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:
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.
