Over-current Protection vs Over-temperature Protection: Which is Best?

PC power supplies have a lot of inbuilt protections and two of the most vital are over-current protection and over-temperature protection. Both of these are especially important these days due to ongoing issues with GPU power connectors. As such, we've created our own versions of these protections.

Both technologies were made to give gamers peace of mind by monitoring activity on the 12V-2x6 connection in order to prevent damage to the GPU during gaming, either from too much current or temperatures that are too high. Both technologies accomplish the same goal using different technologies, but neither is better than the other. Let's take a closer look at both technologies.

This technology is built into the power supply and monitors current on the 12V-2x6 port on a per-pin basis. Six pins provide power to modern GPUs and PinProtect/PinProtect+ monitors the current on each pin in real time. If the voltage exceeds a preset threshold on any of the pins for a prolonged period of time—between 15 and 25 seconds—it will use the two sense pins on the 12V-2x6 cable to effectively shut off power to the GPU. The GPU will then notice a drop in power and shut itself off to prevent any damage that might have occurred if the abnormal power were allowed to continue to surge through the cable.

PinProtect and PinProtect+ have the same core technology, but PinProtect+ works with iCUE to give the user more information and more control over how it works. It gives you a real-time display of the current on each 12V pin, pop-up notifications when it's triggered, and also lets the user adjust current thresholds and the delay time before GPU power is reduced.

This is a new technology that is featured on a 12V-2x6 cable made by CORSAIR. It is available now as a stand-alone item that works with any power supply that features a native 12V-2x6 connection or in the future as a bundle with select RM850/1000e power supplies.

ThermalProtect is over-temperature protection (OTP) for the 12V-2x6 cable, so if the cable gets too hot it can facilitate the GPU shutting off to prevent damage. The ThermalProtect technology is embedded in a cable comb that is on the cable itself, 30mm from the connection point, and it monitors the cable’s temperature at that location. If the cable temperature exceeds 65C at any time ThermalProtect activates, which results in the GPU shutting down to prevent any damage to it due to excessive temperatures.

Both technologies protect a GPU by making sure the 12V-2x6 cable is not overheating or getting too much current, so it’s not a case of one technology being better than the other. Instead, but instead it depends on your individual setup and what you prefer.

For example, if you’re happy with your current system and aren’t planning on upgrading any time soon, you could get the new 12V-2x6 cable with ThermalProtect as a simple and effective bolt-on upgrade that would give you instant peace of mind. You’d just disconnect your existing 12V-2x6 cable and plug in the new one and you’d be up and running with ThermalProtect active right away. Note you do need a power supply with a native 12V-2x6 cable for it to work, as it's a single cable and not a 2-into-1 solution.

On the other hand, if you were planning on a big upgrade and were thinking about upgrading your power supply too, you could upgrade to a power supply with PinProtect or PinProtect+ later this year.

If you decide to go the PinProtect route, it comes down to whether you want to use PinProtect or PinProtect+. As of the publication of this article in June 2026, PinProtect is only available on the RM1200e, which is a Platinum-certified, fully-modular power supply that offers quiet operation and a ten-year warranty. Its launch is planned for Q3 of 2026.

If you wanted to upgrade to PinProtect+, you would have to upgrade to the just-announced HX1000i SHIFT Crystal, which is a transparent power supply with Platinum efficiency, a built-in iCUE LINK System Hub, side-mounted SHIFT connectors, and a 10-year warranty. Its launch is planned for Q4 of 2026.

Sure, but it’s would be a bit of overkill. They are both monitoring different aspects of the GPU (current and cable temperature) but if you really wanted to be safe it wouldn’t hurt to use both, but it’s not something we’d necessarily recommend just because it’s unnecessary.