NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 cards to use 12-pin PCIe power connector?

A rumor popped up that NVIDIA's high-end GeForce RTX 30 video cards will use a new power connector. Since photos of a possible PCB design leaked weeks ago, there's been speculation about the power connector as the pictures didn't show the connector in the usual location.

Now there's word from Chinese tech site FCPOWERUP, a website known for reporting on power supplies. The report indicates NVIDIA is switching to a 12-pin PCIe power connector, which looks a bit like two 6-pin PCIe power connectors placed horizontally next to each other, which would be the biggest change to the power delivery system in many years.

The new connector can drive more current to the video card so that's an indictation that NVIDIA's Ampere GPUs may be more power hungry than predecessors. It's said that the GeForce RTX 3080 series will have a TDP in excess of 300W. Interestingly, the source also indicates there's an additional 4-pin PCIe power connector but the purpose of this connector is unknown:

The source also reports that there's a secondary 4-pin interface next to the main 12-pin connector whose purpose is unknown at the moment. The source does mention that the new power delivery interface would be utilized by a GeForce RTX 30 Ampere Gaming graphics card bearing the PG142 board number. We can't say for sure which particular GPU this board would utilize but judging by the power requirements, it is possible that this might be the high-end GA102/GA104 GPU powered gaming cards which include RTX 3080 Ti / RTX 3090, RTX 3080, RTX 3070 Ti / RTX 3070.

It's also possible that Ampere-based cards from NVIDIA's add-in board partners will not use this new connector, it may be exclusive to NVIDIA's Founders Edition designs.

Via: WCCF Tech