As soon as I saw the picture of Nvidia's RTX 4090 (opens in new tab), I nervously started looking at the case. This new GPU is not small. It is the opposite of small. It's so small that it needs a new case, and being an inch taller than the 3080 Founder's Edition, the 3090 may not fit into a narrow case when power cables are factored in. Cablemod, a cable company, has come up with a solution to this very particular problem.

Cablemod's cable adapter for the RTX 4090 (open in new tab) (found by Tom's Hardware (open in new tab)) provides a 90-degree bend and more space and clearance between the GPU and side panel. The CableMod 12VHPWR Right Angle Adapter plugs into the RTX 4090's 12VHPWR port. For now, CableMod 12VHPWR only supports the RTX 4090, but should work once other GPUs with the same connector (different from the power pins most GPUs have used for years) become available.

Founders Editions of the RTX 30 series offer connectors of similar size and shape, but these do not have the extra four auxiliary pins, making them incompatible.

The adapter itself measures 29 mm x 36.3 mm x 23.2 mm. According to the company, the CableMod 12VHPWR adapter differs from other 90-degree connectors because it "utilizes a multi-PCB design to achieve a right-angle connection. The right-angle connection means that there are no protruding power cables taking up valuable space in the PC case.

Since the power adapter comes in two different configurations, it should fit other compatible graphics cards in the future, even if their power ports have a different orientation than the RTX 4090's.

The 90-degree plug should ideally be able to reduce the potential burden of having to pull the power cable around huge cards and behind the motherboard to reach the power supply, without bending wires.

The idea is to make it easier to install huge video cards into smaller or oddly sized PC cases. Some cases are not wide enough to accommodate both the RTX 4090 and its massive 12-pin (16-pin if you include the auxiliary pins) power cable. And judging by the way things are going, the RTX 4090 will not be the last absolute chonker GPU.

The CableMod 12VHPWR right-angle adapter will be pre-released on October 31. Pricing has not yet been determined.