Nvidia’s wonderful GeForce RTX 4090 wowed reviewers and set a brand new bar for simply how stupidly quick a graphics card could possibly be. Sadly, the launch of the $1,600 GPU has been marred by a number of stories of melting 12VHPWR connectors used within the playing cards damaging each the connector and the GPUs at occasions.
The brand new 12VHPWR connector is a compact energy connector that mixes the aptitude of a number of older 6- and 8-pin connectors into one tiny plug. It was initially adopted with the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti Founders Version and is now used within the GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Version in addition to customized variations of the RTX 4090 constructed by the likes of Asus, MSI, et cetera. The 12VHPWR connector was additionally utilized in newer RTX 40-series graphics playing cards just like the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti, although not in AMD’s Radeon RX 7000-series GPUs.
Updates:
Experiences of melting connectors had largely subsided however a spate of melted adapters utilizing third-party CableMod has cropped with the corporate saying it has obtained 20 stories with nearly all of the issue probably being improperly inserted adapters.
The GeForce proprietor who sued Nvidia claiming the playing cards are faulty has requested the court docket to dismiss his go well with with prejudice.
Whereas most melted connectors have occurred on the GPU, one Reddit poster is reporting a melted PSU this time.
With this fast-moving, complicated, and likewise very critical state of affairs, PCWorld has determined to spherical up the details you must know to assist separate truth from fiction. Nvidia officers have declined to remark whereas it investigates, however the newest improvement appear to level to dangerous 12VHPWR adapter cables. There’s additionally the likelihood that not absolutely inserting the cable could trigger elevated resistance and sufficient warmth to soften the connectors. We’ll replace this story as new data is launched.
- Sept. 10 Hassan Mujtaba of WCCFTech stories of an alert issued from PCI-SIG to members of a “thermal variance, which might lead to questions of safety underneath sure security circumstances.” The member alert advises distributors to “work intently with their connector distributors and train due diligence in utilizing high-power connections”
- Sept. 14 The total e mail and extra particulars from the PCI-SIG are reported by Stephen Burke of Avid gamers Nexus and notes that “failures have been noticed in sure cable routing circumstances from PSUs and check boards that generate facet load on the interface.” Burke stated the report—apparently created by Nvidia—from PCI-SIG confirmed three totally different producers have been examined with 10 pattern assemblies with failures manifesting from 10 hours to 30 hours with melting. It’s price mentioning that the interior report appears to discuss with the connection on the PSU facet—not the GPU facet. Usually, nonetheless, ATX 3.0 energy provides PCWorld have seen point out the cables to be similar on each ends.
Brad Chacos/IDG
- Sept. 22 VideoCardz’s editor WhyCry stories that GPU maker Zotac’s steering on the brand new 12VHPWR connector is rated for 30-insertion cycles which raises alarms as to the lifespan and sturdiness of the brand new connector. VideoCardz later amends its report back to say that whereas 30 cycles seems very low, many Molex connectors launched during the last 20 years have had comparable mating cycles.
- Oct. 24 The primary report of a melted 12HPWR connector is posted on the Nvidia sub-reddit. The GPU seems to be a Gigabyte 4090 Gaming OC utilizing an Nvidia-branded 12VHPWR adapter cable. Each Nvidia and Gigabyte attain out to the proprietor who stories a substitute card has been obtained. A second report of a melted dongle is obtained as properly on that day with harm to the adapter cable and an Asus RTX 4090 TUF Gaming OC Version occurring. The Reddit submit instantly goes viral on the high-profile graphics card with many assuming the brand new connector to be at fault.
- Oct. 24 A couple of hours after the preliminary melting report on Reddit, famend energy provide reviewer and the precept behind PSU certification firm Cybenetics, Aristeidis Bitziopoulos, makes an attempt to copy the melting 12VHPWR connector by subjecting it to 600 watt hundreds for greater than 90 minutes. He’s unable to break the cable whereas seeing solely a small thermal variance. It needs to be famous that the check used a local 12VHPWR cable on an ATX 3.0 energy provide quite than Nvidia’s adapter. Bitziopoulos concludes the 12VHPWR connector doesn’t appear to be a problem in his testing.
