GeForce RTX 3090 Power Consumption and Cost
350 W Total Graphics Power — about 298 W sustained in a real game, and 418 W from the wall with the rest of the machine. NVIDIA suggests a 750 W supply. 24 GB VRAM, RTX 30, 2020.
Running a GeForce RTX 3090
- System draw
- 418 W
- Per month
- $12
- Card alone / yr
- $91
- Suggested PSU
- 750 W
- Gaming hours
- Idle hours
Where the watts go
| Item | Power | Per year | Cost / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaming hours | 418 W | 609.5 kWh | $118 |
| Idle hours | 70 W | 153.3 kWh | $30 |
| Whole machine | — | 762.8 kWh | $148 |
| GeForce RTX 3090 alone | 298 W | 467.2 kWh | $91 |
What 350 W means for this card
At the 85% load these figures assume, a GeForce RTX 3090 draws about 298 W in a game, and a machine built around it about 418 W from the wall. At California's average electricity price that comes to $265 a year, of which the card itself accounts for $162.
What stands out about the GeForce RTX 3090
A generation before the RTX 4090.
Against the RTX 4090, a generation later: 100 W less rated power (350 W against 450 W), the same 24 GB of memory and about $24 less a year to run at the US average.
Room for 16 of the 20 open models in the local-LLM dataset.
With Q4_K_M weights and an 8K context, its 24 GB holds models up to Qwen2.5 32B. The local-LLM page for the RTX 3090 covers every model at every quantisation and context length.
Some builds need more than the 750 W supply NVIDIA suggests.
Paired with the Core i9-14900K, the whole build calls for 850 W; 10 of the 26 processors in the RTX 3090 PSU table take the requirement above 750 W.
Running cost by state
| State | Cents / kWh | Per month | Per year whole machine | Card alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada | 13.11 | $8 | $100 | $61 |
| Nebraska | 13.25 | $8 | $101 | $62 |
| Utah | 13.37 | $9 | $102 | $62 |
| Louisiana | 13.49 | $9 | $103 | $63 |
| Tennessee | 14.07 | $9 | $107 | $66 |
| Arkansas | 14.12 | $9 | $108 | $66 |
| North Dakota | 14.12 | $9 | $108 | $66 |
| Kentucky | 14.26 | $9 | $109 | $67 |
| Oklahoma | 14.33 | $9 | $109 | $67 |
| Idaho | 14.37 | $9 | $110 | $67 |
| North Carolina | 14.74 | $9 | $112 | $69 |
| Mississippi | 14.88 | $9 | $114 | $70 |
| Washington | 14.91 | $9 | $114 | $70 |
| New Mexico | 15.06 | $10 | $115 | $70 |
| Florida | 15.10 | $10 | $115 | $71 |
| Montana | 15.14 | $10 | $116 | $71 |
| Arizona | 15.18 | $10 | $116 | $71 |
| Wyoming | 15.24 | $10 | $116 | $71 |
| South Dakota | 15.36 | $10 | $117 | $72 |
| West Virginia | 15.45 | $10 | $118 | $72 |
| South Carolina | 15.55 | $10 | $119 | $73 |
| Kansas | 15.71 | $10 | $120 | $73 |
| Iowa | 15.93 | $10 | $122 | $74 |
| Texas | 15.94 | $10 | $122 | $74 |
| Missouri | 16.22 | $10 | $124 | $76 |
| Oregon | 16.32 | $10 | $125 | $76 |
| Georgia | 16.36 | $10 | $125 | $76 |
| Alabama | 16.40 | $10 | $125 | $77 |
| Colorado | 17.13 | $11 | $131 | $80 |
| Virginia | 17.22 | $11 | $131 | $80 |
| Indiana | 17.51 | $11 | $134 | $82 |
| Minnesota | 17.52 | $11 | $134 | $82 |
| Ohio | 19.19 | $12 | $146 | $90 |
| Delaware | 19.29 | $12 | $147 | $90 |
| Wisconsin | 19.56 | $12 | $149 | $91 |
| Illinois | 19.89 | $13 | $152 | $93 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.73 | $14 | $166 | $102 |
| Maryland | 21.84 | $14 | $167 | $102 |
| Michigan | 22.99 | $15 | $175 | $107 |
| Connecticut | 24.32 | $15 | $186 | $114 |
| District of Columbia | 24.39 | $16 | $186 | $114 |
| Vermont | 24.44 | $16 | $186 | $114 |
| New Jersey | 24.95 | $16 | $190 | $117 |
| New Hampshire | 27.01 | $17 | $206 | $126 |
| Alaska | 28.21 | $18 | $215 | $132 |
| Rhode Island | 29.23 | $19 | $223 | $137 |
| New York | 29.49 | $19 | $225 | $138 |
| Maine | 29.59 | $19 | $226 | $138 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61 | $19 | $226 | $138 |
| California | 34.74 | $22 | $265 | $162 |
| Hawaii | 52.72 | $34 | $402 | $246 |
4 h gaming and 6 h idle a day, at 85% load with 120 W of system overhead.
The rest of the RTX 30 range
| Card | TGP | Suggested PSU | Per year US average | In California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 3090 Ti | 450 W | 850 W | $172 | $308 |
| GeForce RTX 3080 Ti | 350 W | 750 W | $148 | $265 |
| GeForce RTX 3080 | 350 W | 750 W | $148 | $265 |
| GeForce RTX 3070 Ti | 290 W | 650 W | $134 | $239 |
| GeForce RTX 3070 | 220 W | 650 W | $117 | $209 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 Ti | 200 W | 600 W | $112 | $200 |
| GeForce RTX 3060 | 170 W | 550 W | $105 | $187 |
| GeForce RTX 3050 | 130 W | 550 W | $95 | $170 |
Building around the GeForce RTX 3090
NVIDIA suggests a 750 W power supply. Across the 26 processors in the PSU calculator, a build with this card needs 750 W with the Ryzen 5 9600X and up to 850 W with the Core i9-14900K.
Frequently asked questions
How much power does the GeForce RTX 3090 use?
How much does it cost to run a GeForce RTX 3090?
What power supply does a GeForce RTX 3090 need?
Do idle hours matter?
Power figures: nvidia.com GeForce specifications (Total Graphics Power). Electricity: EIA Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.A, residential, June 2026.
Estimates for informational purposes only. Total Graphics Power is a power limit, not an average: real draw depends on the game, resolution, frame cap, board partner design and any factory overclock. Electricity prices are state residential averages and your tariff will differ.
Data on this page last verified . How these figures are calculated