Nvidia recently reassured the tech community by stating that the 12VHPWR connector melting issues seen with the RTX 40 Series GPUs are now resolved with the new RTX 50 Series.
At the Nvidia RTX AI Day 2025 event in South Korea, company representatives emphasized that overheating incidents, common with the 12VHPWR connectors of the RTX 4090s, are a thing of the past. They mentioned having made modifications to the connectors to correct these problems and assured that, two years later, these problems no longer occur.
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A corrected 12VHPWR connector
Introduced with the RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 GPUs, the 12VHPWR connector — or 16-pin PCIe 5.0 connector — quickly sparked controversy due to reports of overheating. Investigations showed that improper insertion of the connector was the main cause. Nvidia and its partners therefore established guidelines for correct use, but fears remained.
Adjustments led to the appearance of the 12V-2×6 connector. The latter uses the design of the 12VHPWR, but with detection pins shortened by 0.1 mm and conduction terminals lengthened by 0.15 mm. These changes aim to improve the connection, ensuring reliable and secure power. The 12V-2×6 is also backwards compatible with the 12VHPWR, avoiding the need to purchase new cables.
-For future RTX 50 Series GPUs, whose TGPs can reach 575 W for the RTX 5090, Nvidia will therefore have taken proactive measures to eliminate these problems. Although we can give the Santa Clara company the benefit of the doubt, it will remain prudent to use modern power supplies that comply with the ATX 3.1 standard, natively supporting the 12V-2×6 connector.
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