PSU manufacturers warned against using 600W GPU power plug design due to temperature rise risk
The design guide for modern power supplies has been updated to recommend just one type of cable plug for graphics cards. It's now recommended that the 12VHPWR connector capable of delivering up to 600W of power to a single GPU should use a plug design called 4 Spring, in a bid to reduce risk of rising temperatures.
The 12VHPWR connector is a pretty new concept in the world of PSUs, first introduced in early 2022 as a part of a wider redesign with the ATX 3.0 specification(opens in new tab). The ATX 3.0 specification is basically a how-to guide to building a modern-day PSU for manufacturers, published by Intel, and it ultimately determines how different connectors and standards are actually brought to market.
In a recent update to the ATX 3.0 PSU specification(opens in new tab), spotted by user harakaze5719 on Twitter(opens in new tab), Intel now recommends just one design, known as 4 Spring, for the 12VHPWR connector, and is actively dissuading manufacturers from using the alternative, known as 3 Dimple.
«Crimp Contacts inside of the cable plug are recommended to use the 4 Spring design instead of 3 dimple design, which will increase the contact area for electrical current flow inside the 12VHWPR connector and reduce the temperature rise of each contact.»
Intel then attaches a handy image (courtesy of Wieson* Technologies Co., Ltd.) to show the actual difference between the two, in case you didn't know your spring plugs from your dimples.
The reason why this seemingly minute design change is of any interest is because the exact design of these two connectors has been brought into question by cases of melting GPU connectors(opens in new tab) on Nvidia's high-end RTX 40-series graphics cards. AMD's latest graphics cards do
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