Asus introduces 3000-watt PSU — enough capacity to power 4 RTX 5090s

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TerriersAreAdorable@reddit

Requires 220-240 volt input, so customers in 120v markets like the US may have some extra prep to do.

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doscomputer@reddit

You aren't going to find many outlets wired for 3000w in 240v countries either. Especially in places where entire floors of a building are on a single ring circuit.

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Tessaaa58@reddit

An outlet can supply a max of about 3600W but that would mean you wouldn’t be able to add a lot more. Doubt people using this PSU will use all 3000W though so it will probably be fine.

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sysKin@reddit

Which outlet design? The ones we have in Australia are always 10 A max.

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Strazdas1@reddit

A typical 15A 240V can supply more than that and ring circuits are something youll find only in extremely old places here.

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I doubt it even gets released here in the US. We technically have a standard for 15A and 20A 240V receptacles and have 240V available in all of our homes, but I've never actually seen one of those receptacles used before.

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Olde94@reddit

Even in Europe it’s a stretch. Many only run in 10A in a group and here in Denmark 13A is the high power one. That is 3000, but most have screens/ sound/ light on the tavle and so on on the same group so you will peak above 3000. AND isn’t 3000w the output? So it will draw more than that at peak?

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Blacky-Noir@reddit

Even in Europe it’s a stretch. Many only run in 10A in a group and here in Denmark 13A is the high power one. That is 3000, but most have screens/ sound/ light on the tavle and so on on the same group so you will peak above 3000. AND isn’t 3000w the output? So it will draw more than that at peak?

You mean from the wall? It's not always this low. Here in France, in new constructions (when done half right) it's often a 16A or 20A for wall outlets circuits. Most physical receptacles are (unfortunately) rated for 16A, which is why some downgrade the circuit from 20 to 16A to avoid rare edge cases.

But I would agree that's a lot to plug in blind, even here. There's lots of old homes with very different ways, including some 10A circuits, and in the code a circuit can go up to 12 separates outlets, and so on.

It's not impossible to use, one can run (or select, or have installed) two dedicated 16 or 20A circuits, one for this PSU and one for the rest of the computer equipment for example. Even in renting situations. But it's certainly way more involved to do it this way, and most people don't know how electricity works.

On the other hand, unless the circuit is really really badly done and dangerous, at worse the breaker will pop and the buyer will have to investigate and learn.

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VenditatioDelendaEst@reddit

Anything shorter than a few tens of ms should be screened off from the line side, because a PSU needs enough bulk capacitance to buffer energy over the AC cycle (for power factor correction) and meet hold-up time requirements (for UPS switchover).

And statistically, its unlikely for all 4 GPUs to spike at the same time.

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Olde94@reddit

Awesome, thanks!

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gdnws@reddit

I've seen one out in the wild. A house that I've been working on lately has a NEMA 6-15 receptacle in the kitchen and in a room in the basement. The one in the kitchen baffles me since it is on the wall above the counter in a place that wouldn't have the space for any large appliance. Whomever had it installed probably did so with a particular appliance in mind and I would love to know what it was.

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shadowtheimpure@reddit

I have a 240V 3000 Watt induction wok stove that uses NEMA 6-15. It's a countertop appliance.

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gdnws@reddit

Until I saw that someone put a plug in, it had never occurred to me try to find 240v countertop appliances here in North America, at least outside commercial stuff. A 3000W wok sounds like it would be really good.

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Olde94@reddit

It’s interesting to read about US, cause i have an 11kw stove and it’s just a common one over here

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gdnws@reddit

For built in appliances, it is pretty common that they run at 240v so same as everywhere else, although 11kw for a stove is rather on the high side for us as a common breaker size for a stove is 40a. It's the smaller typically less permanent things that run at half voltage that are often lower power since the current isn't doubled to compensate.

