A latest Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 purchaser has been lamenting his buy on Reddit. It isn’t one other case of a supply switcheroo although, as this time the PC DIYer is feeling ‘burnt’ as a result of graphics card energy connector melting. A whole lot of energy travels although a confined house with an RTX 4090 utilizing the 16-pin 12VHPWR energy connector, and up to now that is the primary report of a melted “quadropus” adapter — the usual 4x 8-pin to 1x 16-pin Nvidia adapter cable that comes with all 4090 playing cards.
Nonetheless, now we have to surprise if the consumer was simply unfortunate, made a slight error in set up, or if that is the primary of many such melting energy connector tales we will see within the coming months. The RTX 4090 could be the quickest of the finest graphics playing cards proper now, however it’s additionally some of the energy hungry GPUs to grace PCs.
Trying out Redditor reggie_gakil’s setup by way of the above-linked thread, it is a highly effective trying RGB infused PC system that packs in a potent mixture of air and liquid cooling options. A reference RTX 4090 sucks 450W down although the compact energy connector, however manufacturing unit overclocked fashions can push that as much as round 500W, and guide overclocking might enhance that to 600W or extra.
The Redditor asserts he was merely enjoying Pink Useless Redemption 2, with a comparatively modest GPU load of 400W, when the cable melted, which seems to rule out excessive overclocking. Assuming that is true, we nonetheless have a number of potential factors of failure.
All energy connectors must be seated correctly and totally engaged to make sure trouble-free conductivity. It is a significantly essential concern with increased energy elements the place a poor connection may trigger overheating and even electrical arcing, with disastrous penalties. Reggie_gakil’s photos present indicators that there was a connection subject current, inflicting the connector and socket to soften.
The massive query is whether or not the problem was precipitated by consumer error, a fault within the connector, or one thing else. “Bend was not that aggressive,” the Redditor states in a remark following the publication of the connector photos and questions from different social media customers. “Positive there was bend, nonetheless this could not occur on a 2K Euro GPU PSU Corsair RMX 1000.”
Trying nearer on the photos of the melted connectors, it would merely be the case that the bend within the cable was too close to the connector, or that the sockets on the adapter had been defective / unfastened. There’s clear injury that appears to originate on the top-right and top-left pins, whereas the middle part would not present as a lot melting. And naturally it is inconceivable to rule out a flaky energy provide — what labored wonderful with a lesser GPU might have crossed some important threshold with the RTX 4090.
Regardless of the trigger, we hope the producer(s) contacted will assist clear up reggie_gakil’s melted connector points. Then he can get again to some high-resolution, quick body price, pistol packing enjoyable within the wild west.
Past that, CableMod has a information on the brand new 16-pn connector and cables. It recommends avoiding bend on the cables and notes, “…it seems that bending the wires too near the connector might lead to a few of the terminals coming unfastened or misaligning inside the connector itself. This will result in an uneven load throughout the opposite wires, rising the chance of overheating injury.”
For anybody else who manages to amass an RTX 4090, we will solely suggest verifying that every one the 8-pin and 16-pin connectors are firmly seated and keep away from bending the wires close to the connector as a lot as doable. Leaving the case aspect off at first whilst you fireplace up some video games and test the cable and connector temperatures could be smart.
