The first pictures of the upcoming High-Power Connector for PCIe 5.0 compatible graphics cards have been pictured by Igor's Lab. Designed for next-generation graphics cards, schematics of the power connector show that it will allow up to 600W of power to be delivered directly to the GPUs.
Next-Gen PCIe 5.0 Graphics Card Compatible High-Power Connector Delivers Up To 600W To GPUs
According to Igor Wallossek, the existing power delivery systems are becoming obsolete as GPUs become more power-hungry. This generation saw the most graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD to feature triple 8-pin connector interfaces. While NVIDIA opted for a 12-pin Microfit solution for its own Founders Edition variants, AIBs were reluctant to use the new power standard but the stopgap made them ready for the true deal and that's the upcoming PCI Express 12VHPWR connector.
We will be getting PCIe Gen 5.0 platforms from Intel next month and AMD is expected to hop on board the bandwagon sometime in 2022 too. Intel may also launch its ARC lineup on the new PCI Gen 5.0 standard so this means that we are definitely going to see some PCIe Gen 5.0 action in the graphics cards segment too. There have been rumors that NVIDIA and AMD flagships will offer up to 2.5-3 times the performance increase but that also means that power consumption would get a massive increase too.
As such, there would be demand for a new power connector and that's where the 12V High-Power Connector that is designed specifically in conjunction with the PCIe 5.0 interface comes in. The new standard is said to provide 55A continuous power through a 12V rail which would allow up to 600W power to be delivered to the graphics card. The connector has an interesting form factor where it looks like a slightly bigger version of the MicroFit connector with 12-pins but then it also has 4 extra pins on the bottom. It is also less spacing than the traditional power connector, measuring 3.0mm vs 4.2mm but overall, accomodating 16-pins means that it ends up bigger but it's one connector to do the job of three 8-pin connectors (600W vs 450W).
12V High-Power PCIe Gen 5.0 Connector Blueprints (Image Credits: Igor's Lab):
Additional details for the new power connector are posted by Amphenol IC (via Olrak). You can see that the connector is rated for 600W power delivery and is PCIe Gen 5.0 compatible & not designed for legacy PCIe Gen 2 or Gen 3 cards.
Amphenol ICC introduces the Gen 5, Minitek Pwr PCIe connector system. This new introduction CEM 5.0 PCI Express 12VHPWR auxiliary hybrid connector and cable assembly support the 600W GPU cards. The 12VHPWR connector is not designed to mate with legacy PCI Express 2x3 and 2x4 12V Auxiliary Power connectors. The 12VHPWR connector power pins have a 3.00mm pitch, while the contacts in a legacy 2x3 and 2x4 connector lie on a larger 4.20mm pitch. New PCIe Connector System (CEM5) is designed for power applications with current rating upto 9.5A/pin (12 pins energized) and the 4 signal pins supporting signal transmission.
- Rated current up to 9.5A per contact with all 12 power contacts and 4 Signal contacts
- Fully isolated terminals
- Positive locking on housing with low thumb latch operation
- Low level contact resistance: 6mΩ max.
Videocardz was able to confirm the new PCIe Gen 5.0 connector a few days ago and also reported that the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti might be the first graphics card to make use of it as the green team gets ready for the launch of its Ada Lovelace lineup of GeForce RTX GPUs for late 2022.
