YEYIAN at the 2024 International CES displayed some really wacky cooling and power solutions. Over in the cooling front, was got to see a super rare 480 mm AIO. This cooler has a 480 mm x 120 mm radiator, which requires four 120 mm in a row. We're not sure if there are any cases that support this radiator size, but we're sure it could become a thing. It would be interesting to compare the cooling performance of a 480 mm x 120 mm AIO with that of a 420 mm x 140 mm (a much more popular form-factor). YEYIAN's AIO coolers come in three sizes—360 mm x 120 mm, 480 mm x 120 mm, and 420 mm x 140 mm. The pump-blocks feature a 2.1-inch IPS LCD display with 480 x 480 pixels resolution, which can be programmed to display anything. Each of the included fans turn at speeds of up to 2600 RPM, pushing up to 72 CFM of airflow, with as high as 23 dBA noise.

Next up, YEYIAN showed off its Orion series full modular ATX 3.1 power supplies. These meet the latest ATX 3.1 and PCIe Gen 5 spec; and offer a native 12V-2x6 power connector, the successor to 12VHPWR with more mechanical durability, which can deliver 600 W of continuous power. The YEYIAN Orion series comes in 850 W, 1300 W, and 1600 W capacities, with the 1300 W and 1600 W models meeting 80 Plus Platinum efficiency; while the 850 W model meets 80 Plus Gold. All three are equipped with a 600 W-capable 12V-2x6; the top 1600 W offers two of these in case you have one of those crazy GALAX HOF RTX 4090 cards.

The theme at be quiet! this CES is all about RGB lighting and white color variants. This is a big aesthetic departure from be quiet! which tends to have understated, mostly black product styling, with minimal use of RGB. Ah well, as long as it's all quiet. Among the cases, we saw all-white editions of the Dark Base 701, and Dark Base Pro 901 cases. The Dark Base 701 white retains its essential design and functionality, but now gets two addressable RGB silicone diffusers along the sides of the front panel. The interiors are all white, as are the included fans. The Dark Base Pro 901 white lacks any such RGB lighting elements, it's more of just a whitewash.

As we said, be quiet! is betting big on RGB and white color scheme this year, and has unveiled white variants of its Silent Wings 4, Light Wings, and Pure Wings 3 fan series, across all available sizes. These see white take over the frames and impellers. be quiet! collaborated with SignalRGB, the experts in elaborate RGB lighting, to create an art piece—a wall of 192 Light Wings White fans, all controlled through a single machine. The fans work like a mosaic to create actual images when viewed from a distance. Very creative!

A refreshing change with Thermaltake's power supply exhibition this CES was that it brought out all its mid-range capacities ranging between 750 W to 1000 W. This is the only narrow band in which you can expect 12VHPWR or 12V-2x6 connectors that are rated for 450 W or above, which is needed if you plan on GPUs such as the RTX 4080 SUPER or above. The new Toughpower SFX Platinum series comes in the traditional SFX form-factor, and in high wattage models such as 750 W, 850 W, and 1000 W. It fully meets the latest ATX 3.1 specification, and comes with a native 12V-2x6 connector (a more mechanically sound 12VHPWR successor). The Toughpower SFX has broadly two variants, Gold and Platinum, aligning with their respective 80 Plus ratings.

Thermaltake shows us their third generation of Dr Power, the hardware-based in-line PSU tester. The new Dr Power III is aware of ATX 3.1, and has a native 12V-2x6 connector that's compatible with 12VHPWR. With this, you can check for faults in any of the voltage domains. The 24-pin connector should tell you if any of the smaller voltage domains such as 5 V, 5 Vsb, and 3.3 V, has suffered a fault.

SilverStone today introduced what is possibly the highest Wattage PSU in the SFX-L form-factor, the Extreme1200R Platinum. This contemporary PSU meets SFX12V 4.1 specification, which is comparable to ATX 3.1, along with PCIe CEM 5. It includes a native 12V-2x6 power connector capable of 600 W continuous power delivery and excursions within the PCIe Gen 5 spec. 12V-2x6 is a successor to 12VHPWR, and is designed to be less flimsy and prone to burn-outs than 12VHPWR, from improper connector coupling or cable bending.

The SilverStone Extreme1200R Platinum delivers 1200 W using a single 100 A +12 V rail, with Cybenetics Platinum rated switching efficiency. It comes with an all Japanese capacitor design, with most common electrical protections, against over/under voltage, overload, overheat, and short-circuit. A 120 mm fluid dynamic bearing fan is used to keep cool. Connectors include a 24-pin ATX, two 4+4 pin EPS, a 600 W 12V-2x6, four 6+2 pin PCIe, eight SATA power, three 4-pin Molex, and a Berg. The company didn't reveal pricing.

