Amidst the increasing user reports of more 16-pin power connector meltdowns, Cablemod has provided some insight on the issue on Reddit. According to the custom cable and adapter manufacturer, there have been meltdowns with the brand's 12VHPWR angled adapters, but they're very rare. The 16-pin 12VHPWR connectors are found on many Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs, which power many of the best graphics cards, so this is an ongoing concern.
Although Cablemod didn't provide specific sales numbers, the vendor stated that it has only received reports of 20 instances of the 16-pin adapter melting. Cablemod has reportedly sold tens and thousands of adapters, amounting to a failure rate of less than 1%. In other words, it's not a common occurrence, but the issue is still persistent. A couple of Cablemod customers reported meltdowns in the same Reddit thread, but the company's support team is already attending to the cases.
Again, the company didn't delve into numbers; however, it claims that most cases involved RTX 40-series owners not fully inserting the adapter into the connector. Defective adapters only barely contributed to the failure rates. Some of you may be asking yourselves how hard it can be to plug in a connector since DIYers have been doing it for ages. Many have questioned the 16-pin power connector's design, whether its minuscule dimensions, making it difficult to plug in, or the latching mechanism that sometimes doesn't do an excellent job of holding the connector in place.
Cablemod's analysis of the melted adapters primarily points to user error, falling in line with Nvidia's investigation, dating back to November 2022. The chipmaker was seemingly looking into ways to make the 16-pin power connector more secure, but given that we haven't heard anything from the company, its efforts have gone stale.
Graphics card manufacturers have thought of other ways to facilitate the correct installation of the 16-pin power connector. For example, MSI made the 16-pin power connector yellow, allowing consumers to see whether the connector is plugged in entirely. If you notice any traces of yellow, the connector isn't fully inserted.
Meanwhile, Asus has a concept design to rid consumers of the 16-pin power connector, replacing it with a proprietary connector that slots directly into the (Asus) motherboard. Inno3D and Gigabyte opted for a more straightforward solution and just relocated the 16-pin power connector to offer more spacing for cable manipulation.
Nvidia and its partners have provided affected consumers RMAs for the damaged graphics cards. Cablemod is also standing by its customers who have purchased its 16-pin adapters. The company covers shipping costs for damaged graphics cards to the repair centers. In scenarios where the vendor denies the RMA, Cablemod has offered to reimburse the affected party the full purchase price of the graphics card.
Cablemod currently sells its 90-degree and 180-degree angled adapters for $39.90. The company also offers 90-degree angled cables for various power supply brands, including Corsair, EVGA, Seasonic, be quiet!, etc., for $29.90 on Amazon.
