At this year’s CES, Cooler Master presented its MWE Gold V4 modular power supply family, which will offer power solutions between 750 and 1000 watts with the Gold level of the 80 Plus rating.
One of the cornerstones of the apparently typical development will be the integrated GPU Shield, which is a complete system to prevent VGAs using 12V-2×6 power connectors from burning. It achieves this by measuring the current of all six output wires on the top side of the power supply, and if one of them has a stably maintained current greater than 9.2 A, a red light flashes, indicating to the user that the connection is not good.
In this case, you have to unplug everything and then plug it in again, and this operation should be continued until the green light is constantly lit during a longer load. So it’s important to keep in mind that Cooler Master’s solution doesn’t shut down the system, it just warns the user of the anomaly that could potentially lead to burnout. We previously wrote about how PC manufacturers also check their pre-assembled systems in this way, only for this they use a multimeter with a lock clamp. Cooler Master’s concept is no different from this, but they do it in a much friendlier form for users.
(source: TechPowerUP) [+]
The picture above shows a very typical case that Cooler Master caused on purpose. Apparently, all the sockets are connected as much as is physically possible, so in theory nothing could be better connected, but still the red light is on, because one of the wires is passing a current greater than the acceptable maximum. These situations lead to burns, and the company’s demonstration clearly shows that this cannot be determined visually, despite the fact that those involved say that only a few small rules must be followed.
It’s no problem if you don’t want to buy a new power supply, because the company also releases the GPU Shield as a separate accessory. It is simply an adapter that is compatible with any 12V-2×6 power supply and VGA. The principle is the same, if the stably maintained current is higher than 9.2 A on one wire, a small light indicates that there is a problem, and then the connection should be disconnected and then connected again. This should be done until the warning signal disappears during prolonged loading.
(source: TechPowerUP) [+]
Cooler Master didn’t say how much the GPU Shield adapter will cost, but it will probably be cheaper than a multimeter with a padlock.
