aaaaaaRTX 4090 is the latest graphics card from NVIDIA.
It is a huge GPU and is the fastest graphics card ever made.
What Is a 12VHPWR Connector?
Image Credit:NVIDIA
12VHPWR connectors are developed by PCI-SIG, the community responsible for standardizing peripheral component I/O data transfers.
The community has representatives from NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and a few other companies.
The 12VHPWR Connector has six 12v pins and six ground pins.
Image Credit:NVIDIA
Why Do NVIDIA’s RTX 4090 GPUs Use 12VHPWR Connectors?
Theprevious generation of six and eight-pin connectorsserved well for NVIDIA’s and AMD’s high-end graphics cards.
Each eight-pin connector has three 12v pins and can withstand a power draw of 150 watts.
Image credit:NVIDIA
Also, the sense wires in the newer 12VHPWR connector save the power supplies from tripping or burn-outs.
What’s the Problem With the 12VHPWR Connector?
The connector on the GPU is melting as well.
Image Credit:CableMod
The fabric tape wound around the connector and the wire sleeves are fine.
Why Is the RTX 4090 Connector Melting?
This causes heat which can lead to the melting of the plastic housing.
However, they could not replicate the melting phenomenon even after disconnecting a couple of wires altogether.
Can You Stop Your RTX 4090 From Melting?
The recommendation is that PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR should not be bent before 35mm to the pin, especially sideways.
The cable provided by NVIDIA is short and too rigid to leverage 35mm.
A 90-degree adapter made byCableModwill be available soon.
It is long enough to bend easily and has 12 wires compared to NVIDIA’s eight.
The connectors themselves are around $5, but the service cost for replacement will be much higher.
For now, NVIDIA is investigating the problem.
It is neither recalling nor replacing the cables for free.
If you have faced the melting problem, it’s possible for you to raise an RMA request.
It’s worth noting that crimping has worked without any issues for the previous generation of connectors.
However, you cannot crimp the 12VHPWR connector for now!
If one pin goes bad, there is no headroom for the others to soak the additional load.
Increasing the number of connectors on the RTX 4090 is definitely a good choice.
It is a lucky escape for other GPU makers, though.
A few melted connectors is bad press; something going seriously wrong and causing a fire would be horrendous.