- Oct. 24 Overclocker Buildzoid of Truly {Hardware} Overclocking, posts a video criticizing the brand new 12VHPWR connector noting that the brand new connector drastically reduces the variety of pins and wires carrying energy.
- Oct. 25. With failures now reported at three, Nvidia officers inform the Verge’s Tom Warren that “we’re investigating the stories” and are involved with the house owners of the impacted playing cards.
- Oct. 25 Former HardOCP editor Kyle Bennett reports AMD’s upcoming RDNA3 GPUs won’t use the 12VHWPR connector in its reference designs. Neither Bennett, nor his sources at AMD point out when the design determination was made to skip 12VHPWR.
- Oct. 25 Exhibiting what a distraction the 12VHPWR has grow to be, AMD’s Scott Herkelman publicly confirms the brand new Radeon playing cards will skip 12VHPWR and receives responses similar to “That could be a HUGE aid, pleased with that information.”
- Oct. 26 The official Reddit megathread itemizing displaying documented failures now numbers 5 broken 12VHWPR connectors.
- Oct. 26 Jason Langiven, aka JayzTwoCents, who has lengthy been essential of the connector being “harmful,” makes an attempt to copy the failure on a local 12VHWPR cable and is unable to induce a failure on the cable underneath heavy hundreds.
Nvidia’s 12VHPWR adapter wants to hook up with three or 4 8-pin energy cables.
Brad Chacos/IDG
- Oct. 27 Igor Wallossek of IgorsLab.de conducts a tear down and failure check of a 12VHPWR energy adapter and concludes that the difficulty doesn’t seem like the 12VHPWR design itself nor the much-touted insertion cycle concern raised beforehand. As a substitute, Wallossek concludes it’s the design of Nvidia’s adapter itself, which he describes as “inferior high quality (and) can result in failures and has already brought on harm in single instances.” Wallossek stated he believes bending and kinking of the adapter may cause weak solder joints and bridges to interrupt and improve the resistance inflicting the melting.
- Oct. 28 Ronaldo Buassali of TecLab.internet.br posts his personal failure checks, together with swinging an influence provide utilizing simply the connector and subjecting to a stress check of 1,532—properly past its rated sustained wattage of 600 watts.
- Oct. 30 Stephen Burke of Avid gamers Nexus makes an attempt to copy the melting failure by deliberately damaging a 12VHPWR adapter just like what IgorsLab.de had reported and subjected it to a 99 % load for 8 hours with no melting noticed. Burke additionally notes that his 5 adapters all seem like constructed the identical—and but in another way than the adapter IgorsLab had. Burke stated his 5 12VHWPR adapters use wires labeled for 300 volts versus the 150 volts the adapter Wallossek had. Burke concludes that we simply don’t know what the difficulty is, however it’s a actual downside on some adapters—however not all of them. He additionally mentions a idea being floated that the smaller connector could not simply seat in addition to the bigger conventional energy connectors. He additionally factors out that opposite to what many shoppers imagine, a local connector that plugs instantly into an influence provide might also fail the identical method if the native cable is constructed the identical because the failed adapters. Burke additionally asks house owners of RTX 4090 playing cards to report which cable adapters they’ve.
- Oct. 30 With information that there seem like totally different 12VHPWR adapters being offered, Stephen Burke of Gamer’s Nexus stories through Twitter that of the 130 emails he has obtained, 7 % of homeowners report they’ve the 150V cabling that was utilized in IgorsLab’s adapter cable. Burke notes that whereas the cable marking could say 150V, that solely means it makes use of the identical obvious spec cables—and doesn’t point out they’re could have the low-quality solder joints that IgorsLab discovered. Burke additionally notes that of the 130, “not many are burned.”
