The 12VHPWR cable is a fragile thing to work with and it has become a standard across all NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards. PSU & custom cable manufacturers such as CableMod went a step ahead to offer more durable cables but it looks like even they can burn up if not connected properly.
Custom 12VHPWR Cable From CableMod Burned, Company Rep Promises To Make It Right With Affected User
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series graphics cards all come with a 12VHPWR connector that can easily burn up if not connected properly. Although this is has been confirmed to be a user error, it also shows that the design adopted by the cable isn't that great either. Even after multiple guides and videos of how to plug the connector properly, there are still cases of cable melting showing up in various tech forums and Reddit every day.
When these cases were initially reported, CableMod was amongst the first manufacturers to offer its own custom cables that were meant to resolve the clearance & bend issues with the 12VHPWR connectors using its own design. The company was praised by many for its quick solution to the problem and they even had entire orders booked out as soon as the cables were listed for retail & pre-orders.
However, as with the standard 12VHPWR cables, even CableMod's cables can burn up if they aren't connected properly. While we can't say for sure if that was the case here but all evidence points out to that. In the pictures submitted by Redditor, u/Humble-Brilliant, we can see that both ends of the connector (the cable and the graphics card) have burn marks but CableMod did talk to the user and it turns out that the card survived and didn't get damaged.
It would really have sucked if the card was damaged because the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 is a super-expensive card that retails around $2000 US. CableMod was quick to respond to this issue and has asked the customer to reach out to their tech support and that they will make it right with the affected user. Furthermore, CableMod says if their cables would've damaged the card, they'd offer a replacement as they have done so in the past (in very rare cases).
"Very sorry about that - please reach out to our support and we will make it right with you! Our products come with service and we help every customer out."
"The card is not damaged (we spoke to him) but in case our cables would damage a card, then we would replace the GPU - we have done that in the past in very rare cases where our cables damaged something."
It is good to see CableMod offering some great customer support & apologizing to their customers even though we know that the 12VHPWR issues mostly stem from user errors. We are also aware that the PCI-SIG 12HPWR connector isn't as user-friendly as the older 8-pin connectors but we'd advise our readers who are buying a GeForce RTX 40 series graphics card to follow this small guide that we have put out for you.
News Source: Kyle Bennett
