This 'fact' gets batted around so often and its incredibly misunderstood. That is saying that in the worst case, where everything goes wrong, the cable can last no less than X cycles, ever. Also, it's not 16.

Also, these new connectors have the exact same rating as the prior 8-pin connectors.

Under the typical use case (ie. you install it and leave it there for a few years), 16 cycles is more than enough. Now, if you're an enthusiast running benchmarks or whatever it might cause issues, but isn't really "insane" under the typical use case. Also, I'm not sure where the "16 cycles" number is from, but other commenters linked to an article that says it's rated for 40 cycles.

[1] https://en.overclocking.com/12vhpwr-adaptator-is-a-consumabl...