- Asus has announced the ROG Equalizer 12V-2×6 power cable
- The cable aims to solve fusion issues with high-powered GPUs like the RTX 5090
- Compatible with all third-party PCIe 5.0 power supplies
It’s no secret that high-powered GPUs, particularly Nvidia’s RTX 5090, are still suffering from reports of connector melting issues, even with updated cables that have improved power connectors, but fortunately, Asus has apparently introduced a fix.
As reported by TweakTown, Asus has announced the ROG Equalizer, a 12V-2×6 power cable for GPUs that draws up to 600W, designed to help further protect them from meltdown issues.
Of course, as a general rule, RTX 5090s using 12VHPWR and 12V-2×6 cables do not experience melting issues, but there have been enough cases to cause concern to consumers. Both cables are effectively the same, and the only major difference for the revamped 12V-2×6 design is that it has shorter sense pins and longer power pins, which helps ensure the cable is properly seated. It is a bad connection that theoretically causes the merging problem.
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That’s why Asus has opted for a 12V-2×6 power connector, but with a modified design that has been specifically refined for greater load capacity within each cable, now at 17 amps (normally it’s 9.2 amps with regular 12V-2×6 cables). These are also “premium etched cables” that are flexible to help with cable management.
Combined with the GPU Tweak III software and its Power Detector+ feature, the ROG Equalizer should effectively prevent hardware from melting, or so the theory goes. In an extreme test case from Asus, the company noted that even if the connector was not properly placed on the GPU, the ROG Equalizer would still maintain a temperature of 73.4C.
Meanwhile, a standard 12V-2×6 cable would reach 146C in the same scenario, which is a very high temperature that would likely cause the connector to melt.
It’s a big claim from Asus, and if this can be reproduced in other independent tests once the ROG Equalizer is available, it may be the perfect tool to eliminate any melting issues with RTX 5090 GPUs.
The ROG Equalizer is compatible with power supplies from “all major manufacturers,” which is a massive Bonus for all PC owners who have ATX 3.1 (PCIe 5.0) power supplies. It will also come with ROG Thor III and ROG Strix Platinum series power supplies, but there is currently no release date for them.
Despite the marketing talk here, Asus hasn’t done enough to convince some gamers, with some suggesting it’s best to avoid graphics cards linked to connector issues.
These connector fusion issues have been problematic for years, ever since the RTX 4090 launched in 2022. If the ROG Equalizer can finally put an end to all of this, it should make high-powered GPUs like the RTX 5090 more accessible; Well, apart from the obvious hurdle of price, anyway.
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