Seasonic is ready with a modular PSU cable for the new 12V-2x6 standard, which succeeds 12VHPWR. Intel felt the need to introduce the new cable standard as part of the new ATX 3.1 specification as the 12VHPWR is flimsy, and poses a burn-out hazard in case of an improper contact. For modular PSU manufacturers, implementing the new connector is as easy as selling or giving away a modular cable that plugs into the 12VHPWR connector on the PSU's backplane, and puts out a 12V-2x6 connector on the other end, and so as a leading power supply OEM, Seasonic is handing out such cables for free, but there's a catch.

Seasonic is giving away a modular PSU cable that plugs into a 12VHPWR on the PSU's backplate on one end, and puts out a new ATX 3.1 standards compliant 12V-2x6 connector on the other end, which promises greater mechanical stability over the 12VHPWR. The cable is free, however, it requires users to sign up to a "Beta Tester Program" by Seasonic. We haven't read the terms and conditions of the program, but we predict it to be a form of waiver against any damage liability—you use the cable at your own risk. The cable features 16-AWG wires, and a connector that's aligned at a 90° angle. The capable is capable of 600 W of continuous output and excursions within the ATX 3.1 and PCIe CEM 5.1 specifications.

Taiwanese power supply manufacturer FSP showcased upcoming products for 2023 and 2024. This included new power supply lineups with updated naming schemes - the entry-level VITA series, mid-range ADVAN series, and high-end MEGA and DAGGER series. The simplified naming clarifies the differentiation between affordable, mainstream, and premium offerings across wattages and efficiency certifications. Specific new PSU models include 1500+ Watts beasts for maxed-out systems, redundant server-class units ensuring uptime, and 80+ Titanium efficiency ratings for eco-conscious builds. Star of the show is FSP's flagship unit, which boasts a staggering 2500 Watts, 100% modular cabling, and cutting-edge 12V-2x6 PCIe Gen 5 graphics card power connectors.

Called the Cannon Pro, the 2500-watt power supply has four 12V-2x6 PCIe Gen 5 connectors to feed even the highest power-rated GPUs and the three 6+2-pin connectors. This new PSU is also rated for ATX 3.1 specifications, 80+ Platinum Specification, and the upgraded version of the 12VHPWR PCIe Gen 5 connector, supposedly overcoming all the issues, in the form of a 12V-2x6 PCIe Gen 5 connector. The PSU should be able to power four NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs simultaneously with its high capacity. Pricing and availability aren't specified, so we must wait for FSP to launch these products in 2024.

Thermaltake, the leading PC DIY premium brand for Case, Power, Cooling, Gaming peripherals, and enthusiast Memory solutions, is proud to announce the launch of the Toughpower TF3 1550 W, a high-end ATX 3.0 PSU designed to fully power up high-performance systems. The two advanced native PCIe 12V-2x6 modular interfaces compatible with 12+4-pin cable enables more stable support for next-gen hardware with its new technology. With its superior 80 Plus Titanium efficiency and specifications that are more strict than Intel's standards, the Toughpower TF3 1550 W can provide overclockers high-quality and stable power for their PC builds.

The TF3 1550 W meets Intel ATX 3.0 standards, supporting up to 200% total power excursion, 300% GPU power excursion, and 70% low load efficiency. Additionally, the TF3 1550 W has great GPU compatibility, it includes two native PCIe 12V-2X6 connectors that can connect to the latest RTX 40 series, and also supports 8-pin PCIe cables for AMD GPUs & other RTX GPUs. There is an extra jumper accessory in the package that can deliver electricity to the system without connecting to the motherboard, and it can be very helpful if you install more than one power supply.

Hardware Busters put the new 12V-2x6 connector—which is part of the ATX v3.1 standard—to the test to see how it compares to the 12VHPWR connector and the results are very encouraging. Not only does the 12V-2x6 cables appear to run at much cooler temperature, even at a 55 Ampere load, although the setup that was tested had only been running at this load for around 30 minutes. Even so, the cable and connector was only reading a surface temperature of around 46 degrees, which is well within specs.

However, to show that the new connector wouldn't suffer the catastrophic failure that some 12VHPWR connectors have suffered due to not having been mated properly with the connector on the graphics card, the same test was also performed with the connector partially inserted. Based on the test equipment shown in the video, there was no variation in Voltage, Amps or temperature. The specific cable was produced by a company in China called Linewell that apparently makes the PSU cables for ASUS among others. The secret behind the improved connector is a combination of new pins inside the connector and the shorter auxiliary pins which means that a poorly inserted connector won't allow the GPU to request higher power levels from the PSU. The new pins inside of the connectors appear to be solving the thermal issues as well, so hopefully we won't be reading about any more melted connectors in the future. See the video after the break for more details.

