AMD’s RDNA 3 flagship GPU will do one thing very differently to Nvidia RTX 4090

AMD has confirmed that its next-gen RDNA 3 graphics cards won’t use the same power adapters used with the Nvidia RTX 4090, which recently made headlines with some reports of meltdown issues (yes — very bad news indeed).

For those who missed this, these are 12VHPWR power adapters used by people to connect the RTX 4090 16-pin cable (for ATX 3.0, the latest PSUs) to an ATX 2.0 power supply (which the vast majority of PCs use). owners still have).

This was confirmed by AMD’s Scott Herkelman, who tweeted in response to a comment by Kyle Bennett about Navi 31 graphics cards rumored to not use the 12VHPWR adapter (in the case of both Team Red’s reference cards and cards from third parties). Hat tip to VideoCardz (opens in new tab) by the way, to mock this.

Herkelman makes it very clear that no RDNA 3 graphics card will use the adapter, which would really only apply to the top models, which are of course the most power-hungry. Navi 31 is the chip that will be used to power what theoretically will be the RX 7900 XT and perhaps the 7800 XT, the first two RDNA 3 GPUs to be released by AMD, according to the joke.

That has yet to be confirmed, of course, but we now know they won’t be using the 12VHPWR adapter.

Analysis: Winning the Battle for Power and Efficiency

What we’re not told here is what AMD will actually use – presumably 2 x 8-pin or 3 x 8-pin connectors for the flagship (perhaps the former for the 7800 XT and the latter for the 7900 XT – but that’s just pure guesswork).

Of course, we don’t know how much power the RDNA 3 graphics cards will endure, but rumor has it that the GPUs will use significantly less than Nvidia’s Lovelace range, and certainly the AMD flagship will come in less than the demands of Nvidia’s RTX 4090. Even if the wattages of AMD’s current generation cards are increased (Team Red has said this in the past, of course).

Confirming this adapter issue has certainly brought a sigh of relief that rippled through GPU-related forums online, especially in light of the melting cable incidents (two of which so far involving the RTX 4090) mentioned at the outset. Nvidia is investigating those incidents, by the way, and we hope to hear something more concrete about what exactly is going on with those reports from affected 4090 owners soon.

Likewise, we’ll know a lot more about RDNA 3 graphics cards soon, because as you may have seen, AMD is officially launching them – or at least revealing the first GPUs – at an event on November 3. will go on sale until December, if the rumor mill is right.

Be that as it may, we are already prepared to expect a 50% increase in performance per watt for RDNA 3 (basically the same generational jump made by RDNA 2); meaning how much in terms of raw frames per second gamers will get relative to power consumption. And with electricity bills skyrocketing, that could become more of a consideration, especially for budget-conscious folks.