Weekend blues: Burns from the lab and the Mini-Fit HCS as a buzzkill

Once again, we’re experiencing a Groundhog Day feeling with graphics cards and their power supply. One might think, “Here we go again,” but this time everything is much more relaxed. Yes, once again there’s the smell of spectacularly fried plastic in the air, as KrisFix has once again supplied me with olfactory delights. If you know such people, you no longer need incense sticks. However, I think we should also look at the misery with the 12VHPWR connectors from another angle. While all the overloaded dwarfs are piling up in their thermal end phase, only a tiny group of giants in the well-known Mini-Fit design has been rebelling and turning into a nylon frying pan. Yes, they exist, but they are de facto black unicorns.

You know, exceptions prove the rule, and statistically speaking, there are probably only 1 to 2 Mini-Fit failures for every 50 defective Micro-Fit derivatives. I have also examined these header corpses more closely, and in the end, the quality of the supply cables was probably the decisive factor of destruction, not the end users or even under-dimensioning. But I still need some time for this investigation, and it’s certainly not the worst idea to sit inside on a rainy November day at the Keyence in a nice basic warmth rather than counting grey slush molecules outside at just above freezing. Consider this a water level report for your weekend.

So, I’m currently working on an article that will show that this 8-pin header, along with the well-known cable plug, is actually the more sensible connection. Not the botched 6+2, which has been carrying around two sense pins as useless overhead for security since the days when power supplies were bombs with thin wires, but what is known as a real 8-pin EPS connector for the CPU. NVIDIA knows this too, as they graciously soldered it onto the RTX A6000! And yes, it also carried 300 watts, and the reserves were huge! So, they could have easily realized over 650 watts with just two such connectors, WITHOUT having to tinker anything new! The argument of compatibility is not valid, as they could have bent the CEM to their will via the PCI SIG, just like with the annoying Micro-Fit derivatives.

They just had to adopt the 8-pin as a replacement for the 6+2 pin in the standard. If only…

A Story That Could Have Happened by Chance

Now, let me delve a bit into literature and describe a process that could have happened, without naming anyone specifically. It’s a little story where you should read between the lines. Maybe, maybe not. Because in the world of technology, where the line between genius and madness is often as thin as the latest nanometer fabrication technology, NVIDIA has ushered in a new era with the design of the RTX 3080 Founders Edition. Technically and aesthetically. An era where one asks: Is this still a graphics processor or already an abstract work of art?

Let’s start with the shape design of the RTX 3080. NVIDIA, in a bold move that tested the limits of physics and perhaps good taste, chose a design that lies somewhere between “futuristic-chic” and “my PC is now a hot Transformer.” And so the engineers sat with smoking heads in front of smoking connectors in front of a tiny-looking PCB with a daring V-neckline, when in a desperate fit of “Why not?” they decided to adapt the Micro-Fit header and install it vertically.

A skyscraper decision as unexpected as a plot twist in a soap opera for engineers. Imagine this scene: Engineers sitting around a table, wondering how to make the impossible possible. “Let’s set the header vertically!” – “But why?” – “Because we can!” And then there’s the lack of space on the small PCB. Every millimeter of the PCB is used, leading to a dense population of resistors, capacitors, and other components. The boat was full, and they simply put the tower of terror on the PCB, always hoping the customer would swallow it and the adapter would correct it.

You can go up to about 400 watts with the 2x 6 pins, as there are very few cases of scorched connectors on a GeForce RTX 3080 or RTX 3090. This made the engineers’ round table even bolder. And so they said, “Let’s just elevate the spindly connector to the new gold standard and press it into the CEM 5.0 as 12VHPWR!” After the third round of drinks, courage turned into recklessness, and they spun the thread further… “Now, let’s add four sideband signals and think later about how smart we can make the PC!” The GeForce RTX 3090 Ti was just right as a test object for the upcoming RTX 4090. After the sixth round of drinks, they thought that 6 wasn’t such a bad number, and since there were already enough zeros at the table, they decided to force-feed the poor Ampere chip with a hefty 600-watt BIOS, just to see what happens. In the store, there were then moderate 450 watts for the eager end-user, and still no significant number in the smoke detector warning app. But there was a new header, incompatible with anything and anyone else.

But now the big baking could finally begin! Note the top row of current-carrying pins! In the middle of the Cable-Plug, there was a connection between the two terminal connectors, so that the supplied adapter would later fit nowhere else. The four sideband channels were already there and could be tested on the card, but they were completely worthless to outsiders due to the lack of suitable power supplies and cables. Well, and then came the GeForce RTX 4090, and with it all these little olfactory nose nudges that the customer got included as a surprising room perfume for almost 2000 euros. You already know the rest of the story, up to CEM 5.1 and the new 12V-2×6 connector.

With that, I release you into the weekend, and we have learned that if form does not follow function, the function is kneaded until it finally fits the form. And what contradicts any standards is simply elevated to one’s own standard. Then technology works again. Or not. Molex even offers higher currents with some Micro-Fit variants than the tinkered connector with its beautifully calculated 9.x amperes and gold-plated contacts. But why take the simple route when you can play the well-known “Trial & Error”? That’s much more fun…