- Oct. 30 Andreas Schilling of Hardwareluxx.de conducts his own poll of forum members who’ve bought RTX 4090 playing cards. He stories that 12 have a 4-pins-to-12VHPWR adapter marked “300V.” One has a 3-pins-to-12VHPWR marked “150V,” and two individuals have 4-pins-to-12VHPWR marked “150V.”
- Nov. 1 Ronaldo Buassali of TecLab.internet.br posts an extended video of testing from the unique reside stream with extra explanations of how he examined the 12VHPWR. Not like a lot of the testing up to now, which used precise GeForce RTX 4090 playing cards, Buassali bodily removes the 12VHPWR connector from the GPU and wires it up for stress testing. This lets Buassali push the connector meeting properly previous the 600 watts known as for, together with a great deal of 900 watts, 1,200 watts and 1,500 watts. Buassali’s conclusion? The 12VHPWR connector itself is “properly sized, a lot in order that it supported rather more than its specification.” Nonetheless, Buassali concludes that despite the fact that the connector can deal with greater than it’s rated for, a poorly inserted connector that creates resistance might certainly be behind the melting of the connector. Buassali additionally doesn’t rule out a batch of dangerous cables, however that means a producing situation, not a design downside.
- Nov. 2 Jon Gerow, director of R&D at Corsair and previously of Jonnyguru.com, posts outcomes from deliberately broken 12VHPWR cable adapters underneath load and is unable to induce melting as properly. Gerow was capable of supply a number of 12VHPWR adapter cables for harmful testing, and regardless of breaking off solder joints, he was unable to induce melting or a failure. He did notice that a few of the adapters weren’t constructed very properly however even the worst of the batch handed stress testing with out failing. Gerow concludes that a few of the issues could have occurred when the house owners didn’t absolutely seat the 12VHPWR adapter cables and likewise posts pictures of put in PCs the place even a small hole of 1 mm might lead to elevated resistance.
- Nov. 3 AMD formally broadcasts its RDNA3-based Radeon 7900XT and Radeon 7900XTX and proudly notes that it didn’t use 12VHPWR connections. Nonetheless, the corporate factors out that the overall notion that it modified its designs solely after the melting issues cropped up just a few weeks in the past just isn’t right. AMD made the choice to stick with typical 8-pin energy connectors greater than a 12 months in the past.
- Nov. 4 A brand new submit within the Nvidia subreddit, taken from a Fb submit of a Hong Kong-based RTX 4090 proprietor, is the primary reported broken 12VHPWR cable from a local cable plugged instantly into an influence provide. Earlier to this report, all the reported points had solely occurred in 12VHPWR adapter cables, not native cables. The next day, one other individual stories a melted connector utilizing a local 12VHPWR cable from an ATX 3.0 energy provide. This seems to sprint hopes {that a} native plug would remedy the issue.
- Nov 7 The variety of confirmed failed connectors now numbers 23 on the Reddit megathread, with points unfold amongst many graphics card makers. Oddly, there are not any Nvidia Founders Version playing cards listed with failures. There are additionally 5 unconfirmed instances listed from different board makers as properly.
- Nov. 7 VideoCardz editor WhyCry stories that an individual on Reddit has been informed his or her Gainward GeForce RTX 4090 can be delayed till the center of November because it waits for substitute 12VHPWR adapter cables. The e-mail, despatched from Australian PC firm Techfast to a buyer, stated “Whereas investigations are nonetheless persevering with and Nvidia has not launched a public assertion, Gainward has informed us that cables shipped with their playing cards will (are) being changed. Consequently, they’re holding delivery of all playing cards till this has taken place. We additionally perceive this cable substitute won’t be restricted to Gainward alone.” PCWorld reached out to Techfast who confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail.
