NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU works fine with just 3 x 8-pin connectors, runs at 450W and only 5% slower

Who needs 4 x 8-pin connectors? Well, you do for the best performance, but testing suggests a trio of connectors comes mighty close to the same FPS.

Darren Allan

Tech Reporter

Published Feb 3, 2025 12:04 PM CST

1 minute & 30 seconds read time

TL;DR: NVIDIA's RTX 5090 graphics card requires 4 x 8-pin connectors for 600W power officially, but can operate with 3 x 8-pin connectors at 450W, seemingly running only 5% slower in 4K benchmarks. However, using just 2 x 8-pin connectors is not feasible, and in this case the GPU simply won't work.

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News Sources:computerbase.de, videocardz.com, and rog.asus.com

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Darren Allan

Tech Reporter

Darren has written for numerous magazines and websites in the technology world for almost 30 years, including TechRadar, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, Computeractive, and many more. He worked on his first magazine (PC Home) long before Google and most of the rest of the web existed. In his spare time, he can be found gaming, going to the gym, and writing books (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).

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