Sam Machkovech
Just a few weeks in the past, some early adopters of Nvidia’s new flagship RTX 4090 GPU started reporting that the playing cards’ energy connectors have been overheating and melting their plastic casing, typically inflicting injury to the outrageously quick and costly GPUs.
For Nvidia’s half, the corporate remains to be wanting into the failures. “We proceed to analyze the studies, nevertheless we do not have additional particulars to share but,” based on an Nvidia rep talking to KitGuru earlier this week. However the YouTubers on the Players Nexus channel have been conducting their very own in-depth analysis, and briefly, they consider that the issues are largely being attributable to improperly seated energy connectors. “Overseas-object particles” contained in the connector can even trigger issues, however Players Nexus believes this type of injury is way rarer.
The failure that Players Nexus was capable of re-create in its labs concerned connecting the 12VHPWR energy connector to an RTX 4090 with out inserting it totally after which bending the cable to at least one aspect, making the connection even worse. After only a few minutes of testing, the free connection’s excessive energy resistance generated warmth above 250° Celsius, inflicting smoke and visual effervescent because the connector melted in its socket.
Players Nexus describes the issue as “a mix of consumer error and design oversight.” That’s, the cables are melting as a result of they have not been inserted all the best way. However the lack of a tactile “click on” sound or a extra sturdy retention mechanism makes this type of error extra probably with the 12VHPWR connector than with the older 6- and 8-pin PCIe energy connectors. The scale of the 4090 and 4080 playing cards can also be exacerbating issues. The playing cards may be tight matches even in comparatively roomy ATX PC circumstances—you could must bend the cable a technique or one other to get your case to shut again up, and this type of bending may cause the free connection that contributed to overheating and melting in Players Nexus’ testing.
Notably, the failures can have an effect on any cable or adapter utilizing the 12VHPWR connector—this goes for each sorts of adapters that Nvidia and its companions have been utilizing for 4090s up to now, in addition to “native” 12VHPWR cables that run on to an influence provide with no adapter in between. Earlier evaluation steered that adapters from a specific producer could possibly be extra failure-prone than others, however Players Nexus did not discover that it made a distinction. This additionally means, presumably, that 12VHPWR adapters transport with the RTX 4080 playing cards might have the identical points, too.
For now, the perfect factor you are able to do is make completely positive that your energy connector is firmly seated—whether it is, it’s best to be capable to yank on it fairly firmly with out really pulling it out (we have been capable of take a look at this firsthand). You must also watch out to keep away from any type of harsh bending of the ability cable in any path. We’ll preserve a watch out for an official assertion from Nvidia, to see if it has additional suggestions or plans for any type of recall or substitute for affected playing cards.
