The Curious Case of the 12-pin Power Connector: It's Real and Coming with NVIDIA Ampere GPUs

[cucker tarlson]

I'm just not convinced that this can offer any selling point. It's not going to be cheaper because production volume for the new plug will be low, so the connector will be a buck or so more expensive, which will turn into $10 retail at least, probably more for marketing, logos and stickers. All for the convenience of plugging in one fewer cable?

Also I'm highly skeptical how they plan on cooling 400+ W cards. Good 2080 Tis are like 35 dBA at 350 W, I'm not sure if I would buy a $1000+ card that's not quiet and that heats up my room like crazy, even if it can run 4K 120 Hz

prolly just those that need 8+8 or higher
and the new cooler design will be more expensive too

 

[BoboOOZ]

Also I'm highly skeptical how they plan on cooling 400+ W cards. Good 2080 Tis are like 35 dBA at 350 W, I'm not sure if I would buy a $1000+ card that's not quiet and that heats up my room like crazy, even if it can run 4K 120 Hz

For an expensive card, liquid cooling should be q perfectly acceptable option. But it will still warm up your room nicely...

 

[W1zzard]

For an expensive card, liquid cooling should be q perfectly acceptable option. But it will still warm up your room nicely...

Not sure, seems the market isn't buying cards with bulky water cooling radiators. RMA rates could also eat up the small profits board partners have in this business.

 

[TheDeeGee]

Lucky i'm only getting a RTX 3060 and can do with a single 8-pin (probaby).

 

[BoboOOZ]

Not sure, seems the market isn't buying cards with bulky water cooling radiators. RMA rates could also eat up the small profits board partners have in this business.

Well, sooner or later they will have to come with a solution for this.
Die sizes for GPUs are much larger than die sizes for CPUs, so either the manufacturers will have to keep leaving performance on the table (but if the competition is animated, I have a hard time imagining that they will) or they will have to come with even better coolers. And given the form aspect of graphic cards, AIO coolers seems like a simpler option than doing 3-4 slot graphic cards with air coolers.

 

[W1zzard]

Die sizes for GPUs are much larger than die sizes for CPUs

That's actually an interesting point, with 7 nm, die sizes will be smaller = higher heat density

AIO coolers seems like a simpler option than doing 3-4 slot graphic cards with air coolers

I was reasonably happy with the ASUS 2080 Ti Matrix, but not convinced this is ready for a million unit per year market

 

[ZoneDymo]

would it not be nicer if the next high end gpu's were so efficient we could just go back to a single 6pin connector or so?

 

[kiriakost]

According to latest information's regarding female Pin development , while basic Molex this can do 9A max, the newest ones are made to deliver 12A as Max.
By this information now we may make our math about Max current transfer per plug.
But the very truth this is that industry this cares to level up the average constant current transfer and this should be 30% lower than the Max for safety reasons.

 

[BoboOOZ]

would it not be nicer if the next high end gpu's were so efficient we could just go back to a single 6pin connector or so?

I used to have a passive cooled Geforce 2 MX. It probably drew 10 watts or something. We're not getting back to that, GPU's are packing more and more transistors, so you cannot reduce power draw unless you're also drastically reducing clock speeds.

BTW, that's something you can do very well yourself, my 5700XT runs mostly passively cooled at 120W.

 

[Vayra86]

Funny how when AMD has a power hungry GPU every one thinks power consumption is everything but when Nvidia hints at an upcoming power hungry atrocity everyone's cool with it.

You're on a roll aren't you? Let's just watch the dust settle and not jump on every photoshop whackjob that flies around the net...

 

[kayjay010101]

Well, sooner or later they will have to come with a solution for this.
Die sizes for GPUs are much larger than die sizes for CPUs, so either the manufacturers will have to keep leaving performance on the table (but if the competition is animated, I have a hard time imagining that they will) or they will have to come with even better coolers. And given the form aspect of graphic cards, AIO coolers seems like a simpler option than doing 3-4 slot graphic cards with air coolers.

Can't wait until reference cards start shipping as hybrids like the Fury X did. Costs a bit more and takes up at least one fan slot but it cools so much better than air cooling.

 

[RH92]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh .........

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1283502759292162051

TPU should at the very least check what the Chinese text says instead of running with whatever BS leak comes to their hands , just saying !

 

[EarthDog]

TPU should at the very least check what the Chinese text says instead of running with whatever BS leak comes to their hands , just saying !

But........... "sources". Time will tell. But if W1z says he has a source... I believe that... however not that the source is or is not right.

 

[Vya Domus]

You're on a roll aren't you?

Indeed, I can't help but notice these things.

Die sizes for GPUs are much larger than die sizes for CPUs

Intel is still making chips right up to their reticle limit and that's likely not going to change.

 

[BoboOOZ]

I was reasonably happy with the ASUS 2080 Ti Matrix, but not convinced this is ready for a million unit per year market

Haven't seen that card (a bit above my budget ) but the cooling solution is really smart. All you need is good airflow inside the case.

 

[RH92]

But........... "sources". Time will tell. But if W1z says he has a source... I believe that... however not that the source is or is not right.

Thing is the ''source'' everyone who covered this BS leak is using is precisely the Chinese text you see in that tweet so yeah , theres that . This article isn't made by W1z .

 

[Recus]

So how you connect in PSU? Also rumor says 12pin only for Founder's Edition.

Spoiler: ...

 

[lexluthermiester]

What's the point of this new connector? 6+6 or 8+6 isn't good enough? Even 8+8? This doesn't compute. I don't care what NVidia's reasonings are, this a change that has no logic. Hopefully this is just rumor..

 

[iO]

Nah. Nvidia might suggest using a new plug in a future PCIe spec revision but unless it gets approved by the PCI-SIG and becomes part of the official spec, chances are slim this will end up real.

 

[Legacy-ZA]

Not sure, seems the market isn't buying cards with bulky water cooling radiators. RMA rates could also eat up the small profits board partners have in this business.

"Small profits" Bwhawhahahahahaha! Good one.

 

[W1zzard]

"Small profits" Bwhawhahahahahaha! Good one.

"board partners". GPU makers are keeping the big profits, guys like ASUS, MSI are barely making any profit after RMA, support and marketing

 

[Vya Domus]

MSI are barely making any profit after RMA

I somehow find that hard to believe for a company with a market cap of 100 billion.

 

[W1zzard]

I somehow find that hard to believe for a company with a market cap of 100 billion.

TWD

 

[Vya Domus]

TWD

Yeah I realized that, still, they aren't exactly small.

 

[BoboOOZ]

Check out Gamer's Nexus videos, you will understand margins are smaller and smaller for partners. I think the situation was different 15 years ago, that's why there was way more innovation in the graphic cards. Nowadays all graphic cards are practically the same, give or take a few MHz here and there and a more/less accomplished cooling solution.