GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER cards could have been even better
There is evidence that the opposing 12VHPWR had a chance to get an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER graphics card with classic power connectors.
In January NVIDIA refreshed its family of graphics cards GeForce RTX 4000 for more efficient variants COOL. Three models are available for sale – GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER and GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER. All of them with more powerful GPUsand some also with larger VRAM.
Palit wanted to rebel against NVIDIA? Not necessarily!
Of course, the mentioned systems are equipped with new types of power connectors, 12VHPWRwhich debuted on the market at the end of 2022 together with the family NVIDIA Ada Lovelace. However, it seems that some partners considered using classic 8-pin connectors.
As noted by the Japanese editors Jisakuhibion the card PCB Palit GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC you can see mounting places for two classic 8-pin power connectors. Ultimately, however, the card went on sale with 12VHPWR. These are not the only such systems, because it looks similar in the Palit GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER JetStream OC and GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER JetStream OC and Gainward GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super Phoenix GS.
There are two possibilities. Either Palit (which also owns the Gainward brand) was considering issuing cards with 8-pin connectors to appeal to consumers reluctant to use 12VHPWR, or the manufacturer simply uses the same laminate also in cards aimed at workstations, i.e. NVIDIA RTX/Quadro.