Although "Cyberpunk 2077" is not a successful game, from the current perspective, the emergence of 2077 has indeed made many players buy high-performance game graphics cards before the mining wave. has no credit and is considered hard work. At this point in time, Nvidia RTX 40 Series graphics cards actually did the same thing as 2077: Although the price of 40 Series graphics cards remains high, the emergence of 40 Series really makes us look back on a computer component that has not been updated for many years.
If you want to use a 40-series graphics card, the first thing you need to upgrade is your power supply. During the period when the 40 Series graphics card was released, the power brand also "just right" to launch a series of ATX 3.0 high-power power supplies that adopt the new standard. So how is the power supply difference between ATX 3.0 compared to the old power supply in the past? What is the difference between
ATX 3.0?
Simply put, ATX 3.0 is a PC hardware standard formulated by Intel , which contains the requirements related to power supply. When we purchased module power supplies, the 12V power supply when installing the computer, and the 24Pin structure of the motherboard are all products under the ATX standard. In other words, in the power field, the ATX standard actually contains two parts: interface shape and power supply parameters.
Before the release of ATX 3.0, Intel had actually updated the ATX standard and proposed the AEX12VO (ATX 12V Only). Under the ATX12VO, the power supply side only provides 12V power regardless of the device type. Due to inconvenience in use, ATX12VO has not been recognized by peripheral brands and consumers.
This time, ATX 3.0 adopts a traditional multi-channel design, and in addition to 12V, it also provides a 5V/2.3V power supply configuration. In addition, the 12Pin interface that has appeared in 30 series graphics cards has also been redefined, and the standard has been improved to PCIe 5.0.
The new 12Pin (12VHPWR, 12V HighPower, 12V HighPower) interface has more complex wiring design and higher specification pins, so it can provide higher power supply to PCIe devices. As a reference, the past single 6Pin can provide 75W, single 8Pin can provide 150W, and 12VHPWR can provide up to 600W of power supply to PCIe devices, which is enough to ensure the stable operation of high-power graphics cards even without using auxiliary interfaces.
Image source: Corsair
In addition, the PSU end of the power supply under ATX 3.0 has also changed, and the 12VHPWR interface mentioned just mentioned has been added. In other words, PCIe power supply is expected to be completely separated from CPU power supply. What is the problem with the new power supply of
?
Although ATX 3.0 puts higher requirements on power supply, in some aspects, ATX 3.0 has a bit of a "water-free" meaning, and the first thing to be affected is the 12VHPWR interface just mentioned. According to the ATX 3.0 standard, the 12VHPWR interface can guarantee 600W of power supply, but not all power supplies can provide 600W of power for PCIe devices, which results in the 12VHPWR interface designed with a high-power peripheral design that can also have a low-power "Youth Edition", such as the 450W, 300W or even 150W version. For cost considerations, the 150W 12VHPWR is difficult to align with the 600W version in terms of power cable diameter and other aspects.
In the 8Pin era, the interface is not enough, but in the 12Pin era, the interface is full of power and it may not be enough, which undoubtedly brings additional usage costs to consumers.
Picture source: JD.com
In addition, due to the problem of instantaneous power surge in 40 series graphics cards, even if the power supply rating is high, the graphics card may break through the power supply limit of the power supply. Therefore, in the ATX standard, Intel has certain requirements for the response time, voltage regulation and "overclocking" of the power supply. For example, when the mains power or load suddenly changes, the power supply should react within a microsecond; or when the instantaneous power of the graphics card with a minimum requirement of 850W is rushed to 2400W and maintained for a microsecond, the power supply should also be able to maintain power supply.
However, judging from the current known news, ATX 3.0 seems to have only 200% power consumption safety requirements for graphics cards that provide 12VHPWR. In other words, an ATX 3.0 power supply with a rated power of more than 450W can legitimately provide only 150% of the security range of the rated power supply as long as it does not provide a 12VHPWR interface.
Although the "safety range" of 150% and 200% don't seem to be a big difference. However, considering that the reference power supply given by Nvidia for 4090 is no less than 850W, and the combination of 4090+i9 is completely possible to break through the 150% limit, it can be foreseen that the promotion of 12VHPWR interface will face many resistances in the short term, and the situation of "two eyes and one black" on the screen during the fierce battle will also occur in low-end power supplies.
In other words, the chaotic power supply standard of USB-C interface is likely to be staged again in ATX 3.0. Is it necessary to upgrade the power supply in
?
Since the ATX 3.0 standard is still a bit confusing today, let’s put aside the question of whether it is necessary to buy a 40-Series graphics card. Is it necessary to buy an ATX 3.0 power supply for a 40-Series graphics card?
Let’s talk about the conclusion first: can be bought without power, and there is no need to replace the old machine. Although the ATX 3.0 standard is still very new, there are already many native ATX 3.0 standard power supply products on the market, and even the power supply with a rated power of 750W has been replaced with the ATX 3.0 standard. If you plan to install a new computer or upgrade the power supply for a new CPU or graphics card, it is actually a better choice to directly purchase the ATX 3.0 standard product.
After all, 12VHPWR is already the core interface of PCIe 5.0. Even if you don’t change to a 40 series graphics card, the next graphics card will give priority to using 12VHPWR. The traditional 8Pin requires an adapter to be used normally. Whether from the perspective of installation or air duct, the 12VHPWR interface is a more ideal standard.
Image source: JD
But if you are currently using a power supply of more than 1000W, unless you plan to replace 4080 or 4090, it seems too early to replace ATX 3.0 power supply. Although ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 will be the mainstream solutions in the future, , due to compatibility with old hardware, the high-end power supply + adapter cable solution can still accompany players for a long time. In addition, the cost of power supply manufacturing will decrease with the increase in power supply output. When it is necessary to replace it, the ATX 3.0 power supply will only be cheaper.
