https://www.tomshardware.com/news/seasonic-outs-nvidia-12-pin-power-connector-lists-850w-psu
 
The countdown to Nvidia's Ampere GeForce GPUs has started, and meanwhile, the rumor mill is working as hard as it can to get you excited. We recently caught wind of a rumor detailing Nvidia's new 12-pin power connector and verified through our sources that such a cable does exist, and now a new picture of a 12-pin cable has surfaced - and it's purportedly posted by Seasonic, a PSU manufacturer. 
The posting was spotted by twitter user HXL, who found the image on the bilibili forums. It shows a Seasonic cable next to its box, adapting dual 8-pin connectors into a single 12-pin connector. The "Nvidia 12-pin PCIe Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 Connector" is 750 mm long, and the box notes "It is recommended to use a power supply rated 850 W or higher with this cable."
 
As this cable features two male 8-pin connectors, it's intended to plug straight into the modular ports on a Seasonic PSU -- rather than to be used as an adapter on your existing 8-pin cables. 
 
Normally, 8-pin power connectors are rated for 150W each, which paired with 75W through the PCIe port tallies up to 375W of total board power. This isn't completely unheard of, as even custom boards from Nvidia's AIC partners occasionally have three PCIe power connectors. However, it's noteworthy that this doesn't say much about Ampere's power consumption or efficiency.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 was also pictured again just yesterday, and it looks like it will be a behemoth of a triple-slot card, suggestive of a power-hungry design.
 
It's unclear whether this new 12-pin connector will make it to the entire Ampere GeForce line. According to Google Translate, Seasonic notes "Is it really unsure, dare to send because there is no NDA. If it is true, the power supply manufacturer will increase the cost of the bonus line, and Lao Huang will not give us a penny. It is currently only used for testing"
 
The note on the box says "It is recommended to use a power supply rated 850 W or higher with this cable," but that might only be needed for the most power-hungry cards, as we could imagine it would upset quite a large group of people if something like the RTX 3070 would also need a near-kilowatt PSU. 
 
That being said, it's also possible that the note is just there as a warning. After all, we can't deny that a single 12-pin connector would be a much more elegant solution than multiple connectors, especially if you decide to indulge in individually-sleeved cables. 
Either way, the only way to know for sure is by waiting for Nvidia's actual announcement, so just sit tight until September 1st. 
 
I'm curious if the very top end NVIDIA ampere cards will have the 12 pin connector. 
 
 
 

Looks like I’ll need to be contacting seasonic soon to get one of these cables for my 1300w seasonic psu.

rjohnson11
 
As this cable features two male 8-pin connectors, it's intended to plug straight into the modular ports on a Seasonic PSU -- rather than to be used as an adapter on your existing 8-pin cables. 

Ohhh, whoops. Thought this was an adapter when I saw it posted on r/hardware.  
 
Nereus, the rumor was that this would be mostly an OEM thing. If consumer cards use this new pin then the GPUs will probably ship with adapters for it.

Like i said before get ready to pay that high electric bill🤣🤣🤣🤦

Okay, the connector is TINY. Nobody will be able to plug AUX or EPS12V connectors into GPUs anymore, that's for sure. (src techpowerup)
 

kram36
Never mind, was a dumb thought.

Oh you can say it 😹😹

atfrico

kram36
Never mind, was a dumb thought.

Oh you can say it 😹😹

Nah, you do enough of it that I don't need to add more to the forums.

kram36

atfrico

kram36
Never mind, was a dumb thought.

Oh you can say it 😹😹

Nah, you do enough of it that I don't need to add more to the forums.

🤔 must start charging for my one liners then😹😹
Eventually we shall see how beneficial is for the consumer's pocket...but my gut feeling tells me it wont be pretty🤷

kram36
I'm not exactly sure where people are coming up with it's going to be more power hungry? 

...because the claimed spec sheet from Nvidia says the cable takes a 850W minimum power supply .
..and the latest pictures show a massive sized card/ heatsink in triple slot config

Hoggle
I am pretty sure that they couldn't roll out this cable to the general public and not have it backfire on NVIDIA. It's just not a change that can happen in months. If we are talking about the 4090 in a couple years sure or if we are talking about developers I would say yes it's possible right now. General public just doesn't seem ready for it.

Not sure this post will age well. We'll know in a few weeks time. 

aka_STEVE_b

kram36
I'm not exactly sure where people are coming up with it's going to be more power hungry? 

...because the claimed spec sheet from Nvidia says the cable takes a 850W minimum power supply .
..and the latest pictures show a massive sized card/ heatsink in triple slot config

What claimed Nvidia spec sheet are you talking about? The only specs I have seen regarding the 12-pin is that Seasonic recommends a 850W or higher psu with that 12-pin adapter.

knightsilver
Anyone remember Nvidia Gsync? Y’all see how well that went down. Nvidia is getting too cocky. Need something like AMD catching Intel with their pants down. Someone could still slap Nvidia some, like customers that have had enogh...

Yep, I remember G-Sync, it worked fantastic the last time I used it. Did you have an issue with it not working properly? I have not had enough from Nvidia, not even sure what you're talking about. Nvidia gives us the most powerful gaming video cards on the market with features no other company offers. Nvidia is not sitting around with their pants down like Intel was, Nvidia is pushing the gaming video card market to new levels that nobody can offer right now. Glad companies like Nvidia are around or we would be gaming off cpu built in graphics.