Testing suggests a faulty cable may be to blame for melting RTX 4090 connectors

Earlier this week, a couple of Reddit users reported that the power connectors of their expensive new Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs had partially melted, and that Nvidia was looking into the issue. Since then, at least nine other Reddit users have posted about the same problem with the 16-pin power connector (the thread collecting all the information about the problem is here).

Igor Vallossek from the German-language hardware site Igor’s Lab also did some more testing and said that the power adapter cable (rather than the GPUs or the 12VHPWR connector) might be to blame for the problems. The adapter, which appears to be manufactured by Astron and has been made available by Nvidia to all of its board partners, uses “a total of four thick 14AWG wires spread over six pins,”with a thin solder base, Vallossek says. can be easily damaged when cables are moved or bent.

“If, in the worst case, the two outermost wires break, all the current in the middle will go through the remaining two wires,” wrote Vallossek. “The fact that it gets really hot doesn’t need to be explained separately.”

Unlike the Nvidia to 12VHPWR adapter cable included with Be Quiet! The Dark Power Pro 13 PSU is one of several new ATX 3.0 PSUs with a 12VHPWR cable that plugs directly into the PSU rather than through an adapter. The cable is thicker than the Nvidia adapter because each pin has its own wire, but it also runs cool and provides reliable GPU power.

Vallossek also said that Nvidia has asked its partners to send all affected cards back to Nvidia for further study and testing. We asked Nvidia about this issue and investigation earlier this week and will update if we have any new information.