Before the release of a new graphics card like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, especially when it’s as expected as Team Green’s newest, some absurd rumors will inevitably spill out. In fact, that’s half the fun of following the PC hardware scene first; However, now is not the time to alarm people about spending extra money for no reason.
Late last week, we saw a rumor that Nvidia was introducing a new 12-pin PCIe to PCI-SIG cable for approval, which has led some outlets, including TechRadar, to conclude that the Nvidia Ampere GeForce lineup, which is likely hitting the market in just a few months, will require this new connector. That is probably not going to happen.
You probably don’t have to worry about adding the cost of an entirely new power supply to the already considerable cost of an expensive graphics card, which is good when so many people are negatively affected by a global pandemic.
There is a great shortage of power supply at the moment
If you are using Newegg right now and looking for PC power supplies, particularly in the 850-1000W range that the type of people buying flagship level graphics buys, you will notice that there is a massive shortage right now. Many models are simply out of stock, and those who aren’t are seeing some pretty massive price increases.
Take the EVGA 850 G5, for example, which is the power source that we use in our personal gaming machine. This power supply has been technically successful by EVGA SuperNOVA GA, which is only available through an external vendor in Newegg with a positive rating of 29%, but you will have to pay $ 195 (around £ 150, AU $ 280) for this model, compared to its successor’s list price of $ 149 (around £ 120, AU $ 210). And, in case you haven’t guessed it, the SuperNOVA GA is definitely sold out on the EVGA website. Oh, and it’s sold out until July 31 at Amazon, too.
And what’s more, it’s more than just a look at power supplies in digital stores. There are posts on Toms Hardware forums, Reddit, EVGA forums, and more customers who are unable to purchase a new power supply or even have the manufacturer replace their faulty power supply.
Your guess is as good as ours as to why this is happening – there are a lot of supply problems everywhere right now, but it doesn’t seem like the power supply market is ready to tackle the kind of demand that would force everyone to update because.
What happened to longevity?
In the PC hardware enthusiast scene, there is a lot of enthusiasm to upgrade to the latest and greatest processors and graphics cards when they come out, we know that here at TechRadar we are definitely in that field, but there really is not much enthusiasm to upgrade to new ones. power supplies. That’s because, well, they last a long time.
When searching the internet, the general advice seems to be to replace your power supply “when it runs out,” and for people who only built their computers a couple of years ago, having to upgrade their power supply to get the latest GPU. and better would definitely be a hard pill to swallow, not to mention it’s pretty horrible for the environment, just check this World Economic Forum report if you need a reminder
We can definitely vouch for that PSU update cycle. Before the PC we built when Nvidia Turing was released, the computer this publisher used for her personal games and work uses had been using the same power supply since around 2009, with no indication that she would die when they finally replaced it. That ThermalTake power supply lasted a good 9 years, through multiple graphics card upgrades, from the AMD Radeon HD 5870 to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and everything in between.
But, still, all these tips are taken from forums or from the personal experience of a TechRadar editor. We haven’t subjected any of these claims to any amount of rigorous testing, but it should give you an idea of the general environment when it comes to updating power supplies and how long they are expected to last.
You probably have nothing to worry about
The Tom’s Hardware report we later report suggests that Nvidia has submitted a new 12-pin power connector to the PCI-SIG standards body for approval. However, you should not take that as confirmation that this connector will definitely be a thing, or even that it is Really It has been sent
However, suppose Nvidia submitted this connector for approval. According to Tom’s Hardware, the rumor circulates around the upcoming Ampere graphics cards, which theoretically would include the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080. However, the problem there is that Ampere is the graphics architecture behind Nvidia’s next-generation GPUs for scientists at data and AI, not just GeForce.
We’re talking about GPUs that are much more powerful than anything consumers see even on the best gaming PCs, and so in theory they could use the extra power that this new 12-pin PCIe connector would provide. The way we look at it, Nvidia is much more likely to push a new power standard in mainstream consumers and affect sales of its next-gen gaming cards, especially when AMD RDNA 2 probably won’t do the same.
There have been rumors that Nvidia’s next-generation flagship will consume up to 350W, and you can take that for what it’s worth. This is unlikely to actually happen – that’s more power than Titan RTX consumes. Even the AMD Radeon R9 Fury X, with which AMD had to send a liquid cooler it had a TDP of 275W.
Even if we were to get a 350W RTX 3080 Ti, which would be marketing nightmare For Nvidia: You wouldn’t need a connector that allows 648W of PCIe power. As Tom’s Hardware points out in its story, the current configuration of two 8-pin PCIe connectors allows 375W of power.
So if these new graphics cards don’t require the extra power, launch these graphics cards with the new power connector, even if it’s just the Founders Edition cards, It seems as a good way to limit how many will actually be sold.
However, another possibility is that this new power connector is used in aftermarket card designs. Many of these tend to add additional power connectors anyway to facilitate higher clock speeds and the resulting increase in power consumption.
At the end of the day, no one will know what the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 will look like, how many power connectors it will have or even what the TDP will be until Nvidia spills the beans. And while there will inevitably be a lot of rumors to fill the gap until launch day, there are definitely some with more merit, and the “12-pin power connector on the RTX 3080 Ti” is definitely one that is less likely to be true.
