Monday, February 19th 2024
NVIDIA RTX 50-series "Blackwell" to Debut 16-pin PCIe Gen 6 Power Connector Standard
NVIDIA is reportedly looking to change the power connector standard for the fourth successive time in a span of three years, with its upcoming GeForce RTX 50-series "Blackwell" GPUs, Moore's Law is Dead reports. NVIDIA began its post 8-pin PCIe journey with the 12-pin Molex MicroFit connector for the GeForce RTX 3080 and RTX 3090 Founders Edition cards. The RTX 3090 Ti would go on to standardize the 12VHPWR connector, which the company would debut across a wider section of its GeForce RTX 40-series "Ada" product stack (all SKUs with TGP of over 200 W). In the face of rising complains of the reliability of 12VHPWR, some partner RTX 40-series cards are beginning to implement the pin-compatible but sturdier 12V-2x6. The implementation of the 16-pin PCIe Gen 6 connector would be the fourth power connector change, if the rumors are true. A different source says that rival AMD has no plans to change from the classic 8-pin PCIe power connectors.
Update 15:48 UTC: Our friends at Hardware Busters have reliable sources in the power supply industry with equal access to the PCIe CEM specification as NVIDIA, and say that the story of NVIDIA adopting a new power connector with "Blackwell" is likely false. NVIDIA is expected to debut the new GPU series toward the end of 2024, and if a new power connector was in the offing, by now the power supply industry would have some clue. It doesn't. Read more about this in the Hardware Busters article in the source link below.
Update Feb 20th: In an earlier version of the article, it was incorrectly reported that the "16-pin connector" is fundamentally different from the current 12V-2x6, with 16 pins dedicated to power delivery. We have since been corrected by Moore's Law is Dead, that it is in fact the same 12V-2x6, but with an updated PCIe 6.0 CEM specification.
Sources:
Moore's Law is Dead, Hardware Busters
Update 15:48 UTC: Our friends at Hardware Busters have reliable sources in the power supply industry with equal access to the PCIe CEM specification as NVIDIA, and say that the story of NVIDIA adopting a new power connector with "Blackwell" is likely false. NVIDIA is expected to debut the new GPU series toward the end of 2024, and if a new power connector was in the offing, by now the power supply industry would have some clue. It doesn't. Read more about this in the Hardware Busters article in the source link below.
Update Feb 20th: In an earlier version of the article, it was incorrectly reported that the "16-pin connector" is fundamentally different from the current 12V-2x6, with 16 pins dedicated to power delivery. We have since been corrected by Moore's Law is Dead, that it is in fact the same 12V-2x6, but with an updated PCIe 6.0 CEM specification.
106 Comments on NVIDIA RTX 50-series "Blackwell" to Debut 16-pin PCIe Gen 6 Power Connector Standard
Anyone can see from a mile that they(PCI-SIG, AMD, Intel) jebaited nvidia with the 12vhpwr
(Note: I know nothing about the timeline regarding 12vhpwr)
2. Also at Linux nVidia device drivers are available and working. They are just closed source in difference to nVidia.
3. What someone tests about anything doesn't bother me. Every tester will sell their soul if it brings them a benefit. As their job title says they try to influece you to buy a certain product. In my time it was named Marketing. In difference to them I decide on pure facts. No matter what an influencer trying to force me to.
In general it still keeps a fact that this 12VHPWR adapter is less reliable than the PCIe one. Right now the 12VHPWR plug is a piece of crap. That's the real and only reason why they introduced the modification. Also one faces big problems there when he needs to use small radiusses at the cable. They are not possible. Within the next four or five years that standard will become mature so that it will be reliable like the PCIe cable since years. But it isn't now. I'm also not that dumb early adopter. So they can get over to me after the adapter got mature. As easy as that.
I find the whole power consumption argument interesting as Nvidia users didn't seem to care with the RTX 3000 series. The difference in 350 vs 400 watts isn't going to show up on a power bill.
www.techpowerup.com/review/asrock-radeon-rx-7900-xtx-taichi/37.htmlThe RTX 3090 and 3090Ti has the 12 pin connector, unless the 7900XTX series was still being designed, AMD chose not to use it for whatever reason.
There are other threads here showing some RTX 40 series PCB's having the pin pads for 8 pin connectors, although with how Nvidia forces their AIB's to design their cards I don't doubt Nvidia forced AIB's to use the 12 pin connector.
Anyway, I posted on the nvidia subreddit a while ago, to point out a few of the flaws with the new connector, and man the people there did not like that one bit. Like come on guys, I bought a 4090, I have to absolutely love this new connector to show my loyalty to the brand or something? Can I not just, buy some of the products while also criticizing the bits I don't like?
People seem to take this stance where its like "well my 4090 didn't melt so I guess that means no 4090s melt unless the user does something wrong" I know that was the prevailing narrative for a while but the fact that the updated 12V-2x6 connectors continue to melt kind of throws that into doubt.
But you proved my point about the power efficiency: 419 W average gaming load correlates to... the absolute maximum that my Strix OC 4080 (basically this is the 4080 with the second highest power limit available, other than the exotic Galax OC Lab with dual 12VHPWR connectors) is even allowed to pull with the power limit slider maxed out. It's a lot of energy, and an amount that no 4080/S is going to use regardless of workload unless you're doing some pretty extreme overclocking. It might not show immediately on the power bill (unless you're based in Europewhere every kWh is counting, apparently), but it sure does a number on your thermals and that has implications of their own, where is this heat being dumped? Your case? Your room? More work for your AC if applicable? ;)
i hope u guys can even sleeps because the huge connector stress...
Maybe go out sometimes? and leave computer inside.
I only recently learnt that Nvidia started quietly releasing new GPUs with a revised connector. So the issues swept under a rug for existing owners of the beta product.The FE's also had less stress on bending the cables as the connector itself is angled on the GPU.
This is why old school (tech) forums are much better for a slightly more nuanced debate, at least you can deal with more adults here.