What PSU do you need for a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti has a vendor-published board power (TGP/TBP) of about 200 W. Sizing a power supply from that figure and a typical companion system (a 125 W-class CPU plus standard ATX accessories, ~242 W), here is what we recommend.
Recommendations are planning estimates, not electrical or purchasing advice. The hardware figures behind them are vendor-published; your exact board-partner model and build can still differ.
Recommended (comfortable)
650 W
Standard headroom for transient spikes and a little future room.
Minimum
550 W
Smallest quality PSU tier we would pair with this card in a typical build.
GPU board power
200 W
Vendor TGP/TBP — a conservative ceiling, not typical gaming draw.
Vendor-recommended PSU
600 W
The wattage the GPU vendor lists — deliberately conservative.
Power connector
1× PCIe 8-pin. Use native PSU cables and confirm the layout on your exact board-partner model. See connector & ATX 3.x details →
Why 650 W for this card
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's draw is not flat. Brief spikes above the rated board power are normal, and they are short enough that a wall meter never shows them — but a power supply sitting close to its limit can trip on one. That is what the headroom in these figures is for: 200 W is the sustained ceiling, not the worst instant. This card feeds from standard PCIe connectors, so any quality supply with the right cable count works; there is no 16-pin cable to source. At 200 W a quality unit of the recommended wattage handles transients without drama; an ATX 3.x supply adds margin but is not essential. We do not publish a spike figure for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti because the manufacturer does not publish one.
On the recommended 650 W supply, a Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti draws roughly 479 W under load — about 74% of the unit's rating. The 80 PLUS programme certifies efficiency at 20%, 50% and 100% load, and units are typically at their best around the middle of that range, so this sits in a sensible place: enough margin for transients without paying for capacity that never gets used.
The manufacturer recommends 600 W; our comfortable figure is 650 W, 50 W higher. Vendor recommendations assume a mainstream companion system, while our figure adds standard headroom on top of a typical build. 600 W is not wrong — but if you are running a power-hungry CPU or want the supply loafing rather than working, the larger unit is the safer buy.
Pairing this card with different CPUs
The CPU does change the answer here. With a Ryzen 5 7600 this build sits on a 550 W supply, but moving to a Ryzen 7 9800X3D (162 W peak) pushes the estimate to 650 W. If you are pairing this GPU with a high-power CPU, budget for the larger unit.
| CPU | CPU peak | System load | Recommended PSU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 7600 | 88 W | 405 W | 550 W |
| Ryzen 7 9800X3D | 162 W | 479 W | 650 W |
| Core i9-14900K | 253 W | 570 W | 750 W |
Other popular choices map onto this table rather than changing it: the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has the same 162 W peak as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, so that row applies to it unchanged; a Core i5-14600K (181 W peak) lands on the same 650 W tier as the Ryzen 7 9800X3D; a Ryzen 9 9950X (230 W peak) lands on the same 750 W tier as the Core i9-14900K.
Assumes an ATX board, 2 RAM sticks, 1 SSD, 3 fans and a USB allowance, at the standard headroom profile. Change any of it in the calculator.
Cabling this card
This card needs a single 8-pin PCIe connector. Use the cable that came with your supply, and avoid adapters where you can — at 200 W there is no need for a splitter.
Partner cards typically use 1x PCIe 8-pin (some OC boards 2x); Founders Edition uses a proprietary 12-pin with 1x 8-pin adapter. Factory-overclocked cards from board partners can also carry a higher power limit than the reference design, so if your card advertises an OC BIOS, treat the figures here as the floor rather than the ceiling.
Want a number for your exact CPU and parts? Open the full PSU Calculator with this GPU pre-selected →
The standards behind these numbers
- How much PSU headroom do you actually need?
Why the recommendation above sits above the 200 W board power rather than on it.
How to check this figure
NVIDIA has retired this card's own product page; it now redirects to a family page shared with the RTX 3060. Read the column headed with this card's name — the table gives each model its own column, and 4864 CUDA cores identifies this one. The row labels are "Graphics Card Power (W)" and "Required System Power (W)".
Board-power source: NVIDIA official specification; multi-agent web verification 2026-07-15. Last updated: 2026-07-22.
Frequently asked questions
What size PSU do I need for a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?
For a typical build that pairs the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (about 200 W board power) with a 125 W-class CPU and standard accessories, plan for at least a 550 W power supply. A 650 W unit gives comfortable headroom for transient spikes and future upgrades. These are estimates — verify against your exact parts.
How much power does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti draw?
Its vendor-published board power (TGP/TBP) is about 200 W. That is a conservative ceiling used for PSU sizing, not the typical draw you would see while gaming.
Is a 600 W PSU enough for a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti?
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's manufacturer lists a 600 W PSU recommendation. That figure is deliberately conservative to cover weaker units and power-hungry CPUs, so a quality 600 W supply is a safe choice. Our own estimate for a typical build is a 550 W minimum and 650 W for comfort.
Does the CPU change what PSU the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti needs?
Yes. With a Ryzen 5 7600 the estimate is 550 W, while a Core i9-14900K (253 W peak) takes it to 750 W.
Why does this differ from NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti's official PSU recommendation?
The manufacturer lists 600 W and our comfortable figure is 650 W. Vendor guidance assumes a mainstream companion system; ours adds standard headroom to a typical build. Both are shown on this page so you can judge.