AMD makes it clear: Radeon RX 7000 without 12VHPWR connector

The Radeon RX 7000 should explicitly not use the 12VHPWR connector that ATX 3.0 provides. That said first Kyle Bennett on Twitter and through AMD came the confirmation in the form of Radeon boss Scott Herkelman: “The Radeon RX 6000 series and the upcoming RDNA 3 GPUs will not use this power connector”, that’s the message.

The plugs had recently been a topic of conversation again and again because they were provided with mating cycles and sometimes even the power consumption could not be mastered. A fused 12VHPWR connector made the rounds, which was used on a Geforce RTX 4090 and provides up to 600 watts there. The whole card is specified in the reference design with 450 watts.

AMD does not initially attach its own wagon to the train. And not only AMD fits the reference design, but also according to Bennet’s sources AMD’s partners. As a result, AMD will probably use a combination of two classic 8-pin connectors based on the PCI format, as was the case recently. This means that 150 watts per connector are possible – in total, Navi 31 should remain below 375 watts TDP, as combined from the connectors and the PEG. As has been seen from time to time, partners can also install three 8-pin connectors for OC models.

The 12VHPWR is wired differently than the old connector and also does not fit mechanically, for example due to the different spacing of the pins. This is to prevent incorrect use – adapters are required; However, the PCI-SIG had explicitly warned against adapter cables, because on the one hand the quality has to be right for the high currents and on the other hand status data has to be transmitted.

With a distance of 3 millimeters between the pins, the new plugs are definitely intended to avoid accommodating the old plugs. The previously used aux plugs of type 2 × 3 or 2 × 4 are 4.2 millimeters apart. The new 12VHPWR connectors have 12 contacts for power transmission and 4 additional contacts for signals. A maximum of 9.2 amps is allowed on each of the power-transmitting contacts and they are temperature-secured. With – for example – earth at S1 and S2, 375 watts is initially provided and with software configuration 600 watts. The power consumption of 150, 300, 450 and 600 watts can be configured. Adapter cables must take this into account.

For Radeons, that seems a long way off. Noisy Angronomics there’s even just a slightly updated cooling design that’s slightly larger than its predecessor. “Greymon55” had mentioned that the power consumption of Navi 31 remains manageable. With two old plugs and a PEG it is the 375 watt maximum mentioned; with four figure eight plugs 525 watts.