NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power

We can expect a new power interface on NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 3000 series cards, expect power consumption over 300W.

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NVIDIA is expected to have many large design changes over previous-gen graphics cards, and not just design changes over previous-gen GeForce graphics cards -- but an entire new power connector.

NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power 01

A new rumor has surfaced from Chinese tech site FCPOWERUP, which claims NVIDIA will be using a new power connector on its next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards. I have heard something similar from sources, but thought it would come down to something different than this.

It looks like we're expected to see a strange new 12-pin PCIe power connector on the reference GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Not just that, but power will exceed 300W -- so with a 12-pin PCIe power connector and radically new design cooling (fans on the front, and back according to previous reports) big changes are coming with Ampere.

NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power 02

The new 12-pin connector looks like 2 x 6-pin PCIe power connectors mashed together, which offer 8.5A versus 6A.

Better yet, the source claims that there is another, secondary 4-pin connector next to the main 12-pin connector. We don't know what this is used for, but the source says that any of the Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3000 series cards with the PG142 board number will use it. This means:

  • GeForce RTX 3090 / 3090 ULTRA
  • GeForce RTX 3080 Ti
  • GeForce RTX 3080
  • GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
  • GeForce RTX 3070

It leaves out the GeForce RTX 3060, which is said to have the same GPU horsepower (at least in ray tracing) as the current Turing-based flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. Interesting.

More reading:

NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power 04
  • Traversal coprocessor: We have had more leaks on NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce RTX 3000 series than any family of graphics cards before it, with an interesting "traversal coprocessor" on the new GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3090 graphics cards. You can read more on that here.
  • How fast is the GeForce RTX 3090? Freaking fast according to rumors, with 60-90% more performance than the current Turing-based flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. We could see this huge performance leap in ray tracing titles, but we'll have to wait a little while longer to see how much graphical power NVIDIA crams into these new cards. You can read more on those rumors here.
  • Power hungry: As for power consumption, GA102 reportedly uses 230W -- while 24GB of GDDR6X (which we should see on the new Ampere-based TITAN RTX) consumes 60W of power. You can read more on that here.
  • Production begins soon: NVIDIA is reportedly in the DVT (or Design Validation Test) range of its new GeForce RTX 3000 series graphics cards. Mass production reportedly kicks off in August 2020, with a media event, benchmarks, and more in September 2020 as I predicted many months ago. More on that here.
NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GeForce RTX 30 series: new 12-pin PCIe power 05

I've already written about rumors that NVIDIA's next-gen Ampere GPU architecture would be up to 75% faster than current-gen GPUs such as the Turing architecture, right after rumors that Ampere would offer 50% more performance at half the power of Turing. This is pretty crazy stuff right there.

Not only that, but we've got some rumored specs on the purported GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070 graphics cards, which will both be powered by NVIDIA's new Ampere GPU architecture.

We've already heard that Ampere would offer 50% more performance at half the power of Turing, which sent the hairs on my neck standing up. Better yet, you can read about the leaked specs on the purported Ampere-based GeForce RTX 3080 and GeForce RTX 3070 right here.

Even more reading:

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NEWS SOURCES:fcpowerup.com, wccftech.com

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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