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
i don't know what article you read but this is the power connector to add in cards. there is 12v and ground; any signal is a simple open/closed circuit. closed/connection at one/two sensor(s) is 75/150 watts additional power. (
section 4 explains most of it and fwiw, pci-sig standards are backwards compatible - its all over their documentation..
all those deal with data signaling as you were yapping aboput before. the 12v power specs are entirely different; and gets refereed to in those docs.
do some reading before judging buddy. this is not my first rodeo, though serves me right for saying something related to PSUs; because there is always that special person . .
It's the same 12-pin part, with a +4 added to the bottom for additional sense wires. The FE's 12-pin fits in this 12+4-pin. The rub is if the GPU manufacturer pushes that 450W limit and requires the sense pin to "prove" that a "approved" connector is in play. That's when you can no longer use the 12-pin.
The point is legislating what people do with energy for their own personal use is folly.
The successor will be VHSPWRFTW, VeryHighSuperPowerFTW
page 31 of the pci-e specs i attached in aprevious post:
when it comes down to it pci-sig needs to update the power - anything with more that two 6 pin OR one 8 pin and one 6 pin is outta spec and won't be pci-e certified. yes, that means anything with two 8 pins are not.
imo, 600 watts for one connector is overkill; the 450 watts connector nvidia tried out is much more appropriate - not because it was nvidia but that would be 75/150/450 instead of 75/150/600 - which leaves a big gap.
I expect photonics and/or spintronics to start being 'hybridized' into the 'classical' computing architectures we use today.
Please correct my ignorance if so, but I'm pretty sure the science(s) associated with spintronics are already being factored today to mitigate Electron Migration and other (near)quantum-scale engineering challenges.