- Chinese reviewer shows off the RTX 5080 FE and its new power connector
- The embargo is expected to be on January 29, one day before its release.
- New power connector has new wires for a more secure connection
Following the reveal of Nvidia’s RTX 5000 series at CES 2025, we’re awaiting our first look at the RTX 5090’s performance from user benchmarks to find out how well the new Multi Frame Generation feature actually works, but for now Now, we have our first look at its little brother, the RTX 5080 Founders Edition, and its new power connector.
This comes from a reviewer on Chinese social media site Bilibili (as reported by VideoCardz), who showed off the RTX 5080 FE alongside its new power adapter and stated that the embargo date for reviews will be January 29 (a day before launch). although this conflicts with a previous report from VideoCardz that the embargoes will be lifted on January 24. As of this writing, Bilibili’s post appears to have been removed, possibly due to a legal notice from Nvidia, but the VideoCardz article remains up, at least for now.
The RTX 4080 and 4090 power connector, called the 12VHPWR connector, was not ideal for users, considering it posed a potential fire risk, and its short length left a lack of space and flexibility to close the side panels of PC cases (also wasn’t very nice to watch, frankly).
Based on the first image shown in the VideoCardz article (which we didn’t publish here because we’d rather not invoke the fury of Nvidia’s legal department), it appears that Nvidia is now providing a much longer and more flexible power adapter. We recently covered the RTX 4080 Super and its performance in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and the only glaring problem I found was not the performance of the card itself, but the delicate power adapter.
While there’s a lot of information we can glean from a leaked image like this, it appears to be a bit friendlier if it works the same way as Seasonic’s 12 VHPWR power cable: VideoCardz also pointed out the additional sensing cables. which have been added to ensure a secure 8-pin connection, hopefully avoiding any connection issues that caused the connector failures we saw with the previous generation.
What solutions are available for the RTX 4080 GPU power adapter?
For those sticking with the RTX 4080, depending on your PC’s power supply, there are many options on the market that serve as viable alternatives to the RTX 4080’s problematic power connector. It’s important to purchase the right cable that provides a sufficient power and compatible with your power supply; You also don’t want to take the risk of buying a cheap, unreliable one.
It’s not exactly clear from the images provided whether the new power adapter for the RTX 5080 (and RTX 5090) will be compatible with the RTX 4080 or any other RTX 4000 cards, but if it is, that could be the easy fix. to this matter.
January 30 is on the horizon, so we’ll see more of what Nvidia’s powerful new GPUs will have to offer; Hopefully, there won’t be any recurring issues related to possible melting cables this time around.
