CableMod recalls angled GPU power adapters to prevent fiery surprises

CableMod has issued a recall for all its angled power adapters for GPU cards following reports of them overheating and posing a safety risk. The cable and adapter maker said it is voluntarily recalling all of its angled adapters in order to keep customers and their hardware safe. This affects CableMod's 12VHPWR angled GPU …

[cyberdemon]

12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

The onboard switching regulators could just as easily be made to handle 24V or even 48V input, for much less heating of the connectors. But makers of ATX power supplies would be very upset indeed, i suppose

[Snowy]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

Then you have to put bigger power regulators on the graphics card itself not sure you would gain much.

[cyberdemon]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

Bigger? Not necessarily. The current at the (1.7V, 100s of Amps) output is the same, so the biggest parts don't change. The transistors and input capacitors need to be rated for a higher voltage, but they would be not necessarily be bigger. The input side including connectors and wiring can be smaller, due to the lower current. The size of a SMPS usually goes with its power handling, not voltage, not until you get to high voltages >100V at least, where arcing and creepage become a risk.

[Lurko]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

I'd have thought PSU makers would be absolutely delighted with a scenario where gamers and coin miners upgrading their GPUs also needed to buy a new premium price ATX++ PSU that delivered 24/48V.

Of course, those too feeble minded to swap a PSU would just need to buy a complete new computer.

[cyberdemon]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

Perhaps, but the price of the new standard of PSU would eventually come down, since they no longer have to do the rather difficult job of delivering stable, ripple-free power at 12V 80 odd Amps, without any sense wires etc.

There is so much power electronics already on modern motherboards and GPUs, that the responsibility for power conditioning has already shifted away from the PSU. Power for SSDs etc could come from the motherboard, after all they don't draw much more than a USB port. We could dispense with most of the wires on an ATX connector and have a single 48V rail for GPU and CPUs. We could then move to DC supply for IT, and datacentre servers might not need PSU boxes at all, except for a bit of filtering.

ATX is a dinosaur that dates back to 80s IBM boxen..

[John Robson]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

So you're advocating for the 12V PSU standard, but potentially lifting that to 48V (well, why not go all the way and move to telecoms standards).

So long as we keep the ATX form factor I'm ok with that.

[PRR]

Re: 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts anyway

> 12V is rather unsuitable for 500 odd Watts

I don't disagree...... but car starting systems have been OtoO 12V 200 Amps, 2,400 Watts, since I was a boy (and longer in Register-land; I was weened in a 6V >1800W Studebaker).

Yes, they are 3/8" BOLTED connections on #00 cable, frame return, on massive metallic batteries and motors. And they DO give trouble, even to the point of smoke. (But not usually inside the house.)

[Binraider]

Why have we not moved to bars on board instead of cables?

The fet for cable management you would think would have moved to this extremely obvious solution. Cheaper to make too, tbh.

[imanidiot]

12VHPR is a shit standard

16-pin 12VHPWR and 12V-2x6 (that was designed to address some of the issues) are absolutely shit standards and should imho be considered unsafe for consumer products. Their carrying capacity margin is too flimsy, their mating cycle limit far too low, their tolerance for bad mating basically non-existent. It's a miracle we've seen comparatively few fires resulting from these.

I agree with Cyberdemon. It's time for a higher voltage PSU standard and better onboard power regulation.

[cyberdemon]

Re: 12VHPR is a shit standard

There are a few results for 48VHPWR and it does seem as if it was a thing since at least 2021. Maybe it exists in China, but for whatever reason has not been widely adopted.

This page appears to suggest it may be part of the PCIE5 standard

See https://www.fcpowerup.com/3090ti-pcie-5-0-16pin-48v/

third and fourth images down

[imanidiot]

Re: 12VHPR is a shit standard

The great thing about standards is that there's so many to choose from. Unfortunately if nobody chooses to use it...