PCI Express 4 No more GPU power cables!

Bobmunkhouse · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:13

Looks like we will be able to do away with power cables to GPU's in a couple of years...great for people OCD about cable management....

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/53556/pcie-4-end-power-cables-gpus/index.html

JediFragger · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:15

Better hope you have a kickass psu though with a good strong +12v rail

Scougar · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:20

That might be hell of a lot of power going through the mainboard.

benjii · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:24

It may well mean that low cost boards won't support PCI-E 4 as the parts required to take that level of power are too expensive. If that's the case, would GPU's still have power sockets or would the high end cards just not bother?

Panos · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:29

benjii said:
It may well mean that low cost boards won't support PCI-E 4 as the parts required to take that level of power are too expensive. If that's the case, would GPU's still have power sockets or would the high end cards just not bother?

No.
According to the article pci4 devices arent compatible with pci3 motheboards.
Pci3 devices are compatible with pci4 motherboards.

benjii · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:33

I see. So perhaps there will be a dividing line between mid/high range and enthusiast. Unless PCI-E 4 doesn't do much to increase motherboard costs.

Burr · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:37

500watt through a PCI-E connection. Wowzers.

Panos said:
No.
According to the article pci4 devices arent compatible with pci3 motheboards.
Pci3 devices are compatible with pci4 motherboards.

If that's the case i imagine videocards manufacturers will want to have pci power connections to maximise the potential market of their product. At least to begin with.

benjii · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:40

Burr said:
500watt through a PCI-E connection. Wowzers.

If that's the case i imagine videocards manufacturers will want to have pci power connections to maximise the potential market of their product. At least to begin with.

Yeah, that's why I figure only enthusiast cards will support it. If you're going to spend £700+ on a card, then you're likely to have a decent motherboard.

Greebo · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:56

Burr said:
500watt through a PCI-E connection. Wowzers.

If that's the case i imagine videocards manufacturers will want to have pci power connections to maximise the potential market of their product. At least to begin with.

i suspect 500w will be rare, more like 300W. And if you are overclocking AIB baords are still going to have a power cable as well.

Those boards are likely to be expensive though. 3 or 4 way sli with 300W per slot? Thats an insane amount of power via the board.

Burr · 23 Aug 2016 at 15:57

benjii said:
Yeah, that's why I figure only enthusiast cards will support it. If you're going to spend £700+ on a card, then you're likely to have a decent motherboard.

True.

Aren't there some cards that go over 500w though. I think the dual GPU Devil13's do, doesn't mean it'll happen in the future i suppose but even still could be a restriction if videocard manufacturers don't have pci-e power connections as a back-up.

Also how is this power delivered to the mobo, via ATX 12v + EPS? That's potentially a lot of power for a few cables.

Burr · 23 Aug 2016 at 16:06

Greebo said:
i suspect 500w will be rare, more like 300W. And if you are overclocking AIB baords are still going to have a power cable as well.

Those boards are likely to be expensive though. 3 or 4 way sli with 300W per slot? Thats an insane amount of power via the board.

Let's hope PSU manufacturers don't remove the pci-e power connections. I doubt they will though.

Greebo · 23 Aug 2016 at 16:06

Burr said:
True.

Aren't there some cards that go over 500w though. I think the dual GPU Devil13's do, doesn't mean it'll happen in the future i suppose but even still could be a restriction if videocard manufacturers don't have pci-e power connections as a back-up.

Also how is this power delivered to the mobo, via ATX 12v + EPS? That's potentially a lot of power for a few cables.

Its going to have to be several ATX 12v cables. AFter all, you can have boards taking up to 4 cards and using up to 500W each. Once cable isnt going to supply 2000W to the board, no way.

Looks like we will get new connectors and all need new PSU's

Kaapstad · 23 Aug 2016 at 16:17

Greebo said:
i suspect 500w will be rare, more like 300W. And if you are overclocking AIB baords are still going to have a power cable as well.

