![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
If you have connector anxiety and would like a PSU that can monitor and deal with it, MSI seems to be first to market here. The Ai1300TS and Ai1600TS are able to do that and are out on the market now, I have one in my system. Despite the "AI" in the name that is just marketing, they don't use any kind of neural network for anything, it is just a set of shunt resistors, monitoring chips and a communication chip. It is all heuristicly (traditional code) controlled. The only difference between the two models is how much total power they can handle 1300w vs 1600w, the 1600w model has more and different converters to do the job, all the rest of the components are the same. I got the 1300w personally because not only does my system not have any way to draw 1600w, my breaker would drop before that happened.
As a PSU, it is a pretty well designed unit. It isn't the very top, it hits Titanium for 120v, but only Platinum for 240v because of some cost cutting measures they took whereas the best Seasonic units are Titanium all the way around. However its still efficient and well designed. Testing from reviewers and Cybernetics indicate that voltage regulation is quite tight, like 10x better than the spec requires which is around what you see with the real high end units. Seasonic does seem to have slightly better regulation and lower ripple, but it is really splitting hairs at that point as you are already WAY beyond what the ATX spec requires. Like the spec requires 5% regulation on the 12v line, these units have more like 0.5% regulation, a Seasonic Prime Titanium might have 0.4%. Either way, far beyond what is needed.
Comes with a boatload of cables of all types, more than any system could realistically use, so you should be fine there. Only area that would be an issue is if you have lots of old stuff that uses molex connectors but I mean... if you do what are you getting this for?
So on to the headline features: The 12v-2x6 monitoring. It actually has both monitoring AND protection. The monitoring is pretty simple: Hook up the USB-C port (includes a cable to go to your motherboards directly) and then you can look at the sensors. You can install their MSI Center to do that, or you can just do it in HWInfo or Afterburner. Afterburner can be configured to alert you, and automatically reduce GPU power if you want if you leave it running in the background. You can see the stats it reports here:
This is after a 30-minute Furmark run at a full 600w (I discovered I can get it to draw 600w even with my undervolt). The columns from left to right are current, minimum, maximum, and average. Of note for the 12v-2x6 worries, no pin ever drew more than 8.5a and the balance between the pins is very good. You can have HWInfo log that if you want to analyze it further (I did).
So that's the reporting component but it also has a protection component and you don't need to connect it to USB to use it, it is done on the PSU itself. If it sees something it doesn't like, it sounds an audible alarm (buzzer is in the PSU itself). If whatever made it mad doesn't fix itself and you don't do anything in 2-minutes, it cuts off the sense pins to the GPU, which tells the GPU it may no longer draw power from the cable. It's alarm happens at about 12-12.5a on any cable. If that increases to around 17a, the PSU doesn't wait is just shuts itself off entirely. I can't confirm that behavior as my cable is well behaved and I'm not going to damage it on purpose, but that is what testing shows. If you want lower trip points, you do that in software using Afterburner which can be set to alarm at any level you like, and also can be set to auto-limit power draw of the GPU.
In general, that gets you a pretty robust, multi-layered, protection. You can periodically keep an eye on things to see if there's any slow changes. You can set alarms at lower levels, if you want (though be warned that can lead to nuisance alarms, it is perfectly normal and in spec for momentary bursts over 9.5a), and if the software has issues there's two levels of hardware protection.
Is it necessary? Almost certainly not. I still maintain that these issues are largely overblown, a single report of a melted connector gets shared tens of thousands of times, often with people not asking anything about the surrounding situation, and all the people who have cards just quietly working are ignored. HOWEVER, I get the anxiety. It bit me, and I picked this up as a solution. I like it much better than an in-line solution like the Wireview because that adds another point of failure, this is inside the PSU itself which you have to have anyhow. Also, the Wireview is PROBABLY in good shape these days but the problem that the original one had are de facto proof that they really didn't understand the engineering challenges of what they were doing. Der8auer isn't a bad dude, but he's got a bachelors degree in interdisciplinary engineering and he spends his time making Youtube videos. I'd rather have something made by PSU engineers who understand this stuff really well.
