080 ti

Total estimated wattage:

744w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 850w+

 

Ultra high-end hedt/tr:

Quote

CPU:
Intel: 9990xe/W-3175x

AMD: 2990wx/3990x

 

GPU:

Nvidia: 2080 ti

Total estimated wattage:

1091w

Recommeded:

Tier A, 1200w+

 

CPU power consumption:

Spoiler

AMD Ryzen:

200ge: 18w

1200: 42w

1600: 83w

1600x: 108w

1700: 80w

1700x: 113w

1800x: 115w

2200g: 65w

2400g: 85w

2600: 95w

2600x: 129w

2700: 99w

2700x: 152w

3600(x/xt): 125w

3700x/3800x: 138w

3900x: 139w

3950x: 144w

 

Intel Mainstream:

7600: 68w

7600k: 111w

7700: 90w

7700k: 122w

8100: 46w

8350k: 83w

8400: 57w

8600: 66w

8600k: 143w

8700: 129w

8700k: 168w

9700: 124w

9700k: 164w

9900: 205w

9900k: 250w

10100: 60w

10400: 70w

10600k: 104w

10700k: 267w

10850k: 316w

10900k: 316w

 

Intel HEDT:

7900x: 200w

7920x: 250w

7940x: 250w

7960x: 300w

7980xe: 360w

9980xe: 360w

9990xe: 561w

10980xe: 360w

W-3175x: 763w

 

AMD Threadripper:

1920x: 315w

1950x: 325w

2920x: 249w

2950x: 300w

2970wx: 416w

2990wx: 499w

3960x: 293w

3970x: 313w

3990x: 477w

 

Sources:

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13660/amd-athlon-200ge-vs-intel-pentium-gold-g5400-review/20

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8520/amd-ryzen-3-2200g-5-2400g-review/index8.html

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8660/amd-ryzen-7-2700-5-2600-review/index8.html

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/9051/amd-ryzen-3900x-3700x-zen2-review/index7.html

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8081/amd-ryzen-7-1700-1700x-cpu-review/index11.html

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/9255/amd-ryzen-9-3950x-zen-2-processor-review/index7.html

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3489-amd-ryzen-5-3600-cpu-review-benchmarks-vs-intel

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3106-intel-i3-8350k-review-overclocking-vs-i5-8400-r5-1600x/page-2

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3157-intel-i5-8600k-review-overclocking-vs-8700k-8400/page-3

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-9900k-9th-gen-cpu,5847-11.html

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3106-intel-i3-8350k-review-overclocking-vs-i5-8400-r5-1600x/page-2

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-threadripper-1920x-cpu,5183-12.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2970wx-cpu,5864-9.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-threadripper-2-2990wx-2950x,5725-13.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-threadripper-3970x-review/2

https://www.anandtech.com/show/11839/intel-core-i9-7980xe-and-core-i9-7960x-review/14

https://www.anandtech.com/show/10968/the-intel-core-i7-7700k-91w-review-the-new-stock-performance-champion/11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOUX3ikq1cI

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-3800x-review,6226-3.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csFwlKgZCzM

 

 

GPU Power Consumption:

Spoiler

Nvidia:

1030: 33w

1050: 66w

1050 ti: 72w

1060 3gb: 115w

1060 6gb: 130w

1070: 148w

1070 ti: 184w

1080: 173w

1080 ti: 245w

Titan XP (Pascal): 249w

1650: 77w

1650 super: 100w

1660: 132w

1660 super: 123w

1660 ti: 128w

2060: 158w

2060 KO: 160w

2060 super: 167w

2070: 215w

2070 super: 212w

2080: 261w

2080 super: 248w

2080 ti: 278w

Titan V: 255w

Titan RTX: 223w

3070: 268w
3080: 351w

3090: 449w

 

AMD:
470: 158w

480: 223w

550: 47w

560: 99w

570: 144w

580: 224w

590: 232w

Vega 56: 282w

Vega 64: 325w

Vega VII: 298w

5500xt: 105w

5600xt: 140w

5700: 183w

5700xt: 218w

 

Sources:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050-ti,4787-6.html

https://www.techspot.com/review/1269-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1050/page8.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigabyte-gtx-1070-ti-gaming-8g,5338-4.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-1650-turing-gpu,6096.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-gtx_1650-super-turing/4

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/evga-nvidia-geforce-gtx_1660_super-sc-ultra/4

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/evga-geforce-rtx-2060-ko-ultra-gaming/4

