Thermal Grizzly's WireView Pro II keeps an eye on your 12V-2x6 GPU power connector and can turn your PC off entirely if things get... melty

As it's Halloween, here's a jump scare for PC hardware enthusiasts: Meltgate!

See, I knew you'd be terrified. Yes, the 12VHPWR and 12V-2X6 connections have been a source of anxiety for many of us since their introduction, as we're still seeing reports of the odd melting incident. Thermal Grizzly says it has the answer for 12V-2X6 connectors, however, as its WireView Pro II monitoring device is designed to keep an eye on every individual pin to check for potential contact issues.

In short, if it starts to, well, short, or do anything it's not supposed to, a visual warning appears on the display alongside an audible alarm. I'd like to think it shouts something like "Warning! You're about to lose a very expensive graphics card", but it's probably just a beep. Or a growl, perhaps? This is a Thermal Grizzly product, after all.

The WireView Pro II keeps an eye on currents, voltage, temperatures, and power consumption with pre-defined threshold values assigned to each as to when the warning goes off, which you can also reconfigure yourself. It's also capable of enacting an automatic system shutdown on your behalf via a splitter cable if things get too toasty, which strikes as a safety feature worth enabling.

The bad news is, it's not cheap. $140 is quite the ask for something that, heavens willing, is unlikely to ever be needed with a properly-seated connection.

Still, even some well-installed connectors have been reported as exceeding temperatures and melting pins, so it's certainly worth considering if you'd like some extra insurance strapped to your graphics card. The device is currently in the second batch of its pre-order phase, which means if you order now, it likely won't arrive until the end of January, next year.

That's not too far away, though, and while your connector will have to make do on its own until then (do give it a double-check to make sure it's seated properly, if you haven't already), it's sometimes better to be safe than sorry.

Or, alternatively, you could pick up an Ampinel, a similar device that goes one step further and actively distributes loads across the connector to ensure that no single pin is overloaded.

A small industry seems to be popping up around the ashes (sorry) of meltgate, so you've now got options to consider if the thought of your GPU connection going up in smoke keeps you awake at night. Now I think about it, my Halloween costume this year really should have been a melted RTX 5090. Sigh. Someone remind me before Halloween 2026.