SeaSonic officially recommends using a hair dryer to bend your RTX 4090 power cables before installing

Hardware Busters on YouTube testing RTX 4090 power cables, which is cited by SeaSonic in its documentation just prior to bending instructions.
Hardware Busters on YouTube testing RTX 4090 power cables, which is cited by SeaSonic in its documentation just prior to bending instructions. (Image credit: Hardware Busters on YouTube)

Continuing the ever-evolving saga of RTX 4090 power cables melting and the prevention thereof, Seasonic is now recommending you bend your cables with a hair dryer during the installation process. Specifically, any RTX 40 Series GPU using the 12VHPWR or 12V-2x6 power cable should have their cables bent with a "gentle heat source", like a hair dryer, before being installed into your case, says the well-known PSU firm. 

This recommendation comes from an official Seasonic support page titled "RTX 4xxx and 12VHPW / 12V-2x6 Cable Guidance" (h/t WCCFTech). It also includes a list of recommended Seasonic Power Supplies for RTX 40 Series GPUs, but that isn't what we're focused on highlighting. In the graphic below, sourced from that page, Seasonic illustrates the correct distance from the connector at which you can bend your cables:

A graphic from Seasonic illustrating the correct way to bend your 12VHPWR / 12V-2x6 cables — not too close to the connectors.

A graphic from Seasonic illustrating the correct way to bend your 12VHPWR / 12V-2x6 cables —  not too close to the connectors. (Image credit: SeaSonic)

Besides bending cables at the correct angle with a gentle heat source, you're also expected to do this bending process while the cable is outside of the case and not connected to your PSU or GPU. You aren't meant to install the power cabling at all until you've done the necessary pre-bending and are expected to install the cabling very carefully afterward.

Of course, if you know just how serious a safety issue these power cables really are for your GPU, it makes sense why Seasonic is advising these steps. For example, YouTuber Northridgefix reports having to fix one hundred RTX 4090s a month due to this new power connection standard. 

At this point, we think it's fair to say that the GeForce RTX 4090, the 12VHPWR standard, or both might not have been ready for the mass market. When official Seasonic Power Supply support is now suggesting lightly pre-melting your cables in order to safely bend them into an easier-to-install angle, something has gone wrong.

Christopher Harper
Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrote for various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack.

  • PEnns
    Considering how expensive the 4090 line is......one should expect a free hair dryer in the box....:p
    Reply
  • YouFilthyHippo
    This is just getting beyond ridiculous already. For the love of god, would the designers of the 16-pin connector just please come out and just admit it was a dumb decision and it doesn't work. Can we please stop this madness. This has gone on long enough and is getting more and more ridiculous. Please just do the recall already. Please stop the silliness. Please stop. It's okay to admit you made a mistake. Oh wait, that costs money. Nevermind
    Reply
  • coromonadalix
    same toughts, absolutely riculous .... it's everything and nothing, not being able to correctly change this @@$@ design
    Reply
  • RichardtST
    Or, you know, just don't buy anything afflicted with this obviously defective connector and make NVIDIA eat their mistake. It's not like they aren't laughing at you. They are. I can hear them from here.
    Reply
  • phillcom3
    It makes perfect sense though. There is a defined standard for most cables for minimum bend radii typically. It stands to reason they want to make sure there is some slack plus correct bend radi to stop cracking in the cable copper and reduce the strain in the connector. If course they could just make a more substantial connector but that's a different story.
    Reply
  • jeremyj_83
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    This is just getting beyond ridiculous already. For the love of god, would the designers of the 16-pin connector just please come out and just admit it was a dumb decision and it doesn't work. Can we please stop this madness. This has gone on long enough and is getting more and more ridiculous. Please just do the recall already. Please stop the silliness. Please stop. It's okay to admit you made a mistake. Oh wait, that costs money. Nevermind
    They basically have. They have changed the plug design already. https://hwbusters.com/news/no-more-12vhpwr-connector-say-hi-to-12v-2x6/
    Reply
  • YouFilthyHippo
    jeremyj_83 said:
    They basically have. They have changed the plug design already. https://hwbusters.com/news/no-more-12vhpwr-connector-say-hi-to-12v-2x6/

    No. What they need to do is recall all 4090's. A proper full-out recall is in order: Manufacturers provide shipping labels to all 4090 owners. All users ship their 4090s back to manufacturers, who in turn replace all connectors with the 8-pin ones we are all used to, then ship back, at no cost to the user. That's what needs to happen
    Reply
  • Rabohinf
    A heat gun is a necessary part of a set of tools for any male.
    Reply
  • spicy_cat
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    This is just getting beyond ridiculous already. For the love of god, would the designers of the 16-pin connector just please come out and just admit it was a dumb decision and it doesn't work. Can we please stop this madness. This has gone on long enough and is getting more and more ridiculous. Please just do the recall already. Please stop the silliness. Please stop. It's okay to admit you made a mistake. Oh wait, that costs money. Nevermind
    At this point I'm starting to suspect that Nvidia did this on your purpose so their consumer cards don't meet fire safety standards and businesses have to buy expensive pro cards
    Reply
  • spicy_cat
    YouFilthyHippo said:
    No. What they need to do is recall all 4090's. A proper full-out recall is in order: Manufacturers provide shipping labels to all 4090 owners. All users ship their 4090s back to manufacturers, who in turn replace all connectors with the 8-pin ones we are all used to, then ship back, at no cost to the user. That's what needs to happen
    They could at least STOP RELEASING NEW CARDS WITH DEFECTIVE CONNECTORS

    apparently 4080s are melting as well
    Reply