NVIDIA Confirms Existence Of 12-Pin Connector

NVIDIA has confirmed the existence of a new 12-pin connector, thanks to a recent post highlighting the design of their new cards.

There’s an eight-minute long video that touches on the previously-rumoured connector and other improvements that you can watch. However, NVIDIA has thankfully summarised things in text as well. “We offer a first glimpse at some of the strides we have made in designing graphics cards, so that they can reach their maximum potential while remaining cool and quiet,” they wrote. The design improvements they touted were:

• Thermal: A new, airflow-optimized cooling solution, redesigned to overcome existing constraints and move more air through the system for maximum cooling efficiency

• Mechanical: A stronger mechanical structure, including a new low profile leaf spring that leaves room for a back cover

• Electrical: A compact electrical design, with a new 12-pin power connector that allows more space for components and cooling, and is compatible with existing power supplies via an included adapter

• Product Design: A no-compromise, cohesive design that embraces the revolutionary thermal solution while beautifully harmonizing each element of the graphics card
  

According to the video, the new compact 12-pin connector is smaller than the usual PCIe connector, but carries more power. It’ll be compatible with PCIe 8-pin cables and has an included adapter. Unlike the current 8-pin connectors, it looks like it’d be positioned vertically and won’t take up space on the side. As Tweaktown reported, the connector, apparently called the NVIDIA 12-pin PCIe Molex Micro-Fit 3.0, will “convert your 2 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors into a single 12-pin PCIe power connector”.

We don’t yet know for sure which of the new NVIDIA cards will have this new connector. However, it might not be found on reference or custom cards. Hardwareluxx’s Chris Schilling, who tweeted a picture of the connector, said that it will only be found on NVIDIA’s Founders Edition cards, although he did add that nothing was confirmed yet.

We’re also now only a few days away from NVIDIA’s special 1 September announcement. So, it likely won’t be long before all is revealed.

#nvidia