Seasonic Recommends Using Hair Dryer To Bend 12VHPWR & 12V-2×6 Cables When Installing GPU

Seasonic Recommends Using Hair Dryer To Bend 12VHPWR & 12V-2x6 Cables When Installing GPU 1

Seasonic, a widely popular PSU brand, has recommended its customers use a hair dryer when bending a 12VHPWR or 12V-2x6 connector cable.

The 12VHPWR connector cable fiasco just continues with CableMod recently recalling all of its angled-cable product lineup due to potential GPU damage and user harm. The connector cable is updated to the newest 12V-2x6 standard (CEM5.1) but despite that, it still requires some cautionary steps to prevent "potential" damage.

In a recent recommendation guide, Seasonic has released a statement explaining to users how to use and install the 12VHPWR & 12V-2x6 connectors cables to their GPUs. The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti is the last card to use the new connector interface while the RTX 4070, RTX 4060 Ti, and RTX 4060 come in both 8-pin and 12VHPWR designs. These cards were updated to the newer 12V-2x6 cable interface which fixes most of the issues encountered with early 12VHPWR designs, especially on a lot of RTX 4090 GPUs since those used the earliest specs of the standard.

Almost all of the burning and melting issues so far have been related to the RTX 4090 GPU since it has the highest power rating amongst the RTX 40 GPU family. These cards are massive and in most cases don't have ideal room to support such designs, leaving crammed-up setups. Unlike the older 8-pin connectors, the new 12VHPWR/12V-2x6 cables also need to have a 35mm clearance before any bend is applied for cable routing. This means that the side panels in most cases will interfere with the connector.

Seasonic recommends the same 35mm clearance space in its guidelines and also suggests that any bend beyond 35mm should be done using a gentle heat source, such as a hair dryer. The area that needs to be bent should first be heated and then gently bent by the user before installation to ensure easy installation.

Recommendation on how to use our 12VHPWR / 12V-2x6 cable

All connectors must be INSERTED, CLICK-LOCKED and SEATED properly to avoid issue.

DO NOT bend the cable in any direction once it is plugged into place.

DO NOT bend or apply force to the cable too close to the connector.

We do understand that there may be a need to bend the cables in order to fit them into the case. If this necessity arises then this must be done following below recommendations:

Disconnect the 12VHPWR / 12V-2x6 cable from the power supply and the GPU card.

Carefully use a gentle heat source (such as a hair dryer) to carefully heat the area of the cable where you wish to make the bend.

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.

via Seasonic

You can find a video demonstration of using a hair dryer to bend the 12VHPWR cable in the video below published by TecLab:

Of course, the issues with the 12VHPWR cables will continue to occur since there are a lot of gamers who bought the GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card. Some people saw their connectors melting months and even a full year after launch so you can't just tell when your connectors might become loose and cause damage to your GPU. So checking them from time to time and seeing if it's properly connected is good advise.