[skyeto]

Even easier to use the old standard instead of making a new solution to a problem that didn't exist in the first place (except for aesthetic reasons). The old connectors were solid and had plenty of headroom if used within spec, with the new cards you'd still just need 3-4 to be well within spec - no monitoring circuitry needed.

[arghwhat]

The PCI-SIG maximum safe rating for the old and janky 8-pin connectors was 150 watt, despite how bulky it was. The 4090 would need 4 of those (5 if you account for when it exceeds 600 watt).

A new connector was absolutely necessary, even for more reasonable GPU power levels. That the current connector is broken is a different problem, and could likely be fixed without manufacturing changes without a new overall connector design.

[skyeto]

But the new connector is still only rated for 600W (if used within spec), if we directly compare that to using 4 of the old connectors (rated at 150W each) we're spreading the same load over many more pins.

A 12VHPWR connector is using 12 pins for GND/12V.

An 8pin PCIe connector has 6 pins for GND/12V, with 4 connectors that's 24 pins total.

Assuming that the pins are fairly similarly specced, the old connector should be safer, especially when exceeding the rated power. Regardless of how you frame it, it seems like aesthetics got prioritized over safety.

[bioemerl]

Then when they redesign the spec they should have made the connector they used larger.

There's a problem with running 600 Watts through that connector, if this fire thing is regular issue it's going to burn someone's house down or kill someone

[hulitu]

Old bad, new better.