Users of high-end Nvidia cards keep running into issues involving the power connectors. Despite efforts by manufacturers such as MSI to redesign the power connectors to be safer, reports continue to roll in about failed connectors. This time, the fault is affecting even the redesigned 12V-2×6 connectors.

Early this year, MSI announced it had redesigned the RTX 50 series power connector. The new cable type has a yellow power connector and uses the newer 12V-2×6 connection standard to help ensure the adapter is fully secured and avoid user error. This standard was created to replace the 12VHPWR connector, which has been implicated in several incidents of graphics card cables melting or catching fire, dating back to the release of the RTX 4090.

Yellow-tipped cable still gets burned

According to tech blogger harukaze5719 on Twitter/X, a user fell victim to a melted cable connector, despite using the distinctive yellow-tipped 12V-2×6 connector. The post refers to a post on the Korean ‘Quazar Zone' tech forum and identifies ‘Another victim' with a picture of a scorched-looking yellow connector.

According to the post on Quasar Zone, this connector had been plugged into an RTX 5090, the most powerful consumer graphics card currently on the market. The post says they were playing a 400W game for ‘about two hours' and experienced a Blue Screen error. After they turned off the system, they checked the GPU to find the damaged cable.

Problems continue with both the 12V-2×6 connectors and the 12VHPWR cables. Several high-end graphics cards still use the 12VHPWR power connector, such as one reported today on Reddit, where an RTX 4090 Gigabyte Gaming OC graphics card also ended up with a scorched and damaged cable for an MSI PSU.

With so many incidents piling up involving 12VHPWR and its 12V-2×6 successor, many users may now be worried that their expensive gaming rigs are ticking time bombs.

About the Author

Rebecca Hills-Duty

Writing and journalism experience at VRFocus, UploadVR, The Escapist, HTC, PC Gamer, Tech Radar+ and Dexerto. Can sometimes be found playing with retro tech.