Melting RTX 4090 cables may be a great deal extra not unusual than previously stated

A warm potato: GeForce RTX 4090 owners have regularly stated burned and melted energy cable connectors for over a yr. Nvidia acknowledged some dozen cases worldwide, blamed the hassle on person errors, and addressed the issue by way of quietly updating the cables. However, a California restore save disputes the employer's claims that it's rare.

Computer repair keep Northridge Fix claims that far more GeForce RTX 4090 photographs playing cards be afflicted by melted power cables than Nvidia admits. Although the connectors in newer shipments appear to have solved the hassle, the authentic reason remains hotly debated.

In a recent YouTube video (masthead), a Northridge Fix repairman claimed that the store gets between 20 and 25 RTX 4090s with burned energy cables in step with week, or around 100 consistent with month. The video doesn't mention how long the business has been fixing melted GPUs, but its numbers a long way exceed the 50 cases Nvidia admitted to a year ago.

Team Green blamed the problem on users improperly plugging the cables into the facet of the photographs card. However, Northridge Fix additionally disputes that presumption because of the excessive number of occurrences. Other customers, along with the plaintiff in last year's magnificence-movement lawsuit against Nvidia, claimed to have efficaciously set up their electricity cables, suggesting a deeper flaw in 12VHPWR adapters.

The trouble stems from the authentic adapters Nvidia shipped with the 4090 so users should install eight-pin cables from older ATX 2.0 electricity supply devices into its sixteen-pin socket. In September 2022, PCI-SIG warned that the adapters should reach hazardous temperatures in specific conditions, but Nvidia stated it fixed the trouble before the flagship GPU's launch.

Customers haven't said problems given that Nvidia up to date its 12V-2x6 adapters in latest months. Third-celebration assessments verify that the new headers preserve extraordinarily low temperatures even if improperly established.

Those the usage of the old cables need to severely don't forget putting in the 4090 with an ATX 3.0 PSU, which natively helps 16-pin connectors without requiring the tough adapter and charges less than doubtlessly changing the GPU. At least one individual stated a sixteen-pin cable that burned while plugged into an ATX three.0 unit, but the occurrence seems far rarer than the melted 2.0 adapters.

Looking ahead, Asus is trying out a extra everlasting solution – GPUs that replace outside cables with a PCIe x16 power connector at the motherboard. The cableless machine supports as a minimum 600W, and RTX 4070 GPUs using it should appear through early 2024.