News Melting RTX cables solution proposed — embed over temperature and current protection on each wire

[Giroro]

Or, instead of putting layers of makeup on this pimple, just squeze it.

Say sorry we went so far up with power draw, its not reasonable for gaming. Game devs should simply stop. Lets focus on reduction of power in next generation till we get back to sane levels. And lets face it - gfx in gaming is excessive to what it needs to be. Adding rt reflections in a mud puddle of ultra fast paced fps shooter is a gizmo.

Are game devs really the problem here? What games are even attempting to push PC graphics forward when every publisher only cares about trying to find the next way to cash in on f2p, zero-payout slot machines, and games-as-a-service scams?
Devs are usually targeting the lowest common denominator, because they want people to be able to buy their games, and the lowest common denominator for stationary gaming right now is 1080p30 on Xbox Series S on console, and somewhere around GTX 1060 on PC (still) . Relative to the whole gaming market, very few people have ever had a >200 Watt card, even going as far back to when the GTX 1080 Ti was a mere $700.

Game developers know that RTX 5090, 5080, 4090, 4080 are not practical gaming cards. It's not the devs fault if a handful of people over-spend on dumb GPUs. RT has very little support from game devs. A true next-gen innovation in tech will give devs a choice between looking better and running better. RT makes games look better, but it cannot make games run better. That does not advance the status quo.
We've been missing that innovation in gaming for a long time. The hardware is stagnant, the code is stagnant, the tech is stagnant, pricing is worse than stagnant. We've been on DirectX 12 for 10 years. Throwing more electricity at the problem does not get you very far, as we've seen.
The non-RT parts of DX12 Ultimate had some potential, if not for Covid. But in 5 years there has not been much game support yet, because Nvidia's pricing/availability made it take way too long for DX12 Ultimate compatible GPUs to penetrate the market. I think we are over that hump, but that hardware has not common with actual gamers for long enough to build a new engine and base a full AAA game around that tech. I don't most game companies are willing to pay for experienced devs capable of making a good game engine, in the first place.
But back to my initial point, AAA games are not currently about innovation, competition, growth, or advances in tech... if they ever were. Publishers are in the Philip Morris mentality of locking existing addicts into their stable and milking the cow to death. You'll never need a powerful GPU to volunteer for that type of exploitation.

 

[sfjuocekr]

No, each pair of wires needs a current regulator on the ground wire...

The wires are essentially resistors in parallel, whomever thought it was a great idea to draw them as a single wire on a GPU design for the high end market has picked the WRONG cost savings.

Even an electronics student intern should have known better!

 

[drivinfast247]

If my 4090's connector melts I will, 1) completely remove the connector, 2) cut the nvidia provided four 8 pin adapter cable in half, 3) solder the wires from the adapter directly to the 4090's board. Then I'll use only four 8 pin cables and never again (for this card) have to worry about 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 bullshit.

Good luck with that! Have you seen the pin pad area? I highly doubt you'll be able to solder wire directly to it.

 

[yngndrw]

For a quick and dodgy fix like that, you're probably better off using the 12vhpwr connector and soldering a large copper busbar across the back of it. That would enforce that each individual wire would handle the same current, although it does little for the terminals themselves aside from increasing the thermal mass. Better than nothing though. Don't forget to do it on both ends.

 

[Paineful]

Adding over temperature and over current protections to each 12V-2x6 wire should detect any anomalies and cut the power before any real damage occurs.

Melting RTX cables solution proposed — embed over temperature and current protection on each wire : Read more

My solution: dig around the garage and find the 5700G. I am not a gamer.

 

[TJ Hooker]

For a quick and dodgy fix like that, you're probably better off using the 12vhpwr connector and soldering a large copper busbar across the back of it. That would enforce that each individual wire would handle the same current, although it does little for the terminals themselves aside from increasing the thermal mass. Better than nothing though. Don't forget to do it on both ends.

That wouldn't do anything to current-balance the wires.

 

[yngndrw]

That wouldn't do anything to current-balance the wires.

