(Credit: Joseph Maldonado/PCMag)
The yellow 12V-2x6 graphics card power connectors that MSI introduced for RTX graphics card owners to prevent power shorting and melted cables may not provide long-term protection.
As TechPowerUp reports, some MSI power supply unit (PSU) owners have spotted the connector slowly slipping out of GPUs over time. This hasn't resulted in an obvious short or damaging incident yet, but it's still concerning for anyone who thought this adapter would be easy enough to set and forget.
Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards developed a surprising problem soon after their release: Some of them were melting power cables. It seemed to be related to the redesigned 12V-2x6 power cable (after Nvidia faced similar issues with the RTX 4090 a generation earlier). The wires inside the connector were becoming unbalanced and overloading, leading to cables and connectors melting and even catching fire.
To help prevent that, MSI's power supplies ship with a connector that has yellow plastic. When you plug it in, if you can't see the yellow, you can rest assured it's plugged in properly. Although this provides users with a way to see that their GPU connectors are creeping out, it's still concerning that it's happening at all.
A number of posts on the MSI Gaming subreddit have shown the connectors slipping out of the PSU and the GPU. One was an MSI MPG A1000GS ATX 3.1 PSU purchased two months ago, with the original poster asking for advice. This was followed by several other posters saying they had checked their MSI PSU and found the same issue.
It appears to be happening with RTX 5080 and RTX 5090 graphics cards and several MSI power supply models. Some commenters have pointed to thermal expansion and contraction as a potential cause of the slippage, but it's a worrying concern for those affected. Particularly since some of them have only been using their new setups for weeks, or even days, and have noticed some measure of creep.
These graphics cards are even more expensive now than when they were first released, and especially so in recent months. That makes any risk to them far greater now than even when this problem first arose.
Fortunately, MSI seems to be addressing the issue head-on. The original poster has already received notice from MSI that they will issue a full refund for the PSU, though they had already purchased an alternative model from another company. No word yet on a broader response.