Both the 12VHPWR connector and 12V-2×6 are designed to solve an actual problem: delivering hundreds watts to high-end graphics cards over a single cable, rather than trying multiple 8-pin connectors on these GPUs. In theory, replacing two to four 8 pin connectors with a single 12V-2×6 connector or 12VHPWR connector reduces the amount of board area OEMs have to reserve for these connectors and the number cables that users must snake through their gaming PCs.
While Nvidia, Intel AMD, Qualcomm, Arm and other companies were all PCI SIG members and had a hand on the design of the new standard, Nvidia was the only GPU manufacturer to use 12VHPWR or 12V-2×6 in the majority of its GPUs. AMD and Intel continue to use the 8 pin power connector. Even some of Nvidia’s partners still use 8-pin connectors on lower-end cards such as the RTX 4000- and 4070-series.
The reported 5090 incidents both involved third-party cable, one from custom computer part manufacturer Material or one that comes with an FSP Power Supply, rather than the 8-pin adapter supplied by Nvidia with GeForce graphics cards. It’s too early to tell if the cables (or Nvidia or the design of connector) or the affected users caused the problem, or if this was a mere coincidence.
Nvidia has been contacted to determine if it is aware of the reports. We will update this article if we get a response.