The imbalance is caused by some of the pins having a higher resistance. By soldering the wires to a busbar, the resistance across each wire will be very similar and consistent.

 

[pf100]

Good luck with that! Have you seen the pin pad area? I highly doubt you'll be able to solder wire directly to it.

There are actual big holes in the board on 5090/5080/4090 etc to stick the wires through and solder them where the 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 connector is soldered to the board and it'll be a very strong connection able to handle much higher current than these crappy 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 connectors. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't know how to solder.

 

[drivinfast247]

Please show me a dimensioned drawing of the pin hole size.

 

[yngndrw]

I've not seen a picture of a de-populated board, but as far as I can see the pins are no thicker than the pins on a fan connector and the pads aren't any larger. The spacing is reasonable though.

I don't think I'd have have any issues soldering wires to it, but they are not gaping holes. It would be tight at best and would likely require a little trimming which itself isn't an issue, but it's not as simple as it could be. You'd have to fully clear each hole of the existing solder.

 

[LordVile]

How about we just use PCIE 8 pins. Radical I know.

 

[yngndrw]

How about we just use PCIE 8 pins. Radical I know.

Same problem, high resistance on some of the pins results in a few wires doing all the heavy lifting. This is why it's really a current sharing problem, not a connector problem. It's just that these connectors appear to be more prone to highlighting the issue.

 

[LordVile]

Same problem, high resistance on some of the pins results in a few wires doing all the heavy lifting. This is why it's really a current sharing problem, not a connector problem. It's just that these connectors appear to be more prone to highlighting the issue.

Last I checked there wasn’t an issue with the 8 pin connectors melting. It’s broken up between several connectors with larger wires meaning the margins for error are much larger.another option would be magnetic connectors which could only work when perfectly aligned

 

[pf100]

<<Removed by moderator>>

I posted a solution to fix melting connectors and you and others are giving me grief over it, as if the 12vhpwr connector is superior to my idea of soldering the power cable wires directly to the board.

 

[COLGeek]

Let me remind folks, profanity is NOT allowed.

Civility is required by ALL. Please stop the personal attacks and insults.

Clean up the language and take the outrage/anger down a notch, or two. Thank you.

 

[drivinfast247]

I posted a solution to fix melting connectors and you and others are giving me grief over it, as if the 12vhpwr connector is superior to my idea of soldering the power cable wires directly to the board.

No one is saying the 12vhpwr is superior. It's trash IMO. What I'm saying is I don't think direct wiring to the board is possible. The dimension of the pin is .64mm according to the 12vhpwr spec sheet. So that would require a ~.80mm hole. The wire size for 12vhpwr spec is 16ga which is 1.29mm. So, as you see, I don't think it's possible without going to a smaller gauge wire.

If the current was actually split across multiple wires, I don't think it would be a problem.

🙏

 

[drivinfast247]

There are actual big holes in the board on 5090/5080/4090 etc to stick the wires through and solder them where the 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 connector is soldered to the board and it'll be a very strong connection able to handle much higher current than these crappy 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 connectors. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't know how to solder.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't know how to solder. Or for that matter, do any research on the project you are attempting.

 

[pf100]

No one is saying the 12vhpwr is superior. It's trash IMO. What I'm saying is I don't think direct wiring to the board is possible. The dimension of the pin is .64mm according to the 12vhpwr spec sheet. So that would require a ~.80mm hole. The wire size for 12vhpwr spec is 16ga which is 1.29mm. So, as you see, I don't think it's possible without going to a smaller gauge wire.

If the current was actually split across multiple wires, I don't think it would be a problem.

🙏

Where the 12vhpwr/12v-2x6 connectors pins are soldered to the pcb are obviously not too small of a diameter since the connectors aren't melting there. The holes in the pcb aren't a problem and never has been.
https://www.mill-max.com/engineering-notebooks/using-solder-cups-for-wire-termination-purposes

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you don't know how to solder. Or for that matter, do any research on the project you are attempting.

I fix things. With solder.