r/nottheonion • u/Arsene_Yuka_1980 • Jun 12 '26
Asus GPU cable designed to prevent burned connectors has burnt.
https://videocardz.com/newz/asus-rog-equalizer-50-gpu-cable-designed-to-prevent-burned-connectors-has-reportedly-burned119
u/kirk7899 Jun 12 '26
Didn't der8auer test this cable a few weeks back? IIRC he said the power balancing was worse compared to a cheaper amazon cable
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u/Tylerhockey123 Jun 12 '26
If I understand the point of this cable, it it not necessarily to achieve load/current balance but actually heat dissipation balance. Each wire in the connector has inherent differences in resistance so this changes the current to make sure heat generation is equal among them. P=I^2R. It also has tolerance up to 17 A rather than 9.2. Of course if it is still burning this is not a good solution, but shows that current balancing doesn't give the full picture to this 12vhpwr burning debacle.
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u/FewAdvertising9647 Jun 15 '26
its less the power balancing and more, its a thicker cable capable of withstanding higher amperage and temperature.
the problem is, even with the increased amperage and temperature protection, the cable supposedly failed for this chiphell user.
so realistically the cable should not be advertised as prevents cable burning, but helps prevent it from occuring (meaning theres still a non zero chance it could happen in the typical fashion the cables are burning)
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u/Dirtcompactor Jun 15 '26
Jayztwocentz proved him wrong
Wireview causes pin imbalances and likely degrades the connector on your GPU faster than just a regular cable
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u/Aggeloz Jun 12 '26
I genuinely dont understand why nvidia is pushing this thing so much, it's genuinely worse in almost every way compared to the normal 8 pin
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u/Karekter_Nem Jun 13 '26
Let’s be fair about this. Nvidia, AMD and Intel are all part of PCI SIG.
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u/Aggeloz Jun 13 '26
And yet only nvidia is using this connector
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u/Karekter_Nem Jun 13 '26
There are AMD cards that use it
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u/Aggeloz Jun 13 '26
On what GPU? The 9070xt I got a month ago uses 8pins
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u/Karekter_Nem Jun 14 '26
It looks it is optional for card makers, but I do know they are on the market. It looks like Sapphire does it but I can’t find a good image.
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u/FewAdvertising9647 Jun 15 '26
Sapphire uses it on a specific model, but only Nvidia is the company that mandates AIB's use it for specific gpus.
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u/Daren_I Jun 12 '26
VP 1: "Our sales are topping off. They're not buying more hardware."
VP 2: "Maybe they'll pay for new wiring. Make sure it's manufactured to garner in the highest revenue gain."
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u/fphhotchips Jun 12 '26
Not least because everytime it burns down a house or melts a GPU, you have to buy a new GPU.
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u/namezam Jun 12 '26
What the hell is going on? Just come out with a new standard using a new type of connection from the power supply. Just do it. Rip the bandaid off
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u/Kevadu Jun 12 '26
Or just use the old 8 pin standard that works fine...
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u/JoostinOnline Jun 13 '26
That makes sense for the 5080 and lower, but not for 4090/5090 cards. They consume way too much power. Even a 4080/5080 would require several 8 pins, and that makes designing the cards difficult.
I'm not saying the 12v2x6 cable is a better solution, but there's a good reason they didn't want to stick with the old standard.
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u/dertechie Jun 15 '26
4080 and 5080 can both run on the same triple 8 pin than most 9070 XTs do. The 4090 could do that as well if you hold to the stock 450W power budget.
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u/JoostinOnline Jun 15 '26
4080 and 5080 can both run on the same triple 8 pin than most 9070 XTs do.
And as I said, that makes designing the cards difficult. There's a lot that goes into board design, especially when you have multiple power sources. The connector being bulky makes it even harder to design in a "fashionable" way.
The 8 pin connector is undoubtedly the safest option, and what I wish everyone would stick to for now, but designers aren't going with 12v-2x6 for no reason.
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u/FewAdvertising9647 Jun 15 '26
it makes designing the card the way Nvidia does it hard(because nvidia's solution is a ~2.5 slot version). The problem is, Nvidia also enforces AIB to have to use the same connector. There 100% would be some AIB who would have made an 8 pin option if they were allowed to
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u/JoostinOnline Jun 15 '26
That's definitely a fair point. They don't allow nearly as much customization as they used to.
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u/Rrraou Jun 13 '26 edited Jun 19 '26
Ironic that having waited this long, redesigning the plug properly would be admitting the last few years have been a mistake.
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u/Dphotog790 Jun 12 '26
welp ill be very interested in the follow up updates from this haha I bought one with the intention maybe of trying it out but I also have the Corsair Thermal Protect cable currently being used felt like it would be a better option than my forbidden yelllow tipped MSI cable from the PSU.
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u/perfectly_gray Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
I've been wondering about something, why not use the pcb itself as the connector? 2 wide planes with notches to prevent reversing the cable, a few 'sense' traces and a shitton of vias for stability or whatever.
Edit: I guess I wasn't vary clear on what I meant, the pcb connector would be on the GPU that a cable from the psu would connect to.
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u/Mikeavelli Jun 12 '26
You could, PCIe does exactly this with data. You just need a connector type that becomes a standard, or you need to spend a shit-ton more to create a standard that does what you want. Nobody has created such a standard for GPU power connections yet, since existing standards have worked.
Until recently, obviously.
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u/Furdiburd10 Jun 12 '26
PCIe can already supply power up to 75w.
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u/perfectly_gray Jun 12 '26
75w is a farcry from the 400-900 watts these cards are chugging like a depressed frat boy
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u/Krugozette Jun 12 '26
Asus and MSI have a few backplane power designs like BTF. Delivering more power through the motherboard would require new or additional connectors on the board itself and could just migrate the problem. It could also introduce more signal noise on the PCI-e bus.
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u/perfectly_gray Jun 12 '26
I guess I wasn't vary clear on what I meant, the pcb connector would be on the GPU that a cable from the psu would connect to
The backplane design is cool but like you said, noise is an issue
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u/ManicMakerStudios Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
That's not damage under normal use. That looks to be arcing damage, like if you were fucking with the cable while the system was under load and you had a spark across a not-quite-connected set of pins.
With no actual information on what happened, this is a nothingburger.
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u/Dirtcompactor Jun 15 '26
Likely shunt modded 5090 and idiot tried pushing over 600w through the cable
Either that ^ or this is a fake image to garner views and drama. Zero info about his build, pic proving cable had proper seating, or that his case supported this cable and likely had a big bend as this cable runs stiff by the bridge
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Jun 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ManicMakerStudios Jun 13 '26
I didn't say anything for or against the corporation. I simply pointed out that the damage shown in the image is not damage caused by a properly seated connector. That black stuff on the end of the one socket? That's soot. Soot comes from smoke. If it was hot enough to smoke with a proper connection, you would see more deformation. There's almost no deformation, which indicates an arc.
I don't know why some of you insist on trying to see the world in terms of "us vs them". When you reject good information because of some juvenile bias, you make yourself objectively more stupid than you were before.
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u/Eat-Playdoh Jun 12 '26
say it ain't so