The first thing we need to understand is that the quantity or number of pins is not decisive in getting a higher cost or consumption of a component. Therefore, the fact that it is 12 pins instead of 4 or 10 is not critical, which raises another set of doubts.
So what should you consider when evaluating a GPU connector?
Well, there are several factors to understand why the NVIDIA 12 pin connector should be the way to go for all power supplies and all GPUs in general. First of all, we have to keep in mind that said connector must conform and conform to specifications in order to have the corresponding certification and be accepted as a standard.
In this case, the pins of the connector are the ones that need to go through and adjust the corresponding AWG for the maximum current they can withstand, because as we know the voltage per current translates to the watts at which it will be able to operate.
Taking into account that the 8 pin connector of a GPU has a maximum peak per specification of 235 watts (then it is largely exceeded under extreme overclocking), the new ATXVO connector gets 288 watts and the NVIDIA 650 watts. (700 peak), What is the explanation for that?
The AWG wire used, that is to say the gauge of the wire and the impedance it supports as well as the connector. NVIDIA has certified a AWG of 16 for its connector, but since GPUs do not consume as much, we will never need sources with cables of this caliber, which are on the market, but they are all of the elite range and some not even.
NVIDIA 12-pin cable uses mixed configuration
What we do know about this new connector and cable is that it has 6 phases and 6 masses or mixed which is surprising, but partly it makes sense to reach the 650 watts that we have commented on before, which depend on the cable that is supplied, because at most it could reach 700 watts.
To this must be added the fact that there are sources that divide their maximum power into different rails, which if this connector ends up normalizing can make 12v1 and 12v2 mid-range sources, it is found in a single rail for powers below 1200 watts, which would be really curious.
If to this we add the new ATX12V and its greater power, we might be faced with a mandatory PSU change in a few years at this rate. The good news is that we will be reducing the number of cables used in this case, improving the internal cabling of the PC, but at the cost of spending a lot of money or using connectors that must be certified by the GPU manufacturer or of the PSU.
Is this change justified? From a security perspective for the PC yes, of course, from an internal chassis airflow perspective as well, but it remains to be seen whether it’s worth upgrading to these new standards if the price goes up. because it is foreseeable that this will happen in the next few years.
