RTX 50 GPUs won't suffer a repeat of melting 4090 power cables, Nvidia claims

In brief: Following reports of melting and burning power cables from RTX 4090 owners, users are understandably concerned about Nvidia's upcoming next-generation high-end graphics cards. Although all RTX 50 series GPUs have higher power requirements than their predecessors, Nvidia has expressed confidence that the now-standard 12V-2x6 power cables are safe.

Nvidia recently reassured customers that its upcoming RTX 50 series graphics cards won't repeat the controversy from two years ago when the flagship RTX 4090 power cables began melting and burning. The company has since switched to a new cable standard.

Users began reporting issues with Nvidia's RTX 4090 power cables in late 2022, and the episode eventually led to a class-action lawsuit. An internal investigation determined that the affected cables were incorrectly inserted, ultimately blaming user error, but some disagreed.

The PCI-SIG had previously issued warnings that 12VHPWR power adapters, which many customers used to plug ...