Monday, November 30th 2020
NVIDIA: 12-pin Connector is Here to Stay on GeForce RTX 3070
When NVIDIA announced its contest on Twitter for users to win a GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card, by simply re-tweeting the post tagging a friend, there was something strange in the tweet. The concept art of the RTX 3070 card used in the post was a bit off. Instead of it featuring a regular design and connectors, the RTX 3070 picture used had an 8-pin PCIe power connector to power the card. That leads many to wonder what is going on with NVIDIA's new 12-pin power connector and has the company decided to abandon it so soon. However, we got the first response to those rumors from NVIDIA spokesman for Tom's Hardware. The company has responded that "tweet used concept art only, which is being replaced." So it was a marketing mistake, which NVIDIA is aware of and is fixing, and no, the 12-pin connector is not going away anytime soon it seems.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
15 Comments on NVIDIA: 12-pin Connector is Here to Stay on GeForce RTX 3070
The point is you shouldn't need a special cable when 2 x 8 pin would work perfectly fine. Nvidia's 12-pin connector is a compromise YOU as the customer are making for Nvidia's design choice.
Yes, you can get one adapter free for now. What happens if you loose it? How long term is Nvidia and it's partners going to make these 12-pin adapters? What happens in the off chance that your adapter malfunctions years down the road?
Just potential extra headaches that are completely unwarranted.
As people should. Nvidia totally misfired this timing. If they had pushed this down our throats with Turing while AMD had nothing to play with, sure. But now? This is dead until both camps move to a 12 pin.
It does fit the whole Ampere release in terms of misfiring. Not sure what drugs Huang was on, but damn. Its a strange definition of downsizing, that. I call it keeping busy
Changing something virtually always comes with hassle to some extent or another, granted I don't think they did a 'perfect' implementation of the new connector, this feels like a pretty gentle way to push it out, only a limited number of their founder only cards come with them, and hassle minimisation has been entered into with the adapter. I wouldn't think many PSU manufacturers would start making/shipping their products with the 12 pin prior to any product existing that needed it, at least not significantly ahead. I'm willing to grant you could lose the adapter, and it could malfunction, but I don't think they're significant roadblocks to starting the journey of an improved connection.
I don't think they get a free pass on doing it 'poorly', I just don't think it's really all that big of a deal.