Check Your 4090's 12vhpwr Connectors To Make Sure They are in Pristine Condition

[Tinek]

If they are hell-bent on using this connector for asthetics, then they need the GPU's to be able to track each pair's current, and shut down when something is out of whack.

It's not just astethics though, is it? It's the size - their boards are so tiny now in comparison to the number of components on them that they have no space for 8pin nor they have space for better design of power rails on the board and any safeguards. They really need to get back to the drawing board with the design of boards, it feels.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Main reason I bought the Astral.

Some of those have gone up too.

 

[Tetras]

It's not just astethics though, is it? It's the size - their boards are so tiny now in comparison to the number of components of them that they have no space for 8pin nor they have space for better design of power rails on the board and any safeguards. They really need to get back to the drawing board with the design of boards, it feels.

That's a good point, the PCBs are tiny on most of the cards. I bet they have calculated the margins on these things too, cost savings before returns.

Probably why they stripped it out of the 3000 series, see that a lot, when something is first introduced it has more safety features and then they're cut over time.

 

[Tinek]

Probably why they stripped it out of the 3000 series, see that a lot, when something is first introduced it has more safety features and then they're cut over time.

"It'll be fine, what's the worst that can happen? We sell millions of these anyway, so even 10p savings is huge." - most likely. This always happens and that's why we have safety standards that force companies to stop cutting all cost possible on safeguards.

 

[Twinz]

It's sad that this device even needs to exist, but:

Nvidia's 16-pin time bomb could be defused by this $95 gadget — Ampinel offers load balancing that Nvidia forgot to include

Ampinel could be the salvation for 16-pin power connectors.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[Raiden85]

If only Nvidia built the ability into the card to balance the load across each pin in the first place, or even shut the card down when individual pins received far too much current, then most of this crap could have been avoided. They charge enough bloody money for the cards to build this in, 12VHPWR is just a **** poor design to begin with, along with pretty much zero safety features.

 

[Twinz]

I originally wrote it off as incompatible with the FE models, but a M to F 12VHPWR extension cable would allow the device to be "mounted" somewhere in the case rather than sticking off the GPU at an awkward angle.

While cable extensions add another possible point of failure, the device should detect overcurrent/uneven loading even with an extension cable in-line with the GPU connector.

 

[pastymuncher]

I see this as a cash grab that's trading on peoples fears. A whopping 80 euros for something that the cards should already be doing, after all they cost enough to buy them. This connector needs to just disappear and go back to 8 pin cables that had nothing wrong with them.

 

[DD_Crash]

I see this as a cash grab that's trading on peoples fears. A whopping 80 euros for something that the cards should already be doing, after all they cost enough to buy them. This connector needs to just disappear and go back to 8 pin cables that had nothing wrong with them.

I fully agree with that. Having seen the photos of the melted connectors its scary