ZOTAC RTX 4090: PCIe Gen5 cable can only be unplugged 30 times

Uh, so you're going to want to be real, real careful with the new 12VHPWR power connector... with ZOTAC warning users that the new GeForce RTX 4090 power cable has a limited service life of 30 connects and disconnects. Yeah, just thirty times. This isn't something super new, as current connectors can't just be connected and disconnected hundreds of times without damage.

NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card uses the new 16-pin PCIe Gen5 "12VHPWR" power connector, but if you don't have a new PSU ready with a native 16-pin connector... then you'll need the 4 x 8-pin to 12VHPWR cable which is limited to 30 connect/disconnects.

11

ZOTAC's warning about RTX 4090 power cables

As for NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card, power consumption will be 450W while we're expecting up to 600W and above with custom RTX 4090 models, like the upcoming ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO graphics card. You wouldn't want 450W to 600W or above flowing through a cable that could be damaged, so... be careful with your RTX 490 and PSU purchases.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that the PCI-SIG organization was concerned over potential thermal variance in the 12VHPWR power cable adapters, and they have to be with so much power flowing through the cable. GamersNexus has covered the 12VHPWR cable 'thermal variance' issues with PCI-SIG explaining it in detail.

• Read more: ZOTAC's new GeForce RTX 4090 AMP Extreme AIRO has all the right curves
• Read more: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090: 2x faster than RTX 3090 Ti for $1599
• Read more: NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4080 revealed: 16GB model starts at $1199
• Read more: NVIDIA DLSS 3 announced: 4x faster in Cyberpunk 2077 on Ada Lovelace

PCI-SIG said that NVIDIA has been testing CEM 5 16pin 12VHPWR connectors internally and that the purpose of the testing was to validate prototype power supplies and cable assemblies so that they meet 55A requirements as stated in CEM and ATX spec. PCI-SIG notes that failures have been observed in certain cable routing conditions from PSUs and test boards that generate side load on the interface.

11

NVIDIA details the new power cables for its RTX 4090

• Read more: PCI-SIG worried: possible thermal variance with PCIe 5.0 power cables

The organization continues, adding that the findings are shared here with ideas on possible cause and next steps while the purpose of the presentation itself was to bring awareness to the issue and make a call to action for the WG to ensure the CEM specification is sufficient to prevent failures in the field.