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2060-super-geforce-rtx-2070-super,6207-6.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-ti-founders-edition,5805-10.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-2080-gaming-oc-8g,5879-4.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-rtx-2080-super-turing-ray-tracing,6243.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-rog-strix-rx-5500-xt-o8g-gaming/4

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sapphire-nitro-rx-vega-56,6152-4.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/powercolor-red-devil-rx-vega-64-8gb,5517.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-vii-vega-20-7nm,5977-5.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-phantom-gaming-x-radeon-rx-590,6021-4.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx_5600_xt/4

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx_5700-rx_5700_xt,6216-4.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx_5700-rx_5700_xt,6216-5.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-580-review,5020-6.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-570-4gb,5028-15.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-550-2gb,5034-10.html

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-560-4gb,5254-14.html

https://nl.hardware.info/artikel/7993/18/de-eerste-volta-nvidia-titan-v-review-testresultaten-stroomverbruik

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-titan-rtx-deep-learning-gaming-tensor,5971-6.html
https://www.cybenetics.com/index.php?option=gpus&manfID=30

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-geforce-rtx-3070-gaming-x-trio/29.html

 

License

Spoiler

These works by Luke Savenije et al. are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

Edited November 1, 2020 by LukeSavenije

[Fasauceome]

6 hours ago, LukeSavenije said:

Methodology:

CPU+GPU+50=estimated wattage, chosen worst case out of the configs

Glad we're not using TDP, we should specify that here so new users can see that it's a thermal metric instead of power.

 

Also, no Titan V in the power consumption table? Everyone's got one of those! The people need to know.

[LukeSavenije]

27 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Also, no Titan V in the power consumption table?

Titan V has been added

 

with Titan RTX and 3800x as a bonus

[akio123008]

45 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Glad we're not using TDP, we should specify that here so new users can see that it's a thermal metric instead of power.

If reported correctly though, the TDP would in theory be exactly the same as the electrical power.

[Fasauceome]

1 minute ago, akio123008 said:

If reported correctly though, the TDP would in theory be exactly the same as the electrical power.

Unfortunately for us, it's never reported correctly. TDP has shown to be a rather useless figure for power draw estimations.

[akio123008]

3 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Unfortunately for us, it's never reported correctly. TDP has shown to be a rather useless figure for power draw estimations.

Last CPU I saw with a rather good TDP rating was my old Celeron 2.8 GHz (northwood) at 68.4 watts.

[LukeSavenije]

11 minutes ago, akio123008 said:

If reported correctly though, the TDP would in theory be exactly the same as the electrical power.

well... let's take a well known example

 

9900k is rated for 95w

 

now look at the current numbers

 

unfortunately for this it's nothing to go by, since they aren't accurate at all

[porina]

The thing about TDP is that somewhere around Skylake era the maximum power consumption started deviating from the TDP rating. The definition of TDP hasn't changed, but it has diverged from maximum power. Also note that Intel doesn't regard exceeding TDP as out of spec, doing so by itself is not an overclock. More commonly cheaper manufacturers like the Dells and HP of the world will typically skimp on the cooler and actually have to limit to TDP. Recently on some Intel systems I've started turning off turbo, so it does run at base clock, but the power efficiency outweighs the raw performance for my use cases.

 

I don't know about historic AMD's side, but certainly on Zen 2, they behave similarly. For example 65W TDP parts are at stock limited to 88W PPT. The direction they're going is less fixed clocks, and more running at best clock for a given power limit.

 

While I don't have any way to check, I suspect both sides are able to report currently used CPU power to a reasonable degree. It just simply isn't TDP though.

[Vejnemojnen]

TDP means nothing when it comes to GPU-s.  Just a result of undervolting. MSI GTX1080 GamingX at stock ~ 258 watts. UV-d: 180watts.

Before:

After:

 

The stock BIOS settings for this card is way too generous. I highly recommend undervolting them. Note also the 11 degree of Celsius difference in temperatures under load. Definitely recommended.

 

Cards with factory OC can be pretty hungry. Sapphire NitroPlus above 310watts! RX5700xt

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sapphire-radeon-rx-5700-xt-nitro-special-edition/31.html

 

Asrock 5700XT Taichi above 290watts

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/asrock-radeon-rx-5700-xt-taichi-oc-plus/30.html

 

 so much for efficiency-- BTW, the stock RX580 Nitro+ also can consume up to 220 watts. So the actual power need depends on the specific model of the graphics card!

[PianoPlayer88Key]

 

19 hours ago, LukeSavenije said:

Introduction:

... here a simple guideline to how much your PC would need, assuming the quality of the PSU itself is good. ... feel free to ask on the forum itself if you're still not sure what you need with your exact configuration.

