Zotac's Safety Light feature averts 16-pin power connector meltdowns on RTX 50 GPUs — the mechanism prevents GPU power-on until the cable is fully inserted

To prevent a repeat of RTX 4090 melting incidents, Zotac is introducing a new feature for its RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 offerings. Dubbed "Safety Light," this safety measure prevents the GPU from powering on if the 16-pin (12VHPWR) power cable is not seated correctly. Likewise, these GPUs also include gold-plated connection pins that are reportedly more corrosion-resistant and offer enhanced electrical conductivity.

In late 2022, the news of melting RTX 4090 power connectors spread like wildfire. For the uninitiated, Nvidia was the first and still the only one to use the 16-pin power connector on a mainstream graphics card to supply more power over a single connector instead of multiple smaller ones, up to 600W. After a thorough investigation, it was discovered that an improper connection would lead to increased resistance and heat, which would cause the connector to melt. A newer revision, dubbed "12V-2x6", was rolled out afterward, which offers better performance and reliability, even when the cable isn't fully inserted.

Zotac is taking this one step ahead with an added layer of protection that disables GPU power-on if it detects the cable is partially inserted. Interestingly, their blurb mentions "12VHPWR Enhancements", not 12V-2x6. We could be reading too much into this, but Zotac may use the older 16-pin standard for its RTX 50 series. For context, not every AIB shifted to the revised connector last year when Nvidia announced the RTX 40 Super refresh.

Additionally, Zotac is adding ACTIVE FAN CONTROL 2.0 support for its RTX 5090 models that allows independent control over each fan, which MSI Afterburner plans to bring software support for soon. Apart from aesthetics, Zotac has also reworked these GPUs to be sturdy, featuring mid-frame reinforcement for rigidity. Furthermore, all triple-fan GPU models will come bundled with a metal stand to prevent GPU sag.

The RTX 5090 and RTX 5080, priced at $1,999 and $999, respectively, will hit shelves starting January 30. Meanwhile, the RTX 5070 family is expected to debut sometime in February. Powered by Blackwell with exclusives including Multi Frame Generation, Nvidia has positioned its $549 RTX 5070 as a midrange beast, claiming to match the RTX 4090 at nearly one-third of the CUDA cores, half the VRAM and TBP (Total Board Power). We'll see how well those claims hold up in our independent review of these GPUs.