Originally published on SpecPeak.
Modern GPUs keep getting faster and a lot hungrier. I pulled every desktop GPU in the SpecPeak database that has both a PassMark G3D score and a rated TDP (131 cards) and looked at how power, performance and efficiency moved from 2016 to 2026. Three findings stood out.
Power draw is up ~92% in a decade
The typical card we track drew 132W in 2016. In 2025 it is 253W, a 92% jump. Peak performance roughly tripled over the same window, but a growing share of each generation's gains is paid for in watts, not architecture.
The fastest card is not the most efficient
On performance-per-watt the RTX 5090 ranks 104th of 131. Mid-range parts (RTX 4060, RTX 4070, RX 9060) lead. The 2023 RTX 4060 delivers roughly 2.5x the performance-per-watt of the 2025 RTX 5090.
A generation that went backwards
The 2023 RTX 4060 posts 169.6 PassMark per watt; its 2025 successor, the RTX 5060, manages 143.1. The older card is about 18% more efficient. Same pattern between the 4060 Ti and the 5060 Ti.
How it was computed
Efficiency = PassMark G3D / rated TDP (a comparative proxy, not measured wall power). Dataset: the 131 desktop GPUs on SpecPeak with both values, as of June 2026.
Full report with tables and the per-year breakdown: https://specpeak.com/blog/gpu-power-and-efficiency-2026
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