Monday, October 11th 2021
PCIe Gen5 "12VHPWR" Connector to Deliver Up to 600 Watts of Power for Next-Generation Graphics Cards
The upcoming graphics cards based on PCIe Gen5 standard will utilize the latest PCIe connector with double bandwidth of the previous Gen4 that we use today and bring a new power connector that the next generation of GPUs brings. According to the information exclusive to Igor's Lab, the new connector will be called the 12VHPWR and will carry as many as 16 pins with it. The reason it is called 12VHPWR is that it features 12 pins for power, while the remaining four are signal transmission connectors to coordinate the delivery. This power connector is supposed to carry as much as 600 Watts of power with its 16 pins.
The new 12VHPWR connector should work exclusively with PCIe Gen5 graphics cards and not be backward compatible with anything else. It is said to replace three standard 8-pin power connectors found on some high-end graphics cards and will likely result in power supply manufacturers adopting the new standard. The official PCI-SIG specification defines each pin capable of sustaining up to 9.2 Amps, translating to a total of 55.2 Amps at 12 Volts. Theoretically, this translates to 662 Watts; however, Igor's Lab notes that the connector is limited to 600 Watts. Additionally, the 12VHPWR connector power pins have a 3.00 mm pitch, while the contacts in a legacy 2×3 (6-pin) and 2×4 (8-pin) connector lie on a larger 4.20 mm pitch.
There are already implementations of this connector, and one comes from Amphenol ICC. The company has designed a 12VHPWR connector and listed it ready for sale. You can check that out on the company website.
Source:
Igor's Lab
The new 12VHPWR connector should work exclusively with PCIe Gen5 graphics cards and not be backward compatible with anything else. It is said to replace three standard 8-pin power connectors found on some high-end graphics cards and will likely result in power supply manufacturers adopting the new standard. The official PCI-SIG specification defines each pin capable of sustaining up to 9.2 Amps, translating to a total of 55.2 Amps at 12 Volts. Theoretically, this translates to 662 Watts; however, Igor's Lab notes that the connector is limited to 600 Watts. Additionally, the 12VHPWR connector power pins have a 3.00 mm pitch, while the contacts in a legacy 2×3 (6-pin) and 2×4 (8-pin) connector lie on a larger 4.20 mm pitch.
97 Comments on PCIe Gen5 "12VHPWR" Connector to Deliver Up to 600 Watts of Power for Next-Generation Graphics Cards
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It means that the specification allows for up to 600W.
Does'nt mean GPU's will use 600w. It's more interesting for enterprise as compute cards like MCM based ones could consume that.
i'm terrified from the thermal that a gpu that consumes 600W will produce
this is a mini thermonuclear reactor
there's nothing i know of that will be able to cool this thing
I personally love having a single custom sleeved 12pin cable for my GPU, it's great for tidiness in my SFF build.
Stop being old people afraid of change. This is a genuine improvement.
Anyway this is clearly to answer the new upcoming cards because we can clearly see an insane increase in power demand from them, not cable management
Considering what AMD does between RDNA1 and RDNA2, the RX6900XT just uses 133% power compareing to RX5700XT to get 200% perfomance in 200% shading units.
What is truely destructive to enviorment is that N&A&I may be "forced“ to push the gpu&vram clock too high so get a terrible energy efficiency radio due to the need to make "The best card for that budget".
How simple could that adapter be?...
The current 8 pin system officially supports 150 watt "per spec" but is more then capable of supporting up to 400 watts with appropriate cabling. This new 12 pin connector is made with the heavier cabling as standard rather then optional, hence the higher power output, and also means only a single connector that can be used on many GPUs rather then 6 pin, 8 pin, 6+2 pin, 2x6+2 pin, 2x6 pin, ece. Now every GPU can use a single 12 pin regardless of power draw, simplifies wiring.
And in case you havent noticed the RTX 3090 and 3080ti are hungry bois on a completely different level then the 3060ti. High end big GPUs have always been power hogs compared to the midrange stuff. Just because the 12 pin exists does not mean that every GPU is now going to be space heater tier.
Now, all that said, if one can be content to not have the best of the best, the mid-grade everything will probably be fairly efficient. Current-gen consoles set the tone for game engines for a long time, and even the next level of mid-grade products should have no trouble being faster than what’s in XSX and PS5.