Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Reviews

In heavy PT/RT scenarios it pushes the power envelope to the max, ~430w/450w, so it definitely loses maybe 15% performance when you limit power below the default.
And even then, only if you run it at a very high internal resolution and have a CPU/memory setup that won't bottleneck the card. In other words, it is difficult to make the 4090 sweat.
 
In heavy PT/RT scenarios it pushes the power envelope to the max, ~430w/450w, so it definitely loses maybe 15% performance when you limit power below the default.
Don't think it's that much, in Portal RTX I lose about 7% if I limit it from 600W to 360W (80%) and that's a worst case scenario, most games won't push past 400W even with OC.
 
But, one part of the answer is that a lower TDP would not allow future, more demanding games or software to make use of the 4090 to its fullest. There's no way around it, you need a bunch of power to light-up all those transistors at once. As CPUs and system memory get faster and games evolve to make more use of the 4090, I expect you'll see its power consumption trend upward--but so will performance or, at least, performance won't buckle as it would if the card became power limited at 300W or 350W.

Great point.
 
In heavy PT/RT scenarios it pushes the power envelope to the max, ~430w/450w, so it definitely loses maybe 15% performance when you limit power below the default.
I played/benchmarked God of War, Marvels Guardians, Far Cry 6, Watch Dogs Legion, Plague tale requiem, AC Valhalla, Cyberpunk, Horizon ZD, Metro Exodus EE, Deathloop, Latest Tomb raider and Quake 2 RTX. Quake 2 RTX is by far the most heaviest game on the GPU. At 3840*1620 res 2745MHz@950mV GPU clock (which is considered somewhat undervolted), it hovers around 420-450W. While rest of the games are mostly between 220-320W. Metro is also heavier which can be close to 400W sometimes.
 
I ran a quick benchmark but for some reason screenshots appear darker than it appears on the screen.

Quake II RTX, 3840*1620, settings, savegame file
CCLKMCLKPWRFPSNORMALIZEDProfile
25353000~348104102%CURVE METHOD 2, 2535MHz@875mV, +1500MHz MCLK, 111% PL (500W)
27453000~421109107%CURVE METHOD 2, 2745MHz@950mV, +1500MHz MCLK, 111% PL (500W)
~27152625~438102100%DEFAULT, Palit GameRock OC, 100% PL (450W)
~29403000~487112110%+200MHz CCLK, +1500MHz MCLK, 111% PL (500W)
 

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Great UV settings, guys! I often run F@H, but I typically change the power limit to 50% without touching any other setting to minimize heat/power usage. On my Founder's Edition, I tried 2715 @ 950mv (without touching any other setting, power limit at 100%), and saw great results.

At 50% power limit, I averaged 2700MHz and ~350W-360W on GPU. The GPU maintained a constant 1050mv.
Using the UV settings, I averaged 2715MHz and 265-290W on GPU. The GPU maintained a constant 950mv.

Both settings saw a steady 95% GPU utilization.

It'll be fun to tinker with the undervolt settings from here!
 
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