Seasonic Walks Back Suggestion To Use A Hair Dryer On PSU Cables For RTX 40 Series GPUs
by
Thiago Trevisan
—
Tuesday, December 26, 2023, 01:20 PM EDT
If you've just unwrapped a shiny new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series graphics card this holiday season, there are a few important things that you should know. No, it's not that the rumored NVIDIA GeForce RTX Super refresh is right around the corner. This tidbit of information will also likely apply to those as well, however.
12VHPWR cables that power the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs have made news consistently, with some even reportedly melting and failing. While a root cause is still up in the air, the bending of these 12VHPWR cables certainly deserves caution. Seasonic recently recommended that users installing a GPU with its power supply should use a hair dryer or similar heat source to bend the cable if needed.
It appears as though they have walked this back, with this suggestion disappearing from its knowledge base page.
Current recommendation does not mention a hair dryer
In light of potential issue, Seasonic likely figured it was best to keep heat sources such as hair dryers outside the scope of any official recommendations. The initial motive behind this suggestion is simple, however. It is well known that large NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs can often make fitting in even standard PC cases a challenge. The protruding cable makes it more difficult, therefore necessitating a bend to account for closing the chassis side panel.
CableMod had recently developed an angled adaptor for this very purpose, but has since completely recalled and discontinued the product due to problems. While we have not heard reports of problems arising directly from this Seasonic suggestion, it was only public for a very short amount of time. Common sense may dictate that avoiding external heat sources on GPU cables is preferred, and perhaps looking for an angled cable or other solution is best.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX Super GPUs that are rumored to be released in January will likely also have the same 12VHPWR cables as existing products. While it appears the 12VHPWR connectors on some GPUs, such as the GeForce RTX 4090, have already undergone slight improvements, we are yet to see what the new lineup will bring in terms of connector changes, if any.
In the meantime, if you own a GeForce RTX 40 Series GPU, just exercise caution and common sense when installing its cable. Incidence rates are still low, and can happen due to a variety of factors. After all, the last thing an gamer needs is for damaged or other similar issues with their expensive GPU. The GPU connector and cable itself is an essential part of the product, and a key area where solid improvement is hopefully on the horizon.
