HardwareGraphics CardsNvidia BlackwellNvidia testing cooling solutions up to 600W for its Blackwell graphics cards suggests power levels in line with the previous GeForce generationsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareGraphics CardsNvidia BlackwellNvidia testing cooling solutions up to 600W for its Blackwell graphics cards suggests power levels in line with the previous GeForce generationsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Future)
If you’ve been wondering if Nvidia’s next generation of GeForce cards will need even bigger coolers than those we currently see, then fear not, it seems the chip giant has been experimenting with heatsink and fan designs to cope with power levels no greater than those seen with Ada Lovelace andAmpereGPUs.
Modern graphics cards require a lot of energy to power the thousands of shaders inside them and that also means lots of heat. To keep that in check many sport huge coolers but what you don’t want is a design that can only just manage a GPU’s maximum power consumption.
Take the GeForce RTX 4090 as an example—the entire card has a total board power limit of 450 W. It doesn’t always get anywhere near that level but it can use more than that, as we discovered in ourRTX 4090 review. If its cooler could only cope with 450 W of heat at best, then at those times when it goes over the limit, the chip’s temperature would rapidly increase to the point where it just shuts down.
In other words, coolers always need to have a certain amount of headroom to them, to ensure they don’t become saturated with heat and become unable to shift it all quickly enough.
As to why 250 W is the lowest power limit that Nvidia is testing for, it might be looking at boosting the performance of its entry-level models. TheRTX 4060has a total board power limit of just 115 W and while it’s very good at sipping energy, its overall performance compared to the previous generation wasn’t a huge step forward. If the RTX 5060 is a lot more potent, then its power consumption will undoubtedly be higher than the RTX 4060’s.
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Then again, Nvidia could still end up releasing a 600 W RTX 5090 and set new records for gaming den temperatures. As much as I love the raw capabilities of today’s GPUs, I do wish they weren’t so power-hungry—my office turns into a sauna in the summer months!
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
Best CPU for gaming: Top chips from Intel and AMD.Best gaming motherboard: The right boards.Best graphics card: Your perfect pixel-pusher awaits.Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game first.
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