So if you have a nervous, or if you just need a new PSU, these are some to consider. They are available now, and importantly seem to be available at retail not just from scalpers. I got mine for $370 which isn't cheap, but isn't all that bad for a 1300w Titanium PSU. Seasonic is also working on the same kind of thing, they call it Optiguard, but they have delayed it until well in to 2027.
As a PSU, it is a pretty well designed unit. It isn't the very top, it hits Titanium for 120v, but only Platinum for 240v because of some cost cutting measures they took whereas the best Seasonic units are Titanium all the way around. However its still efficient and well designed. Testing from reviewers and Cybernetics indicate that voltage regulation is quite tight, like 10x better than the spec requires which is around what you see with the real high end units. Seasonic does seem to have slightly better regulation and lower ripple, but it is really splitting hairs at that point as you are already WAY beyond what the ATX spec requires. Like the spec requires 5% regulation on the 12v line, these units have more like 0.5% regulation, a Seasonic Prime Titanium might have 0.4%. Either way, far beyond what is needed.
Comes with a boatload of cables of all types, more than any system could realistically use, so you should be fine there. Only area that would be an issue is if you have lots of old stuff that uses molex connectors but I mean... if you do what are you getting this for?
So on to the headline features: The 12v-2x6 monitoring. It actually has both monitoring AND protection. The monitoring is pretty simple: Hook up the USB-C port (includes a cable to go to your motherboards directly) and then you can look at the sensors. You can install their MSI Center to do that, or you can just do it in HWInfo or Afterburner. Afterburner can be configured to alert you, and automatically reduce GPU power if you want if you leave it running in the background. You can see the stats it reports here:
This is after a 30-minute Furmark run at a full 600w (I discovered I can get it to draw 600w even with my undervolt). The columns from left to right are current, minimum, maximum, and average. Of note for the 12v-2x6 worries, no pin ever drew more than 8.5a and the balance between the pins is very good. You can have HWInfo log that if you want to analyze it further (I did).
So that's the reporting component but it also has a protection component and you don't need to connect it to USB to use it, it is done on the PSU itself. If it sees something it doesn't like, it sounds an audible alarm (buzzer is in the PSU itself). If whatever made it mad doesn't fix itself and you don't do anything in 2-minutes, it cuts off the sense pins to the GPU, which tells the GPU it may no longer draw power from the cable. It's alarm happens at about 12-12.5a on any cable. If that increases to around 17a, the PSU doesn't wait is just shuts itself off entirely. I can't confirm that behavior as my cable is well behaved and I'm not going to damage it on purpose, but that is what testing shows. If you want lower trip points, you do that in software using Afterburner which can be set to alarm at any level you like, and also can be set to auto-limit power draw of the GPU.
In general, that gets you a pretty robust, multi-layered, protection. You can periodically keep an eye on things to see if there's any slow changes. You can set alarms at lower levels, if you want (though be warned that can lead to nuisance alarms, it is perfectly normal and in spec for momentary bursts over 9.5a), and if the software has issues there's two levels of hardware protection.
Is it necessary? Almost certainly not. I still maintain that these issues are largely overblown, a single report of a melted connector gets shared tens of thousands of times, often with people not asking anything about the surrounding situation, and all the people who have cards just quietly working are ignored. HOWEVER, I get the anxiety. It bit me, and I picked this up as a solution. I like it much better than an in-line solution like the Wireview because that adds another point of failure, this is inside the PSU itself which you have to have anyhow. Also, the Wireview is PROBABLY in good shape these days but the problem that the original one had are de facto proof that they really didn't understand the engineering challenges of what they were doing. Der8auer isn't a bad dude, but he's got a bachelors degree in interdisciplinary engineering and he spends his time making Youtube videos. I'd rather have something made by PSU engineers who understand this stuff really well.
So if you have a nervous, or if you just need a new PSU, these are some to consider. They are available now, and importantly seem to be available at retail not just from scalpers. I got mine for $370 which isn't cheap, but isn't all that bad for a 1300w Titanium PSU. Seasonic is also working on the same kind of thing, they call it Optiguard, but they have delayed it until well in to 2027.
Last edited:
