MSI teases new power supplies with 'instant protection' against melting RTX 5090 cables — promises to solve 12V-2x6 connector woes by monitoring individual wires
Modern GPUs have a voracious appetite and the mighty Nvidia's RTX 5090 is no exception, often causing fiery outcomes. Many companies have tried to solve this issue, including MSI once before with its yellow-tipped connectors, but now it's back with two new power supplies that promise next-level safeguards against these melting GPUs.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)
It seems like every month we see a new incendiary GPU story with reports of a 12V-2x6 connector being the culprit. The issue is not limited to just Nvidia's RTX 5090 anymore either, as at least five AMD RX 9070 XT variants with this plug have faced the same fiery wrath. Companies have tried to come up with solutions to monitor the 16-pin power connector, and MSI is the latest to join this line of cautionary warriors.
New Year Alert! 🔔Invisible problems exist. We’re ending them.A world-first PSU proactive and instant protection is coming.See it first at CES 2026.#MSIxCES2026 pic.twitter.com/6XdiCNG3epJanuary 1, 2026
If even one of the pins goes out or stops making proper contact, the power supply will instantly trip, shutting down the system and protecting your expensive hardware from getting scorched. We make this assumption because the best power supplies already regulate their voltage rails that control power going to your PC, with various protection features such as OCP, SCP, and more. MSI's addition, therefore, is a specific safeguard meant for power hungry graphics cards.
In the teaser, we can also see a USB-C port at the back of the power supply, which means you can connect it to your motherboard to potentially control it via software. It should still stop the "invisible problem" of melting GPUs without that, but it'd be interesting to see the expanded feature set. Perhaps, you'll be able to see real-time stats similar to third-party tools like WireView Pro, allowing you to set hard limits in Windows.
As the name suggests, the MSI MPG Ai1300TS & Ai1600TS are flagship 1300W and 1600W units, respectively, so they're very clearly targeting the RTX 5090. Just a few days ago, we saw another one of those catch on fire in possibly the worst incident so far. And the victim was even using a native 12V-2x6 cable that came with their 1000W ATX 3.1 power supply. Let's see if MSI's offerings can finally curtail this fiasco.
