NVIDIA Confirms 12-pin GPU Power Connector
by Dr. Ian Cutress on August 26, 2020 9:00 AM EST
Today as part of a video showcasing NVIDIA’s mechanical and industrial design of its GPUs, and how it gets a large GPU to dissipate heat, the company went into some detail about how it needed to improve the design of all mechanical and electrical aspects of the board to aid cooling. This means implementing leaf springs for a back plate solution, as well as vapor chamber technology and using the right sorts of fans and fan management software.
As part of this video showcase, the company also shows its new 12-pin power connector. It also shows the 12-pin connector running perpendicular to the PCB, which is very interesting indeed.
Users who follow the tech news may have seen a few posts circling the internet regarding this 12-pin power connector, with a Seasonic cable that puts together two of the standard PCIe 8-pin connectors into one of NVIDIA’s new 12-pin designs.
Image from Hardwareluxx
NVIDIA states in the video that this 12-pin design is of its own creation. It isn’t clear if this is set to become a new standard in power cable connectivity for power supplies, however going forward we assume that most graphics cards that have this 12-pin power design will have to come with an additional 2x8-pin to 12-pin power cable included. We wait to see if that's the case, or if it will be up to future power supplies to bundle the appropriate connector.
More details about the connector are expected to appear on September 1st during NVIDIA’s GeForce Special Event.
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DoomSlayer - Friday, August 28, 2020 - link
If it wouldn't fit into my case, I will switch.It's the same logic as its too big for your house you wouldn't buy it.
GNUminex_l_cowsay - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
I have a box full of adapters from when graphics cards first started using 6-pin pcie power and from the transition to sata power. The adapters came with the devices that required them for a time extending well beyond PSUs without the 'new' connectors were common place. The changes in power connectors were not a big deal then and they won't be now.The real problem I see is that despite the prevalence of (semi/fully) modular power supplies that are fully capable of providing power to the new standards as is. You can't just get a new cable for your PSU because there is no way to know what the pin-out on the PSU is without a multi-meter.
UltraWide - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
People are always afraid of change, the initial reaction always follows the Kübler-Ross model with the following emtions: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.Someone has to innovate! At least Nvidia is trying!
DigitalFreak - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
If some of these people were in charge of tech companies, we'd still be running single core CPUs with Geforce 256 class GPUs!MrVibrato - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Ha, you're an optimist. If these people were in charge, something like a Geforce 256 would still be future tech, and he industry would still hesitate to move from the XT platform to the AT...jeremyshaw - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Seriously, people were whining and griping about HW T&L back during the Geforce 256 launch. "Muh CPU can do all of that in software rendering mode!" "No game uses this nowadays, why waste precious silicon on it?" Not exact quotes, but that sort of general malarkey. Fuddy duddy FUDDs exist in all sorts of environments, sadly holding back any ideas and progress beyond what they had (n-1) years ago, because "things were better back then."MrVibrato - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
You are wrong. People are not afraid of change.They are hysterically psychotic about it.
SanX - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Who cares about connector. How about HDMI 2.1 to drive 8k monitors at 60Hz with full gamma? Damn Samsung and graphics card manufacturers do not dance together with this respect. Latter ones have the DisplayPort which is capable to drive such monitors but Samsung 8k monitors do not have DisplayPort connections at all, only HDMIZoolook - Thursday, August 27, 2020 - link
That's because they are not monitors, they are consumer TV's.Samsung monitors have DP, but I agree it would make sense for Samsung to add one DP 2.0 input to High end TV's.
Zoolook - Thursday, August 27, 2020 - link
Darn edit function, You can get HDMI 2.0 functionality via a cheap passive adapter with videocards supporting DP++ however.