Ever since Nvidia launched the ultra-wide RTX 4090 and 4080 GPUs, a cottage industry has sprung up overnight for angled adapters. These two GPUs are so wide that they extend to the very edge of some ATX cases, pushing the GPU power cables right up against the side panel in some situations. This requires a 90-or-180-degree adapter to avoid extreme bends in the cable, which have been blamed for causing cables to become unplugged over time, which can lead to cables melting. Now Cooler Master has developed its own version of the 90-degree adapter, a first for a power supply manufacturer.
Cooler Master doesn't have a fancy name for its new angled GPU cable, and it provides only a single orientation that might not be ideal for all RTX 4090 and 4080 GPUs, but more on that in a bit. The company highlights the robust cable construction in its marketing materials, making it seem over-engineered compared with similar offerings. For example, the company states its connection mechanism uses four springs instead of two for double the amount of contact. It's also 25% thicker than other cables and requires 12% more insertion and withdrawal force. The latter sounds bad at first blush, but it seems like the company designed it in a way that would require you to use enough force to ensure a strong connection.
Overall, Cooler Master says its cable is safer than competing cables, which would be impossible to verify. Still, it seems to be a thick cable, contrasting with the pedestrian GPU power cables that come with most ATX 3.0 PSUs today. It also says the cable can lower temps by up to 5%, which seems, um, optimistic. Tom's Hardware points out that the cable is currently only offered on its new GX III Gold 850W power supply, but it could offer it with other models in the future.
The main issue with the design is the sense pins are below the main connectors. This means that for some versions of the card, the cable would point straight down, which most people would prefer since it allows the cable to be easily tucked out of sight. However, on some cards, like the Founders Edition models, it would require the cable to be pointing straight up, which is not a look we think people would desire. However, that would be great with a vertically-mounted card. Still, the variation in the placement of the sense pins is why the only company previously offering 90-degree adapters—CableMod—offered two versions. Both variants had the sense pins below or above the main pins to accommodate both designs.