- Nov. 8 Regardless of Australian PC builder Techfast confirming an e mail despatched to clients saying some RTX 4090 playing cards could be delayed whereas Gainward ships substitute cables and implying different GPU makers would do the identical, Gainward’s EU Fb web page says that’s not the case and has issued a clarification. “There may be incorrect data suggesting Gainward is delaying the RTX 4090 cargo to interchange the cables these days. Right here we wish to make clear that—Gainward just isn’t holding any RTX 40 cargo to interchange the cables, and has no plan to take action. The cables Gainward presently used on the RTX 40 have been inspected by NVIDIA workforce and located no points. All Gainward cargo is being made as traditional. Please don’t hesitate to seize the Gainward graphics playing cards if you happen to plan to purchase one!”
- Nov. 11 UK {hardware} website KitGuru receives an update from Nvidia that it’s persevering with to research the state of affairs. “”We proceed to research the stories, nonetheless we don’t have additional particulars to share but. NVIDIA and our companions are dedicated to supporting our clients and making certain an expedited RMA course of for them,” KitGuru says through Twitter.
- Nov. 13 There at the moment are 26 confirmed GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs with melted connectors documented within the Nvidia subreddit together with for the primary time, a report of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Version with a melted connector.
- Nov 14 Igor Wallossek of Igorslab.de confirms there are at the least two producers of the Nvidia provided adapter plugs with one of many adapters seemingly utilizing a rougher casting making insertions tougher. Wallossek, who stated he has spoken with Nvidia’s director of engineering Gabriele Gorla, doesn’t blame finish customers, however does imagine the rougher castings could presumably have lead some clients to to rock the 12VHWPR connector into the socket which can be why so many stories present melted connectors ranging from one facet of the connector with few to none melting from the middle. The answer, Wallossek stated, could point out the PCI SIG must situation steering on maintain out zones to present shoppers higher entry to the socket to instantly inserting it quite than rocking the connectors in from one facet. Wallossek additionally notes that of the 2 adapter cables used provided by Nvidia, one design solely grabs pins on two sides whereas the opposite design grabs pins on all 4 sides.
- Nov. 16 In an exhaustive investigation counting on third-party failure evaluation utilizing X-ray examination in addition to electron microscope examination, in addition to reproducing the failures, Avid gamers Nexus’ EIC Stephen Burke concludes particles contained in the connectors from manufacturing or from insertion in addition to improperly seating the cables is basically behind a lot of the failures seen. Burke additionally cites numbers from a vendor that the danger of failure is from 0.05 to .1 % at this level. Though improperly seating the cables whereas placing it underneath pressure appears to get a lot of the blame, Burke additionally wonders if the design of the connector shouldn’t have anticipated the problems.
- Nov. 16 Tom’s {Hardware} stories {that a} GeForce RTX 4090 proprietor has filed a class-action within the US District Court docket for the Northern District Court docket of California over the melting connectors. Filed by Lucas Genova on Nov. 11, the go well with alleges Nvidia “marketed and offered the RTX 4090 with a faulty and harmful energy cable plug and socket, which has rendered shoppers’ playing cards inoperable and poses a critical electrical and fireplace hazard for each purchaser,” in accordance with the Tom’s {Hardware} report.
- Nov. 17 Seeking to pour a bit salt into the injuries of its competitor, AMD officers have been touting their fortune of not implementing the brand new 12VHPWR connector in its upcoming Radeon 7000-series of playing cards.
- Nov. 18 After weeks of largely silence, Nvidia lastly points a press release that it has obtained 50 recognized stories of melted connectors and after analyzing the returned cables, has largely discovered improper insertion to be the probably trigger, in accordance with a report by Avid gamers Nexus. The corporate additionally poured chilly water on constructing concern that use of third-party 12VHPWR cables would void warranties. The corporate informed Avid gamers Nexus EIC Stephen Burke that it will honor warranties associated to the problems and would expedite the RMA course of. Whereas improper insertion would point out person error throughout set up of the the playing cards is in charge, Nvidia additionally informed Avid gamers Nexus it’s methods to enhance the connectors that was homologated by the PCI-SIG.
