Having said that, some custom GeForce RTX 3090 Ti cards like the EVGA Kingpin Hybrid Gaming even come with two PCIe 5.0 power connectors, which means up to a ridiculous 1,200W of power delivery. Prior to that official statement, there were plenty of theories (some of which, it seems, ended up being right.) Some companies are already announcing new adapters for the GPU. CableMod, for instance, has a right angle adapter that it says requires less bending. What has Nvidia said about all of this?

Updated 10/26/2022 9:00 pm PT: Added the relevant information about the usage of third-party adapters from Nvidia documentation included with the GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition. Our findings to date suggest that a common issue is that connectors are not fully plugged into the graphics card. To help ensure the connector is secure we recommend plugging the power dongle into the graphics card first to ensure it's firmly and evenly plugged in, before plugging the graphics card into the motherboard. So far the melting 16-pin connector issue was affecting mostly the GPU side as you can see in the image above. However, we now have the first case of a Reddit user Shiftyeyes67k who had a 16-pin melt on the SMPS side. The affected model happens to be a 1000W Dark Power 13 from Be Quiet. The new connector helps eliminate the use of multiple 6-pin or 8-pin PCIe cables, decreasing cable clutter and making cable management easier. Nevertheless, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti can also be powered by three 8-pin PCIe cables, although it would be a lot more unwieldy. We are investigating additional ways to ensure that the connector is secure before powering on the graphics card."The guidance to not bend the cable too close to the connector still stands with the 12V-2x6 power connector. With the previous 12VHPWR power connector, the recommended spacing was at least 35mm from the connector before bending, although some power supply vendors suggested up to 40mm for good measure. However, the distance for the 12V-2x6 power connector is unknown as Igor's Lab didn't provide the specific measurement in the report. The 12V-2x6 document also delves into more technical aspects, such as testing methodologies. Up to now, we've only seen complaints from consumers using the bundle 4x8-pin to 1x16-pin power adapter. ATX 3.0 power supply owners seem unaffected. These power supplies already come with the 12VHPWR connector, so adapters aren't needed. On the flip side, there aren't many ATX 3.0 units on the market, and they are expensive. Here are some of the first pictures of a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 Ti custom-design graphics cards, the RTX 4070 Ti AERO. GIGABYTE targets the AERO brand of graphics cards, motherboards, and notebooks, at creators who like to game, hence the product design that's a lot less flashy than the company's AORUS or Gaming OC brands of graphics cards. An interesting aspect of this card is that it features a 16-pin ATX 12VHPWR connector, and includes an NVIDIA-supplied power adapter that converts two 8-pin PCIe power connectors to one 12VHPWR. We know this adapter is different from the 2x 8-pin to 12-pin adapter NVIDIA included with the RTX 3080 Founders Edition, looking at the four sensor pins. With Ampere, Nvidia pushed the 12-pin PCIe power connector, but it never caught on. Only the Founders Edition utilized that connector. The chipmaker's partners still preferred the standard 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe power connectors for their custom Ampere offerings. The introduction of the 12VHPWR power connectors will be troublesome for power supply manufacturers. They'll either have to design new products that comes with the 12VHPWR power connector or provide existing owners with an adapter.

Interestingly, Nvidia has used a 12-pin precursor to the PCI-SIG 16-pin connector on the Founders Edition RTX 30-series cards. To our knowledge, no one reported any melting 12-pin adapters over the past two years. RTX 3090 Ti cards also use a 16-pin connector, but they still come with a 12-pin adapter cable. Initially, there were some concerns that the 12VHPWR connector could fail if the cables were bent in the wrong place. CableMod, a third-party cable manufacturer, published a "12VHPWR Cable Guide" claiming that it can't be bent near the plug, and all bends should start at least 35mm from the connector. PSU manufacturer Be quiet! places that distance at 40 mm. This is difficult to do in most PC cases. It also suggested that people need to ensure they're plugging in the cables completely. The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti graphics card is the first to use the new 16-pin PCIe 5.0 power connector.The company said that in testing cables returned from customers, a "wear line" can be seen, suggesting that the cable wasn't fully inserted into the connector on the card. What has the PCI-SIG said about this? This is murky territory. In the box for the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition, the documentation reads: Gamers Nexus couldn't replicate the melting issues at first, despite mangling several adapters. It put up a poll for 4090 users where it appears less than 10% have the 16AWG 300V wires. More recently, Gamers Nexus published a video where it "successfully" caused at least one adapter to melt… by not plugging the connector in all the way and by putting strain on the cables. Ironically, unlike almost all the other internal ATX power connectors, the Peripheral Power Connector was actually a Mate-n-Lok connector designed by Amphenol. The chipmaker does warn against using third-party adapters, such as the Cablemod and the upcoming Seasonic one, which will void your warranty — though note that all the cases of melted connectors so far have been with the official Nvidia adapter. Can someone build a better right-angle connector than Nvidia's official adapter? Almost certainly, and it will still technically void your warranty.