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Ok-Discussion-6882@reddit

Mu stove runs at 400v, more powerrrr

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gdnws@reddit

Speed and power solves everything. For everything else there's a hammer.

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Olde94@reddit

Makes sense. A common 60cm stove is also “only” around the 7,5kw. In reality our 400V is a 3-phase 230v @16A. The math is something about using the qubed root to get total power draw. But 2-phase for stove and 1 for oven is not uncommon which is 3,7kw per phase

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gdnws@reddit

I don't think I've ever seen 3 phase here in residential construction here outside of large apartment buildings. And in those cases they're using it as 2 legs of 3 phase as a single phase with a neutral to get 208v line to line and 120v line to neutral.

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Strazdas1@reddit

tri-phase is legally required for all new residential here and are usually used for electric stoves.

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Olde94@reddit

Interesting. It’s common to have for the kitchen/car charger etc.

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Strazdas1@reddit

can it put 11 kw into a single slot though? or is that 4 slot one with max rating of 3kw for single slot?

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Olde94@reddit

yeah most limit it to 3,7kw per zone. So say i have 4 slots only using 2 of the 3 phases. One phase is used on the right side and one on the left, but you do plug in all 2-3 wires (depending on model) so as long as the electrical engineer do the no lazy job, you can put that much in. I think mine unfortunately work this way, but i did see a 3-zone one where the large zone allowed for 5kW on that one alone. So it all depends on the engineering inside, not the power delivery available.

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Strazdas1@reddit

Yeah, mine technically can utilize full tri-phase option but i find that if i use more than two zones at once the stoves electronics overheat and it throws me an error, then i have to wait until it cools down.

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Olde94@reddit

As an engineer working in R&D all i can say is: sounds like a bad/cheap design (no matter what you paid).

I’ve never seen an error but i think mine auto adjust intensity down after x-amount of minutes at peak output

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Strazdas1@reddit

Its a model from 2011 and i did place it in a place where it cannot cool itself down properly so im not really mad at it. Im sure design could have been better but oh well.

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Olde94@reddit

Ahh fair! Perhaps try and clean the cooler if it’s not glued in place

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shadowtheimpure@reddit

Five seconds from cold to smoking hot. Thirty seconds on full power and that wok begins to glow.

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gdnws@reddit

Now that's proper

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Olde94@reddit

I have a 400V 11kw induction stove top here across the pond.

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Dreamerlax@reddit

A 6-15 would be nice on the counter. For a water kettle. Water boils much faster on 240 V.

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gdnws@reddit

If I were to experience making tea with a 3kw kettle, I would probably consider myself obligated to install one of those outlets in my kitchen.

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Strazdas1@reddit

if you are using one of those 3000W water kettles that people usually put on top of the counter youll need it.

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shugthedug3@reddit

Kettle for sure, 120v is painfully slow for those.

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ritz_are_the_shitz@reddit

Might be an espresso machine

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gdnws@reddit

That or a kettle are the leading guesses so far. It is in the right place for that sort of thing; it is at the end of the counter with a peninsula and some display shelves.

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steik@reddit

For a kitchen counter it would very likely just be for a water kettle.

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gdnws@reddit

I had thought either that or a coffee maker. Perhaps they had experienced the speed at which they could make tea in UK/Europe and decided that they needed that at home.

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ThankGodImBipolar@reddit

You could potentially get a two-pole breaker, move your neutral onto it, and get 240V at the outlet. Not advice though!

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Asleeper135@reddit

That's technically true, but it's also a very bad idea and almost certainly illegal. Besides being able to physically handle a given load, the reason we use different receptacles is to prevent something from being mistakenly plugged in where it shouldn't be. Having 240V present on a recptacle made for 120V devices is a serious fire hazard.

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ThankGodImBipolar@reddit

I’m an electrician, and I would curse the name of whoever did that if I ever came across it at a job somewhere. Just thought it was worth pointing out.

