The ATX 3.0 generation of power supplies is just around the corner, and with it comes even more power than we've ever seen before. MSI is one of the first in the niche.
Codified in 2019, PCI Express 5.0 was introduced to the consumer market with the release of the first Alder Lake platforms by Intel late last year. For all that, the new standard is not expected to develop at best until next year. It is necessary 1/ that the platforms are relatively widespread among consumers and 2/ that components really using this new standard are present on the market. It is rather the second point which was lacking until now.
Things are changing very quickly, however, and as AMD prepares to launch a PCI Express 5.0-compatible platform - the AM5 in the new Ryzen 7000 series - we are starting to see SSD manufacturers announce PCIe Gen 5-compatible products. In the meantime, it is also possible that the first PCIe Gen 5-certified graphics cards will arrive from NVIDIA first, with the GeForce RTX 4000 series, and then AMD, with the Radeon RX 7000 series.
These changes require an adaptation of the power supply units, while the most demanding graphics cards could need up to 600 Watts and the processors do not magically become less greedy. MSI is first in line in this respect. While other manufacturers have already announced upcoming products, the Taiwanese company has unveiled its first power supply unit that is both ATX 3.0 and PCIe 5.0 compatible - and certified - the MEG Ai1300P.
As its name suggests, this power supply is a power monster with no less than 1,300 Watts. Of course, this is not the first time that such a powerful power supply has been announced, and in the past, other manufacturers have released products up to 1,650 Watts. No, what worries or impresses, depending on the point of view adopted, is the generation of these blocks that would once have been described as "overpowered". The MEG Ai1300P will of course be a fully modular unit and will feature the famous 12+4 pin connector for PCIe 5.0 graphics cards
MSI also points out that its power supply unit - in addition to being 80 PLUS Platinum certified - will be able to cope with load peaks that are known in the jargon as power excursions. It has been shown that these peaks can result in a tripling of the power consumption of graphics cards in a very short period of time (100 µs). The problem is that if the power supply cannot keep up, the system crashes. MSI has therefore foreseen that its MEG Ai1300P will be able to provide up to twice its maximum power - 2,600 Watts - during this very short time. Between constantly increasing power and increasingly complex specifications, these blocks of a new kind will increase the bill for new PCs.
