A scorching potato: GeForce RTX 4090 homeowners have incessantly reported burned and melted energy cable connectors for over a yr. Nvidia acknowledged a couple of dozen instances worldwide, blamed the issue on person error, and addressed the problem by quietly updating the cables. However, a California restore store disputes the corporate’s claims that it is uncommon.
Computer restore store Northridge Fix claims that much more GeForce RTX 4090 graphics playing cards endure from melted energy cables than Nvidia admits. Although the connectors in newer shipments seem to have solved the issue, the unique trigger remains to be hotly debated.
In a current YouTube video (masthead), a Northridge Fix repairman claimed that the store receives between 20 and 25 RTX 4090s with burned energy cables per week, or round 100 monthly. The video would not point out how lengthy the enterprise has been fixing melted GPUs, however its numbers far exceed the 50 instances Nvidia admitted to a yr in the past.
Team Green blamed the issue on customers improperly plugging the cables into the facet of the graphics card. However, Northridge Fix additionally disputes that presumption because of the excessive variety of occurrences. Other prospects, together with the plaintiff in final yr’s class-action lawsuit towards Nvidia, claimed to have appropriately put in their energy cables, suggesting a deeper flaw in 12VHPWR adapters.
The subject stems from the unique adapters Nvidia shipped with the 4090 so customers might set up 8-pin cables from older ATX 2.0 energy provide models into its 16-pin socket. In September 2022, PCI-SIG warned that the adapters might attain unsafe temperatures in particular conditions, however Nvidia stated it mounted the issue earlier than the flagship GPU’s launch.
Customers have not reported issues since Nvidia up to date its 12V-2×6 adapters in current months. Third-party assessments verify that the brand new headers keep comparatively low temperatures even when improperly put in.
Those utilizing the previous cables ought to severely take into account putting in the 4090 with an ATX 3.0 PSU, which natively helps 16-pin connectors with out requiring the troublesome adapter and prices lower than doubtlessly changing the GPU. At least one individual reported a 16-pin cable that burned whereas plugged into an ATX 3.0 unit, however the incidence seems far rarer than the melted 2.0 adapters.
Looking ahead, Asus is testing a extra everlasting resolution – GPUs that change exterior cables with a PCIe x16 energy connector on the motherboard. The cableless system helps at the least 600W, and RTX 4070 GPUs using it ought to seem by early 2024.