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Asleeper135@reddit

Lol good, just making sure nobody actually tries this.

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ThankGodImBipolar@reddit

I looked in the CEC (I’m Canadian) for lols and I think technically speaking you might be allowed to use the identified (neutral) conductor for other purposes if you’ve painted or phase taped every visible part of it. I suspect it would fail inspection under the “quality of work” rule though…

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zakats@reddit

I rented a duplex in college that had one. I think it was meant to be for a wall-mounted A/C unit, but was replaced with a 120v model at some point.

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Alive_Worth_2032@reddit

I mean it's gonna be problematic here in Sweden as well. Since most domestic circuits are wired for 6A or 10A.

Gonna have to wire up a separate 16A run just for this PSU if you want to max it out.

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BluudLust@reddit

Commonly used for the drier and HVACs afaik

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TheMegaDriver2@reddit

Even in the 240v world here you cannot just plug in 3000 watts. Most plugs are rated for 10A continuous.

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uwuwotsdps42069@reddit

*unplugs dryer

“Oh yeah, it’s gamer time”

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mrheosuper@reddit

3000w is equal to some dryer and space heater, so yeah, you lose nothing

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halotechnology@reddit

Comments like these what makes me love reddit

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

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Strazdas1@reddit

markets like US can easily run in 240v mode. The typical installation is actually a 240V split into two 120V rails.

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Deadman_Wonderland@reddit

Can I just hot wire another cable onto the main one and plug it into two different outlets?

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Glad-Audience9131@reddit

no thanks

instead going energy efficiency we embrace energy consumption at alarmant level. so no, no thanks.

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NirXY@reddit

The people who buys this most like already use 2xPSU's or perhaps even 2 seperate PC's. It's not like the hassle will prevent them from achieving their specific need or task.

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reddit-MT@reddit

OP has a point about the massive inefficiency of modern GPUs. The waste heat is ridiculous.

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VenditatioDelendaEst@reddit

Say you spend $2000 on a GPU (lowball) and run it at the full 600 W constantly (implausibly good load factor) for a year. At $0.20 / kWh, that costs $1000 in electricity.

So they really are quite efficient.

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reddit-MT@reddit

Well, PCs are nearly 100% efficient as space heaters. Nealy all of the electricity that goes in, come out as heat. It's like incandescent light bulbs. They are space heaters that happen give off light as a byproduct.

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VenditatioDelendaEst@reddit

In thermodynamic terms, yes. In colloquial terms, "efficiency" is just the ratio of desired output (which you want more of), to input (which you want to use less of).

Chips cost some amount of money $X, and electricity costs some amount of money $Y. Running a chip produces useful output Z, and generally speaking $Y ∝ Z^3 . The ratio Z / ($X + $Y) is "efficiency", in the colloquial sense.

The more time your chips spend under load, the lower the optimal W/mm^2 is.

And even at 100% load, a 600W 5090 has electricity cost not wildly out of proportion with the cost of the chip, so it is "quite efficient".

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reddit-MT@reddit

When I look at an electrical motor with 75% efficiency at a certain load, 75% of the power going in produces work in the form of rotational force and 25% is waste heat. Money has nothing do to with it, other than more expensive motors tend to be a bit more efficient.

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Zarmazarma@reddit

No, he doesn't. Every GPU generation has been more efficient than the last. Efficiency is performance/energy consumption, not energy consumption on its own.

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NirXY@reddit

Arguing this over the PSU is like arguing that the power grid supplies to much power to homes and offices. It ain't the problem source, nor the enabler.

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Zarmazarma@reddit

Believe it or not, the 5090 is the most energy efficient GPU to date.

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doscomputer@reddit

As solar and more renewables become more common, would you still have a problem with increasing power?

Like if fusion ever happens and electricity becomes free and clean, everyone would probably have a 10kw computer that does their central heating instead of a gas furnace. would be sick

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Strazdas1@reddit

Electricity will not be free with Fusion. Fusion plants will still cost to be built and maintained and thrastructure will also have costs. But yeah, energy consumption in modern world is going to increase, not decrease.