Those boards are likely to be expensive though. 3 or 4 way sli with 300W per slot? Thats an insane amount of power via the board.

Yes it is

Some of my PCs can pull 2000 watts.

I suspect high end cards will continue to use power cables in the same way they always have.

The other thing to remember is boards like the Rampage 5 Extreme already use addition power cables to get the power into the board for 3 and 4 way setups. How many extra cables would a board need if it was using 2000 watts. :eek:

Burr · 23 Aug 2016 at 16:21

Greebo said:
Its going to have to be several ATX 12v cables. AFter all, you can have boards taking up to 4 cards and using up to 500W each. Once cable isnt going to supply 2000W to the board, no way.

Looks like we will get new connectors and all need new PSU's

God-dammit. If that's gonna be the case it does make me wonder what the point is. Where's the advantage over what we have now?

h4rm0ny · 23 Aug 2016 at 17:27

Ignoring the power ratings as I agree that's pretty crazy and wont get rid of cables, what about the speed? I don't think we've really come close to requiring the speed a 16xPCI-E v3 slot provides, let alone double that.

Are we expecting some radical change that would mean GPUs might actually require more than 16xPCI-Ev3 bandwidth? Because that's rather alarming if so. I suppose it makes 8x that much better though for mGPU set ups. Hell, 4x might even be enough?

Greebo · 23 Aug 2016 at 17:41

Burr said:
God-dammit. If that's gonna be the case it does make me wonder what the point is. Where's the advantage over what we have now?

None except for none enthusiast cards which have a 6 pin or 8 pin now and you are only going to put one card in your system. It will just be plug and play, no leads.

For the rest of us it will be a pain in the ****

Greebo · 23 Aug 2016 at 17:42

Kaapstad said:
Yes it is

Some of my PCs can pull 2000 watts.

I suspect high end cards will continue to use power cables in the same way they always have.

The other thing to remember is boards like the Rampage 5 Extreme already use addition power cables to get the power into the board for 3 and 4 way setups. How many extra cables would a board need if it was using 2000 watts.

In then I would worry about all that juice going through the board, they will cost a bomb. Much simpler and safer to have it go directly into the card.

AthlonXP1800 · 23 Aug 2016 at 21:20

Tomshardware has lots of details.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/pcie-4.0-power-speed-express,32525.html

Zen Naples server motherboard due in 2017 will probably be the first board out supported PCI Express 4.0.

PCIE power connectors will be removed from graphics card and moved to beside RAM DIMM slots, it will be nice to see clean and tidy cable management.

I think we will see Volta GV104 cards in 2018 that will be 1 inch shorter than GTX 1070 if it will use GDDR6 or much shorter if it will use Low Cost HBM.

It really shame we will wait 2 years for PCI Express 4.0 consumer motherboards while server got it first next year in 2017.

Kaapstad · 23 Aug 2016 at 21:27

AthlonXP1800 said:
Tomshardware has lots of details.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/pcie-4.0-power-speed-express,32525.html

Zen Naples server motherboard due in 2017 will probably be the first board out supported PCI Express 4.0.

PCIE power connectors will be removed from graphics card and moved to beside RAM DIMM slots, it will be nice to see clean and tidy cable management.

I think we will see Volta GV104 cards in 2018 that will be 1 inch shorter than GTX 1070 if it will use GDDR6 or much shorter if it will use Low Cost HBM.

It really shame we will wait 2 years for PCI Express 4.0 consumer motherboards while server got it first next year in 2017.

What a mess

I think high end enthusiast boards will continue much as they are with the power going to the cards.

PCI-E 4.0 has to allow the above for backward compatability with PCI-E 1.0 2.0 and 3.0 cards.

shankly1985 · 23 Aug 2016 at 21:32

Surly this is only for looks? It would indeed look excellent without the cables but at the same time am thinking what's the point? Mind you I not read anything on this.