Proof: The Asus ROG Equalizer Cable Works As Advertised. Tested IT Against Two Default 12VHPWR Cables(GPU & Adapter)

GeForce Arena
Jul 27
4 min read

MY PC SPECS//

BOARD: X870-E Aorus Pro Ice

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D

GPU: RTX 5090 Aorus Master Ice

RAM: Corsair Dominator 96GB

SSD 1: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB

SSD 2: Samsung 990 Pro 4TB

SSD 3: Samsung 990 Pro 8TB

PSU: Segotep 1000Watts 80+G

OS: Windows 11 Pro 64-bit

Proof The Asus ROG Equalizer Cable Works As Advertised. Tested it on RTX 5090

Early Warning Signs: Excessive Voltage Drop on My RTX 5090

Built PC Last year July 2025, I use it daily for 4K Gaming & some AI Workloads(I actively monitored the GPU power draw and 12VHPWR Voltage both when idling or gaming, i put them on my taskbar). My 5090 idle 12VHPWR voltage was 12V but under full load at 600Watts, voltage would drop as low as 11.2V as shown in HardwareInfo screenshot above (ATX specifies 11.4V-12.6V tolerance). This shows i was getting high cable resistance under heavy load with my default 12VHPWR PSU cable for whatever reason.

Inspecting the Cable: Burn Marks Without a Melted Connector

I was using this default Power Supply 12VHPWR cable to power the 5090 and had no issues with it until last week when i noticed some of the cable wires looked a bit browner than normal. So i powered down the PC and for the first time since i unplugged the 12VHPWR cable and fully inspected both the cable ends and both connectors on the GPU/PSU side. My 12VHPWR cable(GPU side) had 6-7 wires with brown burn marks mostly with the middle ones, the PSU side had like 3 with visible burn marks but the GPU side looked much worse. The Connector on both GPU/PSU had no burn marks or melted plastic at all, it's only the cable that was slowly burning. I had made sure that the 12VHPWR cable was fully seated on both ends. I presume the high resistance and heat would have dropped my 12VHPWR voltage even lower than 11.2V under load because of load mismatch within the cable causing a snowball effect and would eventually lead to melting.

RTX 5090 cable melted. Asus ROG Equalizer Cable fixed

Random Restarts and SSD Failures Pointed to a Bigger Power Problem

Another thing worth mentioning is that about 3 months ago i started getting occasional restarts when gaming(i thought they were wonky Windows 11 updates or Nvidia drivers). The PC would randomly restart during gaming, especially when playing Crimson Desert and Battlefield 6 which are very heavy games. I also noticed that 1 of my 3 990 Pro SSDs would sometimes disappear/become unavailable in File Explorer when gaming or when the PC was underload and the SSD would only reappear after a reboot. The restarts happened about 5 times and the SSD issue about 8 times since then. After some troubleshooting, i was able to pin down the issue, my 3.3V, 5V and 12V(especially the 3.3V) were dropping all the way down to 2.968V when PC is under load. The 3.3V is what powers the M.2 NVMe slots. I also tested my included 12VHPWR adapter cable that comes with the 5090, it's what i used as i waited for my Equalizer cable to arrive. Underload, i got 11.5V, slightly better than my PSU cable but still worse than the ROG Equalizer Cable.

Asus ROG Equalizer Cable review, rtx 5090

Installing the ROG Equalizer Cable: Immediate Improvements

I then ordered and received the ROG Equalizer Cable and immediately noticed the overall better quality and thicker wires than my default PSU 12VHPWR cable. Swapped it in(required more force to fully push it in) and immediately all my voltages stabilized. Under full load (played Pragmata in 4K Path Tracing, 600-635Watts), the 12VHPWR was a steady 12V-11.9V, i played the game for about 2 hours. Before in the same game, my old burnt PSU cable was dropping to as low as 11.2V. My 3.3V, 5V and 12V was also much higher under load. My 3.3V was a steady 3.25V under full load and at idle it was 3.324V-3.344V (old cable idle would dip to 3.189V-3.2V). I'm baffled how using the ROG Equalizer cable immediately fixed my wonky (24-pin)voltages, my guess is i had so much high resistance on the 12VHPWR GPU rail that was somehow affecting power delivery, not sure though but they are much higher now.

I don't have a tool to measure cable temperature but i once touched my old 12VHPWR cable after a few hours of gaming and it felt too hot to touch, my guess is 80°C. I also touched the Equalizer cable and it felt much cooler same before and after the Bridge, would guess 40-50°C. I noticed the Bridge on the Equalizer cable was hotter than the cable, my guess is 65°C.

Proof The Asus ROG Equalizer Cable Works vs. other 12VHPWR Cables

Final Thoughts: Why I Recommend the ROG Equalizer Cable

In summary, the ROG Equalizer Cable is a much better spec, high-quality cable as stated by Asus, better than the default/included 12VHPWR PSU/Adapter cables. It has much lower resistance/minimal Voltage drop under load and lower heat as a result, the cable also evens out the load via the bridge so that the GPU receives an even load of power, sustains much higher current than any other 12VHPWR cable.

The melting problem is both a cable quality and connector issue(No load balancing), that's why even recently, there have been multiple RTX 5080 and even 5070s with melted/burnt cables yet draw just 250-350watts.

I have been using the ROG Equalizer Cable for several days now, my PC runs smooth, better stable voltages under load, no SSD issues or restarts even with the most demanding workloads i run. Tested on the same PC, i just swapped in the new ROG Equalizer Cable, same GPU and PSU etc. Let me know about your experience or tests, i will continue using and monitoring the PC. I really recommend the ROG Equalizer Cable based on my personal testing and observations stated above.