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W4DER@reddit

They are just getting ready for the next nvidia 6000...

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throwaway12junk@reddit

Doubt this will get released in the US. At 3000w, you'd need a 30A@120v circuit, which is the same as an RV power outlet. A little more realistic for the rest of the world with 240V@15A outlets though.

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TerriersAreAdorable@reddit

I made a top-level comment about this: 120v isn't even supported. You can get 240v in normal US households, but it's more typically used for electric stoves, water heaters, dryers, etc. If your panel has capacity, an electrician can install a 240v breaker and wire it to where you want this PSU to go.

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Zarmazarma@reddit

Most houses in the US have this, right? Or maybe not most if count apartments, but electric dryers and ovens aren't particularly uncommon.

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TerriersAreAdorable@reddit

I'm not sure about 100+ year old houses, but certainy anything made in the last several decades will have 240v main service, though residential locations might not have enough spare amps for another 3000 watt continuous load. This has been an issue for people wanting to add EV chargers to their garage, for example.

If you have a need for a quad 5090 setup (or equivalent), you should have the budget to overcome these issues.

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nismotigerwvu@reddit

I mean you're right that this is a nonstarter in the US, but I'd go further to argue it really doesn't make sense elsewhere either. It's a case where the finer details of circuit ratings (like say the UK trending towards 13 amp, versus 16 elsewhere...ect) aren't even needed. Flat out, this would be on it's own, dedicated circuit if you were using it anywhere remotely near capacity. That's not including monitors, a desk lap or anything, just the power supply and whatever it is driving. If you have a need this extreme, you're not shopping for this kind of power supply anyways, it's going to server/data center type hardware. So it just seems like a product for people looking for a really weird flex.

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FragrantGas9@reddit

It does seem absurd, but consider the cost of running the 4x 5090 required in a system that would need this PSU. It's conceivable for some smaller businesses or advanced (read:rich) home hobbiests / professionals could wish to build a rig with that power. Getting a 240V socket installed in the US is not crazy expensive, it's the same you'd have installed if you were adding an electric stove or dryer in a home.

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steik@reddit

This thing would be flying off the shelves if GPU crypto mining was still lucrative. The jump in cost to transition to server/datacenter hardware is astronomical. Can totally see this being something that small businesses/rich powerusers might consider if they want/need on premises hardware. You don't just jump into hosting your own datacenter unless you got millions of $ to spare.

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BluudLust@reddit

Nah, I'll just hang dry all my clothes and game in the laundry room

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FollowingFeisty5321@reddit

They used to call that steaming lol.

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reddit-MT@reddit

I have a 50a 220v outlet for my welder, I'm future proof for the next upgrade.

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steik@reddit

You can easily get a 240V@15A breaker/outlet in your American house. You may already have one if you have an electric dryer. Getting it installed would only cost a fraction of the cost of 4x RTX 5090's.

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Dreamerlax@reddit

This has higher wattage than all the desktop PSUs combined in my house lmao.

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Makere-b@reddit

I wonder who is the OEM, AFAIK Asus doesn't have their own PSU manufacturing.

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Joezev98@reddit

Four 12vhpwr ports very close to each other? That's a lot of heat generation in a small area.

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VenditatioDelendaEst@reddit

Airflow on the backside can hide many sins, I think.

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Verite_Rendition@reddit

You should see an 8-way RTX Pro 6000 setup: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/tYRZ9x267gpbwaSGSGrD24.jpg

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MaxtheBat@reddit

Everyone using dual GPUs for lossless scaling is drooling now

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Limited_Distractions@reddit

An exciting new world of betting on which connectors will melt first

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TotalWarspammer@reddit

This will be awesome for my 5090 SLI setup.

Oh, wait...

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