After NVIDIA experienced literal fire hazards with the 12VHPWR connector in their 4000 series GPUs, the green team is planning to switch to a safer option, the 12V-2X6 connector, for their upcoming Blackwell series.
For now, only NVIDIA seems prepared to adopt this new connector for their GPUs. The other two major players, AMD and Intel, haven’t yet made moves toward adopting this technology—at least not at the time of writing.
Intel and AMD to Use 12V-2X6 Connector for Next-Gen GPUs?
It appears that NVIDIA’s rivals, AMD and Intel, are also considering whether they need to switch to this new connector for their next-gen GPU lines. A report from Hungarian media outlet Prohardver reveals that both companies are testing the new connector with their manufacturing partners.
This development comes as a bit of a surprise, as neither AMD nor Intel have shown any indication that they feel the need to change their connector types to support their new GPUs. Unlike NVIDIA, whose high-power GPUs can consume over 400 watts, both AMD and Intel’s GPUs generally don’t require such massive power. As a result, there doesn’t seem to be much benefit in switching to this new connector.
Why is the New Connector Better?
Unlike the 12VHPWR connector, which has been prone to overheating and even catching fire, the new connector features “sensor” pins that can monitor voltage and detect whether the pins are properly seated. If not, the power delivery is automatically reduced, preventing potential hazards.
This kind of feature is particularly useful for power-hungry graphics cards like NVIDIA’s RTX series, which makes it understandable why the green team is eager to adopt the new connector for their next generation of GPUs. But what about AMD and Intel? Do they really need to make the switch as well?
If they do decide to adopt the 12V-2X6 connector, it’s likely that we’ll see it in the upcoming RX 8000 series and Arc Battlemage GPUs. Only time will tell how things unfold.
