SeaSonic officially recommends using a hair dryer to bend the RTX 4090 power cables before installation
The situation around the “12VHPWR” power connector remains unresolved. Even after making changes to the connector and renaming it “12V-2×6”, companies are still concerned about the proper connection of video card power. SeaSonic now recommends bending the cables with a hair dryer during installation. Specifically, any RTX 40 series GPU that uses a 12VHPWR or 12V-2×6 power cable should have its cables bent using a “mild heat source” before installation in your case.
This recommendation came from the official SeaSonic support page titled “RTX 4xxx and 12VHPWR / 12V-2×6 Cable Guidance”. It also contains a list of recommended power supplies for RTX 40 series GPUs**. This is what the manual looks like for connecting the power to the video card:
“We understand that it may be necessary to bend the cables to fit them into the case. If this is necessary, it should be done following the guidelines below:
- Disconnect the 12VHPWR / 12V-2×6 cable from the power supply and the GPU card.
- Carefully insert the connectors into the power supply and the GPU.
- Make sure the connectors are properly seated and the latch on the connectors is engaged and locked into place with a click.
- It is very important that after the connectors are properly in place, not to bend the cables or exert any unnecessary force on the connectors anymore, either at the power supply or at the GPU end.”
Owners of GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards suffer the most from problems with this connector. For example, blogger Northridgefix reports that he has to repair a hundred RTX 4090s a month because of this new power connection standard. That is, we can say that GeForce RTX 4090 and the 12VHPWR standard are contraindicated for each other. When Seasonic Power Supply’s official support team now suggests that you lightly pre-melt your cables to safely bend them to a more convenient angle for installation, something has gone wrong.