GeForce RTX 4070 Power Consumption and Cost
200 W Total Graphics Power — about 170 W sustained in a real game, and 290 W from the wall with the rest of the machine. NVIDIA suggests a 650 W supply. 12 GB VRAM, RTX 40, 2023.
Running a GeForce RTX 4070
- System draw
- 290 W
- Per month
- $9
- Card alone / yr
- $55
- Suggested PSU
- 650 W
- Gaming hours
- Idle hours
Where the watts go
| Item | Power | Per year | Cost / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gaming hours | 290 W | 423.4 kWh | $82 |
| Idle hours | 70 W | 153.3 kWh | $30 |
| Whole machine | — | 576.7 kWh | $112 |
| GeForce RTX 4070 alone | 170 W | 281.1 kWh | $55 |
What 200 W means for this card
At the 85% load these figures assume, a GeForce RTX 4070 draws about 170 W in a game, and a machine built around it about 290 W from the wall. At California's average electricity price that comes to $200 a year, of which the card itself accounts for $98.
What stands out about the GeForce RTX 4070
Between the RTX 3070 and the RTX 5070.
Against the RTX 3070, a generation earlier: 20 W less rated power (200 W against 220 W), 4 GB more memory (12 GB against 8 GB) and about $5 less a year to run at the US average. Against the RTX 5070, a generation later: 50 W less rated power (200 W against 250 W), the same 12 GB of memory and about $12 less a year to run at the US average.
The same rated power as the RTX 3060 Ti.
The RTX 4070 and the RTX 3060 Ti are both rated at 200 W, so on these figures a machine built around either costs exactly the same to run.
Less memory than the closest AMD card by rated power.
The RX 9070 is rated at 220 W to this card's 200 W, but carries 16 GB of graphics memory against the RTX 4070's 12 GB.
Room for 11 of the 20 open models in the local-LLM dataset.
With Q4_K_M weights and an 8K context, its 12 GB holds models up to Qwen2.5 14B. The local-LLM page for the RTX 4070 covers every model at every quantisation and context length.
Running cost by state
| State | Cents / kWh | Per month | Per year whole machine | Card alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nevada | 13.11 | $6 | $76 | $37 |
| Nebraska | 13.25 | $6 | $76 | $37 |
| Utah | 13.37 | $6 | $77 | $38 |
| Louisiana | 13.49 | $6 | $78 | $38 |
| Tennessee | 14.07 | $7 | $81 | $40 |
| Arkansas | 14.12 | $7 | $81 | $40 |
| North Dakota | 14.12 | $7 | $81 | $40 |
| Kentucky | 14.26 | $7 | $82 | $40 |
| Oklahoma | 14.33 | $7 | $83 | $40 |
| Idaho | 14.37 | $7 | $83 | $40 |
| North Carolina | 14.74 | $7 | $85 | $41 |
| Mississippi | 14.88 | $7 | $86 | $42 |
| Washington | 14.91 | $7 | $86 | $42 |
| New Mexico | 15.06 | $7 | $87 | $42 |
| Florida | 15.10 | $7 | $87 | $42 |
| Montana | 15.14 | $7 | $87 | $43 |
| Arizona | 15.18 | $7 | $88 | $43 |
| Wyoming | 15.24 | $7 | $88 | $43 |
| South Dakota | 15.36 | $7 | $89 | $43 |
| West Virginia | 15.45 | $7 | $89 | $43 |
| South Carolina | 15.55 | $7 | $90 | $44 |
| Kansas | 15.71 | $8 | $91 | $44 |
| Iowa | 15.93 | $8 | $92 | $45 |
| Texas | 15.94 | $8 | $92 | $45 |
| Missouri | 16.22 | $8 | $94 | $46 |
| Oregon | 16.32 | $8 | $94 | $46 |
| Georgia | 16.36 | $8 | $94 | $46 |
| Alabama | 16.40 | $8 | $95 | $46 |
| Colorado | 17.13 | $8 | $99 | $48 |
| Virginia | 17.22 | $8 | $99 | $48 |
| Indiana | 17.51 | $8 | $101 | $49 |
| Minnesota | 17.52 | $8 | $101 | $49 |
| Ohio | 19.19 | $9 | $111 | $54 |
| Delaware | 19.29 | $9 | $111 | $54 |
| Wisconsin | 19.56 | $9 | $113 | $55 |
| Illinois | 19.89 | $10 | $115 | $56 |
| Pennsylvania | 21.73 | $10 | $125 | $61 |
| Maryland | 21.84 | $11 | $126 | $61 |
| Michigan | 22.99 | $11 | $133 | $65 |
| Connecticut | 24.32 | $12 | $140 | $68 |
| District of Columbia | 24.39 | $12 | $141 | $69 |
| Vermont | 24.44 | $12 | $141 | $69 |
| New Jersey | 24.95 | $12 | $144 | $70 |
| New Hampshire | 27.01 | $13 | $156 | $76 |
| Alaska | 28.21 | $14 | $163 | $79 |
| Rhode Island | 29.23 | $14 | $169 | $82 |
| New York | 29.49 | $14 | $170 | $83 |
| Maine | 29.59 | $14 | $171 | $83 |
| Massachusetts | 29.61 | $14 | $171 | $83 |
| California | 34.74 | $17 | $200 | $98 |
| Hawaii | 52.72 | $25 | $304 | $148 |
4 h gaming and 6 h idle a day, at 85% load with 120 W of system overhead.
The rest of the RTX 40 range
| Card | TGP | Suggested PSU | Per year US average | In California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeForce RTX 4090 | 450 W | 850 W | $172 | $308 |
| GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER | 320 W | 750 W | $141 | $252 |
| GeForce RTX 4080 | 320 W | 750 W | $141 | $252 |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER | 285 W | 700 W | $133 | $237 |
| GeForce RTX 4070 Ti | 285 W | 700 W | $133 | $237 |
| GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER | 220 W | 650 W | $117 | $209 |
| GeForce RTX 4060 Ti | 165 W | 550 W | $104 | $185 |
| GeForce RTX 4060 | 115 W | 550 W | $92 | $164 |
Building around the GeForce RTX 4070
NVIDIA suggests a 650 W power supply. With any of the 26 processors in the PSU calculator, a build with this card needs 650 W.
Frequently asked questions
How much power does the GeForce RTX 4070 use?
How much does it cost to run a GeForce RTX 4070?
What power supply does a GeForce RTX 4070 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