FSP has declared that it intends to update its entire 2023 PSU product lineup to include the latest "12V-2x6" power connector (part of the ATX 3.0 standard)—harukaze5719 posted about this development earlier today, citing a Quasarzone article. We heard mid-summer about PCI-SIG plowing ahead on an all-new ATX 3.0 connector to replace the 16-pin (12+4) 12VHPWR plug. They hope to introduce some key improvements with their new design, mainly in the areas of ease-of-use and safety.

TPU staffers had hands-on time with FSP's 2023 PSU product line at their Computex 2023 booth, showcased units were equipped with 16-pin 12VHPWR (at the time). Quasarzone's report (covering a recent press conference) has the following FSP power supply families listed with updates to the new "12V-2x6" standard: Hydro G PRO 1200 W ATX 3.0, Hydro PTM X PRO ATX 3.0 and Dagger PRO ATX 3.0.

A few weeks ago, we reported that NVIDIA is already shipping its GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition cards with an improved 12VHPWR connector called 12V-2x6. However, today we learn that NVIDIA is also now shipping GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition with an improved 12V-2x6 connector. Thanks to the Reddit user u/prackprackprack posting in r/NVIDIA, the user reported that his Founders Edition RTX 4090 has shortened sensing pins on the connector. If not adequately plugged in, the sensing pins will not allow the card to draw full power and melt the connector. Besides RTX 4070 FE, the RTX 4090 FE is now updated as well, which makes sense as it is the most power-hungry card in the family. However, this may be a partial 12V-2x6 implementation. Below, you can see images showing shortened sensing pins.

A few days ago, we reported that NVIDIA and PCI-SIG have been doing some work around the existing controversial 12VHPWR power connector to make some improvements and prevent issues that happened along the way. Called 12V-2x6, the connector features minor revisions, and you can read more about it here. Today, we learn that NVIDIA has already been shipping implementations of the new 12V-2x6 connector in GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards, confirmed by Igor's Lab. Majority of RTX 4070 cards from AIBs shipped with 8-pin PCI connector; however, it turns out that cards that didn't use the reference 12-pin connection carried a new 12V-2x6 revision.

Below, you can see the picture comparison with the connectors from the Founders Edition of GeForce RTX 4070 and RTX 4080. The new connector on the RTX 4070 has shorter sensing pins, which can detect whether the connector is fully plugged in. If not plugged all the way, the card will not draw the required maximum power load. This should, in theory, solve connector burning issues happening in the past; however, we are still left to see. In addition, we are not sure if this is the final implementation of the new connector, as the labeling refferest to it as "H+", whereas the new connector should carry the label "H++" on its module. Igor's Lab article notes, "Since the GeForce RTX 4070 FE, NVIDIA has already been using a modified 12VHPWR connector with significantly recessed pins! While the GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition still relies on the header from the CEM 5.0 with only 0.45 mm offset, the GeForce RTX 4070 Founders Edition has been using a modified variant with 1.7 mm inward offset since its launch, similar to the 12V-2x6 connector."

According to Igor's Lab, who has gotten their hands on a PCI-SIG draft engineer change notice, it looks like the not entirely uncontroversial 12VHPWR connector won't be long lived. The PCI-SIG is getting ready to replace it with the 12V-2x6 connector, which will be part of the ATX 3.1 spec and the PCI Express 6.0 spec. The new connector doesn't appear to have any major physical changes though, but there have been mechanical modifications, such as the sense pins having been recessed further back, to make sure a proper contact is made before higher power outputs can be requested by the GPU. The good news is that at least in the draft spec, the 12V-2x6 connector will be backwards compatible with 12VHPWR connectors.

One of the bigger changes, at least when it comes to how much power the new connector can deliver, is that there will be new 150 and 300 Watt modes in addition to the 450 and 600 Watt modes for the sense pin detection. The 12V-2x6 connector is rated for at least 9.2 Amps per pin and the new connectors will carry a H++ logo, with th older 12VHPWR connectors getting a H+ logo. The PCI-SIG has also added stricter requirements when it comes to the cable design and quality, which should hopefully prevent some of the issues the 12VHPWR implementations have suffered from. We should find out more details once the PCI-SIG has finalised the 12V-2x6 connector specification. In the meantime, you can hit up the source link for more technical drawings and details.