8-pin PCIe to ATX 12VHPWR Adapter Included with RTX 40-series Graphics Cards Has a Limited Service-Life of 30 Connect-Disconnect Cycles
Apparently the adapter is only good for up to 30 connect/disconnect cycles safely, before you’ll need another one. For most gamers who’ll install the card and forget about it for years, this shouldn’t be an issue. However, for overclockers and enthusiasts using the card on an open-air bench and who rely on a lot of moving cards around, this could be an irritant. Tech journalists (reviewers) swap graphics cards out a lot, too, but then they’re likely to have several such adapters lying around from multiple samples, or a PSU with a native 12+4 pin connector.
Our best guess is that this is a mechanical limitation assessed by NVIDIA for the maximum number of times the adapter can handle connection cycles before its contacts begin to wear out, and its safety is compromised. If you look closely at the picture above, the adapter has an NVIDIA logo, which means NVIDIA is directly supplying this adapter to AIC partners to include with their custom-design cards (and not counting on them to develop their own adapters). The 12VHPWR connector may look diminutive, but it’s capable of delivering not just 600 W continuously, but also handle 200% excursions (brief spikes in power draw), which mean 1200 W. This is a lot of current (12 V, 100 A, enough to crank an automobile), and so NVIDIA isn’t taking any chances with safety.