ATX3 compliant PSU a must?

[AMDPower]

Hi all

I need a new PSU and have my eye on ASUS Thor 1600W PSU, the only issue is that is not ATX3 compliant. I can get the 1200w Loki which is ATX3 but its a sfx psu.

Is it really required? My previous power supply is an antec 1200w and that has lasted well over 15+ years and still going strong but need new PSU and not sure whether to bother with ATX3 compliant or not. I am hoping this power supply last equally as long. This antec psu has been running my 4090 quite well and I may in the future add another 4090 for Machine Learning and really need a higher rated PSU.

From my rudimentary understanding, there is extra circuitry that allows the power supply to communicate with the PSU in regards to power draw compliance, also 12VHPWR connector and the ability to deal with power spikes for certain durations. But most modern power supplies can already deal with the specification in the ATX3.

I would be gutted If i bought this and in few years time the new GPU do not work unless you have a ATX3 compliant power supply. I highly doubt this would happen but its a possibility.

so is it really necessary?

 

[Tetras]

From my rudimentary understanding, there is extra circuitry that allows the power supply to communicate with the PSU in regards to power draw compliance, also 12VHPWR connector and the ability to deal with power spikes for certain durations. But most modern power supplies can already deal with the specification in the ATX3.

Yep, they can, plenty of older PSUs can cope just fine with modern cards. Meeting the spec just puts that on paper.

Is there a meaningful benefit to having a native 12VHPWR/12v2x6 power connector? Maybe, it is hard to say, primarily it is adapters that have had issues rather than native PSU cables, but what we can say 100% is that there's a meaningful benefit to avoiding the 12VHPWR connector entirely, since burnt 8-pins are exceedingly rare in comparison.

I would be gutted If i bought this and in few years time the new GPU do not work unless you have a ATX3 compliant power supply. I highly doubt this would happen but its a possibility.

Very unlikely, adapters exist now so I expect they will continue to exist unless it is proven that they're just a bad idea in general.

I need a new PSU and have my eye on ASUS Thor 1600W PSU, the only issue is that is not ATX3 compliant. I can get the 1200w Loki which is ATX3 but its a sfx psu.

Aura Strix is their regular ATX3 version (Strix is the older pre-ATX 3.0 one).

FYI: The Thor II and Thor Titanium might not be listed as ATX 3.0 compatible, but they do have PCIE 5 compatibility, so assuming they can cope with the load spikes (I have zero reason to believe that they can't) you'll still have the required connector.

 

[mickyflinn]

If you don't get an atx 3.0 PSU you will be limiting your 4090 to 450w threw the pcie connectors, where as the atx 3.0 threw the single power connector can delivery 600w.

 

[AMDPower]

thank you gents for the help really appreciate it

Aura Strix is their regular ATX3 version (Strix is the older pre-ATX 3.0 one).

FYI: The Thor II and Thor Titanium might not be listed as ATX 3.0 compatible, but they do have PCIE 5 compatibility, so assuming they can cope with the load spikes (I have zero reason to believe that they can't) you'll still have the required connector.

So would the ASUS 1600w Thor Titanium be able to provide 600w to the gpu via the pci connector given that its pcie 5 compatible.

 

[Tetras]

So would the ASUS 1600w Thor Titanium be able to provide 600w to the gpu via the pci connector given that its pcie 5 compatible.

I'd suggest you try and find a review rather than just trust Asus, but this is what it says:

Each ROG Thor 1600W Titanium PSU is bundled with a 16-pin PCIe cable that can pipe up to 600W of power to PCIe Gen 5.0 graphics cards. Get ready for the future of power delivery.

ROG THOR 1600W Titanium | Power Supply

Fueled by Gallium Nitride transistors, digital control, and low-ESR capacitors, the ROG Thor 1600W Titanium is the ultimate PSU for monstrous rigs. PCIE GEN 5.0 READY.

rog.asus.com

 

[AMDPower]

I'd suggest you try and find a review rather than just trust Asus, but this is what it says:

ROG THOR 1600W Titanium | Power Supply

Fueled by Gallium Nitride transistors, digital control, and low-ESR capacitors, the ROG Thor 1600W Titanium is the ultimate PSU for monstrous rigs. PCIE GEN 5.0 READY.

rog.asus.com

thanks for that, If you go a little further down on the link you provided, it states

Each ROG Thor 1600W Titanium PSU is bundled with a 16-pin PCIe cable that can pipe up to 600W of power to PCIe Gen 5.0 graphics cards. Get ready for the future of power delivery

it actually says its ATX3 compliant PSU? I will try and talk to technical at ASUS and see if they even know what they are writing on their website.

I will try and find one and if I find out will update the thread.

Thank you for the help

 

[Tetras]

it actually says its ATX3 compliant PSU?

From what I know of the Thor range generally, I think they're all ATX 3 capable rather than 'certified' and they added the PCiE5 connector later, hence it says "16 pin (component side)" because the cable is a 2x8 (PSU) to 1x16 (device) rather than a 16 pin to the PSU.

 

[Joxeon]

If you don't get an atx 3.0 PSU you will be limiting your 4090 to 450w threw the pcie connectors, where as the atx 3.0 threw the single power connector can delivery 600w.

From personal experience with a 4090fe, 4 150w pcie connectors feed into the adaptor so you don’t need an atx3.0 psu to run the full 600w.

That said I wouldn’t buy a new PSU now without the ATX3 standard unless it was for a low budget build.

Recently picked up an NZXT C1200 for £120 as it seemed like a good price for 1200w gold / ATX3 and the 10 year warranty ready for when I do an upgrade later this year when the new CPUs are out.

 

[mickyflinn]

From personal experience with a 4090fe, 4 150w pcie connectors feed into the adaptor so you don’t need an atx3.0 psu to run the full 600w.

That said I wouldn’t buy a new PSU now without the ATX3 standard unless it was for a low budget build.

Recently picked up an NZXT C1200 for £120 as it seemed like a good price for 1200w gold / ATX3 and the 10 year warranty ready for when I do an upgrade later this year when the new CPUs are out.

Corect you can and there will be lots of people running a 4090 on a non atx 3.0 psu but if your in the market for a new PSU and go Nvidia it makes sense to go the new standard.

Some come with a free fire extinguisher

 

[AMDPower]

I think ASUS just made the decision for me.

ASUS Thor III 1600w

ROG Mjolnir Portable UPS | ROG Mjolnir Series|Power Supply

Featuring GaN MOSFET, patented intelligent voltage stabilizer, and a magnetic OLED display, this flagship PSU delivers unmatched performance and rock-solid stability for your ultimate PC build.

rog.asus.com

ASUS Introduces ROG Thor III 1600W Power Supply with Modular OLED Display

ASUS unveiled the ROG Thor III, a high-capacity power supply unit (PSU) that features a modular OLED display. The unit, which is designed to meet ATX 3.1 standards, is capable of delivering up to 1600 watts of power, making it suitable for high-performance computing systems, especially those...

www.guru3d.com

now have to wait till eternity before they release it.

 

[Vertigo]

If you don't get an atx 3.0 PSU you will be limiting your 4090 to 450w threw the pcie connectors, where as the atx 3.0 threw the single power connector can delivery 600w.

Eh?

The spec for each PCIe power connector is 150W so, if you use a 12VHPWR cable terminating in four PCIe connectors at the PSU, and your PSU is rated high enough to provide the necessary total power, of course you can get 600W, providing the cable grounds both sense pins.

Some high-end PSUs are actually capable of providing far more than 150W per PCIe output.