 

Methodology:

CPU+GPU+50=estimated wattage, chosen worst case out of the configs

 

Looks like most of those configurations are geared toward 3D gaming / rendering.

What about non-3D configs where you don't need much graphics power, but need other parts, like for workstation, office pc, backup server, conversion from older analog media, etc?

 

For example...

 

Example non-gamer onfig options:

 

CPU:

Intel: Core i3-6100 (i already have it), or up to 4x socket 604 / 771 / 1356 / 1366 / 1567 / 2011 Xeon

AMD: Athlon 3000G, or TR 1900X, or Epyc <100W, or up to 4x Socket F/G34 Opteron 

 

RAM:

4x UDIMM DDR4, or ~8-16x or more ECC RDIMM/LRDIMM DDR3/DDR2

 

GPU:

APU, or GT 710 or GT 1030, or on-server-board iGPU like ASpeed, Matrox(?), etc.

 

(CPU, and GPU if used, would be undervolted / underclocked so it could run passive / 0dB silent, maybe even low enough so it wouldn't even need a heatsink if I end up not having the physical space for one.)

 

Other parts:

9x 3.5" PATA HDD, but not for very long

18x 3.5" SATA HDD, likely more in future

4x 2.5" SATA HDD

4x 2.5" SATA SSD, likely more in future

2x M.2 SSD, possibly more in future

(I have the above storage media)

Something to convert from 5.25" floppies (we have some but no way to read them) or MFM HDDs

various video / audio / photo / other-format capture devices, for converting from analog formats like 16mm film, VHS, Hi-8, audio cassette, reel-to-reel, 12" vinyl LP, printed photos, negatives, slides, older out-of-print magazines, books, some handwritten papers, etc.

 

Total estimated wattage:

???

Recommended:

???

 

[Vejnemojnen]

And also, I'd add in the link to BQ's PSU calculator. The most accurate around, only overestimates ~10%.  

https://www.bequiet.com/en/psucalculator

[seee the state im in nooow]

On 3/27/2020 at 4:08 PM, PianoPlayer88Key said:

Looks like most of those configurations are geared toward 3D gaming / rendering.

What about non-3D configs where you don't need much graphics power, but need other parts, like for workstation, office pc, backup server, conversion from older analog media, etc?

that's where the individual power draw wattage numbers come in (they're in the spoilers). follow the CPU+GPU+50 from there

 

also (correct me if i'm wrong luke) the +50 in the equation is to cover most of the common peripheral setups, but if you forsee loading a lot of USB and HDDs etc then it's best for the user to do that legwork themselves (it's a nightmare for one guy to track every single peripheral out there). at that point it'd be much easier on everyone to post a new thread with the PCPP link to ask ._.

[jkidd]

Hi there, everyone!

 

This is my first build, so please bear with me. I’m unsure as to which power supply that I should buy for my first build, which can be viewed here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/joshuamkidd/saved/rcqW3C

 

500 Watts, 650 Watts, 750 Watts, or more? A techie friend suggested at least 750 Watts.

 

Any help here would be great! Thanks!
 

Josh

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, jkidd said:

500 Watts, 650 Watts, 750 Watts, or more? A techie friend suggested at least 750 Watts.

no need for 750w at all here. a decent 500-550w will easily do

[Quadriplegic]

On 4/14/2020 at 9:41 PM, jkidd said:

Hi there, everyone!

 

This is my first build, so please bear with me. I’m unsure as to which power supply that I should buy for my first build, which can be viewed here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/joshuamkidd/saved/rcqW3C

 

500 Watts, 650 Watts, 750 Watts, or more? A techie friend suggested at least 750 Watts.

 

Any help here would be great! Thanks!
 

Josh

80w for 3600 (overestimation), 300w for 2080 Ti (little bit of overestimation), 50w for rest of system. 430w total, which means even 500-550w PSUs are enough

[MrIronGolem27]

Useless bump, but this seems like a typo

 

> Midrange raming:

 

 

[LukeSavenije]

5 hours ago, MrIronGolem27 said:

Useless bump, but this seems like a typo

the useless fix has been applied

[MrIronGolem27]

Yay!

[Aniallation]

Thanks for continuing this!

