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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KompuKare - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Vertical sounds like asking for trouble with all the physical stress being when pushing in the cable.There is a very good reason why most laptops have the power socket on a lead and not attached directly to the PBC.
Still, a quick re-flow should sort it if it breaks and Nvidia do love re-flows as shown by bumpgate back 2009ish.
xenol - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
It's a connector that's not going to have a lot of insertions throughout its lifetime. Even if we give like a WAG of 100 inserts, you can still take out the card once a month for cleaning and still be good for over 7 years. At which point, if history still holds up, the card will be obsolete by then.frbeckenbauer - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
the connector is probably mechanically supported by the coolerHolliday75 - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
Playing devils advocate here.Maybe the vertical design in that picture is more of a visual aid to see the 12 connectors clearly and not really Nvidia's engineering recommendation. I suspect someone from marketing or other team created that and is not an official recommendation.
catavalon21 - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
The narrated video suggests this is the solution for FE cards; vertical, and at a swept angle rather than 90 degrees.cjb110 - Wednesday, September 2, 2020 - link
if it was at an angle of the 'front' of the card, that kinda makes sense cable management wise. Rather than the thick cable sticking straight out, it's toward the back out the way of air flow.xenol - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
So you'd rather take two 8-pin connectors where over half of the pins aren't used for power delivery than a 12-pin one it's likely at least half of them are?I can see the concern about the orientation and durability problems, but this isn't a USB connector. Most likely the end user isn't going to be reinserting the plug more than a handful of times. And if you're one of those people who will want to take the card out frequently for some reason, just unplug it from the 8+8 pin end.
Fataliity - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
I actually think this connector is a good idea. The 6/8pins are old and outdated. There are so many faulty splitters that cause people problems. Half the pins are useless.So why not make a new connector standardized?
shabby - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
You sound offended...Achaios - Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - link
? The only things I see are:1. Progress.
2. Brilliant Engineering.
3. A new gen of GPU's.
...and I'm not even a NVIDIA fanboi, the only thing I am is anti-Intel.