I know how important the power supply is for your PC. When I first built my gaming PC, I was told the power supply should never be skimped on. Since then, I always ensure I have enough wattage, and it’s the highest quality.
The RTX 3080 and the 3080 TI both have very similar power requirements. The RTX 3080 has a TDP of 320W, and the RTX 3080 TI has a TDP of 350W, so there’s not much difference in the recommended power supply.
So to answer your question, the RTX 3080 and the 3080 TI can both be powered perfectly fine with a decent quality 850W power supply. Just ensure that you research the brand, the reviews, and how quality of the components.
What Are The RTX 3080 & 3080 TI Power Requirements?
The RTX 3080 and the 3080 TI both require at least a 750W power supply, so an 850W power supply will be more than enough, and it’ll ensure that you have room to upgrade.
It’s always important to ensure that you have a surplus of power, this ensures that all your components can run effectively and efficiently. You don’t want your components to be underpowered as this can result in undesirable effects such as stuttering, FPS drops, and crashes.
Both RTX 3080 and 3080 TI are dual-slot graphics cards, and they will draw power from a 1x 12-pin power connector.
Please note, power requirements change significantly with how you intend on using your system. Overclocking, and running your system at high settings will increase the power requirements.
| Specs | RTX 3080 | RTX 3080 TI |
|---|---|---|
| Cuda Cores: | 8704 | 10240 |
| Clock Speed: | 1440 MHz/1710 MHz | 1365 MHz/1665 MHz |
| TDP: | 320W | 350W |
| Suggested PSU | 750W | 750W |
Also Read: Best 850W Power Supplies
Recommended Build For RTX 3080 & 3080 TI
It’s important to note that TDP isn’t entirely accurate when it comes to measuring how much power a component will use. TDP is simply an operational ceiling, and the actual operational use is significantly lower than TDP.
If you add up the total TDP of the components in the table below, it will be significantly larger than the recommended 750W of power, but that’s not the case in real-life situations. It’s unlikely that all your components will be running at 100% use 24/7
Also, I recommend that you have at least a 100-150W buffer for your system, so an 850W power supply can actually be perfect for an RTX 3080/3080 TI build if you want to ensure everything is powered perfectly.
What this will allow you to do is allow you add even more PCI-E components, perhaps add a water cooling loop, and allows for even more drivers, and fans. Flexibility is crucial when upgrading your system.
| Component | Estimated Power Draw (TDP) |
|---|---|
| RTX 3080 | 320W |
| RTX 3080 TI | 350W |
| Top Tier CPU (I9 13900K) | 253W |
| Motherboard | 50W |
| Optical Drive | 5W |
| 3.5 Drive | 15W |
| M.2 Drive | 5W |
| Case Fans(X3) | 15W |
What If I Want To Overclock?
Additional power is definitely required when overclocking, the power draw is increased significantly as clock speed and power draw are directly related. So if you’re going to overclock your power supply, an 850W power supply is definitely required.
And if you intend on overclocking all your components, that’s GPU, CPU, and RAM, then I’d go as far as to recommend a 1000W power supply to cover all your system’s power needs.
So yes, overclocking your RTX 3080 and 3080 TI can easily require an extra 100-150W of power. Trust me, it’s better to be safe than sorry, and ensure that you have more wattage than needed when going for overclocks.
What Power Supply Efficiency Is Best For 850W Power Supplies?
The best power supply efficiency for 850W power supplies is 80+ Gold, and 80+ Platinum. It’s rare you will find an 80+ Titanium 850W power supply, and going for anything below gold generally isn’t recommended.
80+ Certification helps ensure that your power supply is energy friendly, and that it’s not wasting a lot of energy in the form of heat. The more efficient your power supply is, the more energy you will save over time.
Also, more efficient power supplies tend to be a little safer, this is because they have to use higher quality components such as Japanese capacitors to achieve such high efficiencies.
| Certification Level | 20% | 50% | 100% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 80+ PLUS: | 80% | 80% | 80% |
| 80+ PLUS BRONZE: | 82% | 85% | 82% |
| 80+ SILVER: | 85% | 88% | 85% |
| 80+ GOLD: | 87% | 90% | 87% |
| 80+ PLATINUM: | 90% | 92% | 89% |
| 80% TITANIUM: | 92% | 94% | 90% |
What Cables Are Necessary For RTX 3080 & 3080 TI
Required Power Supply Cables:
- 24 pin for the motherboard
- 4/8 pin for the CPU
- SATA power connector for storage devices
You need to ensure that your power supply comes with all the necessary cables so you are able to power your graphics cards. Higher-end fully modular power supplies usually come with all the cables you need.
Cheaper power supplies will usually give you the bare minimum, and you should never skimp out on a power supply. This is your most important component, it’s responsible for delivering power to your expensive hardware, so make sure it’s high-end.
Before buying a power supply, check the documentation of the RTX 3080 and 3080 TI graphics cards for what cables they use, and ensure that the power supply you’re buying comes with these cables.
Generally, the RTX 3080 and 3080 TI will need a 1x12pin power connector.
Should I Get A Modular Power Supply?
While not entirely necessary, fully modular power supplies do have an advantage over non-modular power supplies. It’s more of a high-end feature, but it can be useful as you can remove unnecessary cables that cause clutter, and inhibit airflow.
If you only use a few PCI-E ports on the power supply, you can remove the cables you are not using, this will help immensely with cable management and help keep your build clean and dust free.
And with high end power supplies, they all tend to be fully modular anyways. It’s pretty rare to find a decent non modular power supply, so naturally, you will end up getting a fully modular power supply if you go for high-quality units.
Conclusion
In conclusion 850W of power is more than enough for an RTX 3080 and 3080 TI, you only really need 750W. But if you go for 850W of power, you’re able to easily upgrade your machine, and perhaps perform some overclocks.
In general, it’s good to have a surplus of power anyways, this ensures that all your components receive power, and it also allows room for upgrading in the future.
Also Read: Is 850W Enough For RTX 3070 & 3070 TI