- Nov. 18 The official Nvidia Reddit megathread closes out its logging of reported incidents which seem to drop off after Avid gamers Nexus video and Nvidia’s official discover. Nonetheless, one Reddit person posts a picture of a melted RTX 4090 12VHPWR connector within the PCMR subreddit on Nov. 24.
- Dec. 1 With concern over melting 12VHPWR connectors significantly subsiding after stories that improper insertion is probably going the first trigger, the PCI SIG releases a press release reminding folks that its spec addresses interoperability, not security, and every member is answerable for their very own merchandise. “PCI-SIG needs to impress upon all Members that manufacture, market or promote PCI-SIG applied sciences (together with 12VHPWR connections) of the necessity to take all acceptable and prudent measures to make sure finish person security, together with testing for the reported downside instances involving shoppers as alleged within the above-referenced lawsuit. Members are reminded that PCI-SIG specs present essential technical data for interoperability and don’t try to deal with correct design, manufacturing strategies, supplies, security testing, security tolerances or workmanship. When implementing a PCI-SIG specification, Members are answerable for the design, manufacturing, and testing, together with security testing, of their merchandise.”
- Feb. 2023 Intel releases a minor replace to the ATX 3.0 spec that recommends that energy provide distributors use inner connections utilizing spring-type quite than dimple-type connections. Intel stated it did this because the suggestion of connection firms themselves because the spring-type design affords extra floor space. The totally different connection advice, nonetheless, does not mandate it for all, and older dimple-style connectors can continued for use if an influence provide vendor chooses to. Present energy provides utilizing dimple-style connectors additionally don’t must be changed—they work as anticipated if inserted appropriately.
- March 10, 2023 Lucas Genova, a self-described “social media character and entrepreneur ” and the plaintiff in a class-action go well with in opposition to Nvidia alleging the 40-series of playing cards are faulty, asks the court docket to dismiss his go well with with prejudice. Why Genova sought to dismiss his personal go well with isn’t clear. PCWorld is looking for remark from Genova’s legal professional, however the dismissal with prejudice means Genova couldn’t search to refile the go well with even when he wished to.
- June 12, 2023 CableMod, which made a reputation for itself promoting angled-adapters for 12VHWPR to deal with melting connectors fears, points a press release in response to persevering with stories of its 12VHPWR adapters melting in 40-series GPUs saying nearly all of the problems look to be from improperly inserted cables. “We now have offered tens of 1000’s of those adapters since launch again in March, and of those, have obtained round 20 instances the place the adapter connector had melted – an especially low failure fee,” CableMod officers stated in a press release on Reddit. “Upon evaluation, nearly all of failures have been because of the adapters not being absolutely inserted into the GPU, whereas different instances have been certainly resulting from faulty adapters. We can’t deny that issues can go unsuitable in the course of the manufacturing course of – no firm can assure a 0 % failure fee. Nonetheless, what we will do is assist our customers when such issues happen. To that finish, now we have been intently monitoring instances which might be being reported to our assist workforce. For GPUs the place the RMA requests are denied, now we have provided to reimburse the complete buy worth to the affected customers. Some customers have been requested to ship their GPUs to restore facilities, and now we have coated all delivery prices as properly. We now have been doing this even in instances the place the adapter was not absolutely inserted, as we need to ensure that none of our customers are not noted within the chilly.”
- June 14, 2023 A submit on Reddit first reported by Tom’s {Hardware} exhibits an image of a 12VHPWR melted connector. Not like earlier stories the place harm happens to the GPU, nonetheless, the individual exhibits harm occurred on the ability provide facet. On this case, the individual stated it was on a BeQuiet Darkish Energy 13 1,000 watt energy provide.