 

Never truly retired I guess, I still pop in and out occasionally xP 

[Dr.PC.Repair]

Just a quick note on how to prolong your PSU's life span. If your PC requires 472w and you use a 500w PSU thinking that should do... you'll end up having to replace the PSU after a few months to a year. You should typically use a much higher PSU than you need to ensure that the PSU runs at about 60% of the max rated wattage at all times... running at 80-95% load at all times keeps the PSU in a stressed state and it will run super hot this heat will slowly damage the components inside the PSU... and the PSU will fail. I always recommend about 150- 200w over what you need. For example if your PC requires ~500w then using a 750 watt is best. If your PC requires ~600w then using an 850w is best.. if your PC requires ~800w then using a 1000w is best... and so on.

 

There are many PSU wattage calculators out there use Google to search PSU wattage calculator (Newegg also has one on their site as well) so find out your basic wattage requirements then get a PSU based on the outline above.

 

Please note I repair PSU's among other components thus I know how heat kills them - and high heat is caused by pushing the PSU too close to 100% of it's max load while running the PC. For example keeping the draw at around 500-600w on an 850w PSU is ok... but keeping the draw at 750-800 on and 850w is going to kill it from heat in a few months to a year. (possibly killing other components in the process)

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, Dr.PC.Repair said:

You should typically use a much higher PSU than you need to ensure that the PSU runs at about 60% load at all times... running at 80-95% load at all times keeps the PSU in a stressed state and it will run super hot this heat will slowly damage the components inside the PSU...

do you have evidence to show this?

 

with that said, the numbers I provide are under full stress load, a load 99% off the people don't reach unless they're trying to run prime95 and furmark at the same time.

 

and to counter you here: these PSU calculators are less accurate than a random number generator, generally considering over double the peak loads measured on review sites. A good PSU is rated to operate at 40, or even 50c continous. I won't deny that overload is a bad thing, but higher loads shouldn't be a problem at all for a good PSU.

 

this of course excludes PSUs that operate at 30c and could be operating above that in some cases, but that's not relevant to the load, but to it's temperature rating and the temperature it has to operate in

[Quadriplegic]

On 5/11/2020 at 10:06 AM, Dr.PC.Repair said:

Just a quick note on how to prolong your PSU's life span. If your PC requires 472w and you use a 500w PSU thinking that should do... you'll end up having to replace the PSU after a few months to a year. You should typically use a much higher PSU than you need to ensure that the PSU runs at about 60% of the max rated wattage at all times... running at 80-95% load at all times keeps the PSU in a stressed state and it will run super hot this heat will slowly damage the components inside the PSU... and the PSU will fail. I always recommend about 150- 200w over what you need. For example if your PC requires ~500w then using a 750 watt is best. If your PC requires ~600w then using an 850w is best.. if your PC requires ~800w then using a 1000w is best... and so on.

 

There are many PSU wattage calculators out there use Google to search PSU wattage calculator (Newegg also has one on their site as well) so find out your basic wattage requirements then get a PSU based on the outline above.

 

Please note I repair PSU's among other components thus I know how heat kills them - and high heat is caused by pushing the PSU too close to 100% of it's max load while running the PC. For example keeping the draw at around 500-600w on an 850w PSU is ok... but keeping the draw at 750-800 on and 850w is going to kill it from heat in a few months to a year. (possibly killing other components in the process)

This is false. 

High heat is countered by higher quality, more efficient components and ACTIVE COOLING, aka fan. And like Luke already said, good PSUs can work in 40c. I have seen people mention that loading PSUs up to 80% of capacity is fine for daily use, but frankly, I am not aware of any proper experiments done to test that theory. 

Maybe Gamers Nexus will be up for it some time in the future?

[LukeSavenije]

1 hour ago, Quadriplegic said:

Maybe Gamers Nexus will be up for it some time in the future?

they do have a sunmoon combo in their lab... would be cool

[Hammerhedd666]

I have a computer with

AMD Phenom II X4 925 @3.2 Ghz (95w),

2x4Gb kingston ddr2 ram,

Asus m2a mx mobo,

500gb hdd

and Asus Strix R9 380 Oc edition 2gb gpu

how many watts do i need to power this thing 10 hours a day? 

(My generic brand 2 months old 450w just exploded today 1 hour after changing my gpu from gt710 to r9 380)

 

[Ralf]

On 3/26/2020 at 1:42 PM, LukeSavenije said:

CPU:
Intel: 8700(k)/9700(k)/9900(k)
AMD: 3700x/3800x/3900x/3950x

GPU:
AMD: VII

Nvidia: 1080 ti/2080 (super/ti)/titan V/Titan RTX/Titan XP (Pascal)

Total estimated wattage:

598w

Recommeded:

Tier A or higher, 650w+

 

But Honey, didn't some people on this forum say that a quality 450W is all you need for 9900K+2080Ti?