Users are reporting MSI's yellow-tipped GPU power cables are sneaking out of place, putting graphics cards at increased risk

Users are reporting MSI’s yellow-tipped GPU power cables are sneaking out of place, putting graphics cards at increased risk | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Memory ‘As DRAM prices continue to rise, protecting product authenticity has become increasingly important’: Corsair changes Vengeance DDR5 packaging in bid to deter scams Graphics Cards Best graphics cards in 2026: I’ve tested pretty much every AMD and Nvidia GPU of the past 20 years and these are today’s top cards Graphics Cards ‘Credible and reliable contacts’ claim Nvidia is releasing an RTX 5090-beating GPU around September time this year PC Cases Don’t ask ‘why?’ but this tech tinker turned the audio jack on their PC into a power button. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter GPU meltgate returns, this time with an unexpected twist: more meltiness. This time, it’s looking like one of the main preventative strategies against melting GPU cables might not be as simply effective as initially thought, as there are reports of gamers’ yellow-tipped MSI cables creeping out on their own over time (via Wccftech).We’ve witnessed 12V-2×6 cables melting for years now, the first being with the RTX 4090. Since then, there have been a number of attempted diagnoses and fixes, but on the melting goes.The main solution of late has been to ensure the cable is fully—fully—inserted. Thus, enter stage left: the yellow-tipped cable. MSI cooked up this solution for the RTX 4090 a couple of years ago, and it cooked up the same solution for RTX 50-series cards about a year ago. The idea is, if you have the tips of the power connector yellow rather than all black, you’ll be able to tell whether they’re fully inserted. Related articles MSI Afterburner and some PSUs can now pull an emergency power brake to prevent your graphics card going up in a puff of smoke Lian Li offers purely aesthetic replacements for its white PSU power cables because they ‘carry a noticeable purple hue’ This Zotac mini PC has an inventive way of ditching its RTX 5060 Ti’s power cables, and no it’s not the same as the Asus BTF way Which is all good in theory, but these unfortunately haven’t seemed to stop the tide of melting cables. There have been reports of these yellow cables melting, too—c