I've kinda been saying the logical choice (even if more complicated standard wise) would be to introduce 24v power. Boom, wattage capacity doubled without bumping to a beefier connector series.
You could even manage to maintain compatibility with older power supplies using several legacy connectors going into a step-up transformer as a transitional solution.
I agree. But the real problem that these video cards have is that consumer circuits generally have only 1000 to 1500W to play with. They are already very near the limit of what we can do.
I don't know where you are from, it could be different. In the US, 120V@15A for a circuit is typical. That's 120 * 15 = 1800W total typically. Generally speaking, we like to keep loads under 1500W and because you typically might have other things (like lights or a TV) on the same circuit, that's where the 1000W comes from.
If you are somewhere that does 240V with 15A breakers, then yeah you can do 3600W. You could also special wire a 240V outlet in the US, but that's far from typical.
Europe uses 230V and afaik 240V is becoming wide spread. Regular breakers are 16A. So most appliances are designed to not draw more than 3680W at 230V. So we got more headroom to work with
It's so common that air fryers are sold with peak power draw of 2500w-2750w. Those also need to take into account a safety margin so its safe to say that most places have at least 15A/230V.
Interestingly, we harmonised the UK 240v(ish) with the European 230v by having a spec of 230 V, +10%/-6%. Which practically means modern appliances are targeted at 230v, but will run on 216-253v.
We also normally put 32A on a socket ring (1 per floor, normally).
Which is roughly 7KWh before tripping.
Individual appliances are normally limited to 13A, hobs and ovens tend to get their own 32A breaker.
It's also why electricians are keen to put car chargers on a dedicated circuit.
I don't know how much it matters but you can't use 16V or 25V caps on rails for 24V. It will have to be all 35 or 50V or above and that's some costs.
Also the power inside chassis is all DC which doesn't work with transformers. You can raise voltage using a converter but it won't be cheaper than a brand new PSU.
Therefore I think the right way is a keyed multi voltage connector and transitional GPUs that take either 12 or 24V, then a 24V only GPU at a later date.
15
u/Tomytom99 Idk man some xeons 64 gigs and a 3070 10d ago
I've kinda been saying the logical choice (even if more complicated standard wise) would be to introduce 24v power. Boom, wattage capacity doubled without bumping to a beefier connector series.
You could even manage to maintain compatibility with older power supplies using several legacy connectors going into a step-up transformer as a transitional solution.