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

[EastCoastHandle]

There have been a lot of reports coming out that people having melted connectors. Be it both from the cable and gpu. Or from either the gpu or the cable.


I am not sure if anyone here knows who JonnyGuru is but he's a respected PSU expert. JonnyGuru is the PSU as Kingpin is to EVGA Video Cards.
I believe he's working for Corsair's PSU division now. And, apparently these melting connectors were well known.


The worst way to bend the cables is horizontally. Although vertically is can also be bad. Horizontal bends comes when you pull the cable to the gpu from the top down. Or when you vertically mount the GPU.



Here is an example of a vertical mounted video card. With the cables on top of the GPU. Notice that the cables are bending horizontally.



Here is a bend that is vertical. Look at how sharp this bend is. Notice this was done because it was the only way to close the side panel to the case.



This is how the cables look. Bent horizontally.




This is what happened after using them. Still in the same orientation as out of the box.







The above pic is showing how 1 particular cable in the middle looks hotter then the others. Notice the bend.




Here you can see what the temps are like using the adapter. And yes, that's hot.



TO ANYONE WHO HAS HAD A 4090 FOR AT LEAST 1 WEEK:
Check your cable connector and your gpu connector to see if there are any early warning signs of melting. Also check to see any discoloration, issues, etc with the pins themselves. Even though you don't see smoke. Try to smell the connects to confirm. It is almost impossible to use these cables without bending them inside of your case.

 

[Heisenberg]

If only there wasn’t a massive 40 series thread where this has been heavily discussed.

 

[no_1_dave]

It's because when you bend them it pulls some of the pins out slightly making a smaller contact point.
The power on such a small contact point causes it to heat up. Should be obvious, but to some people it isn't and now they have damaged power connectors

 

[Alt0153]

It's because when you bend them it pulls some of the pins out slightly making a smaller contact point.
The power on such a small contact point causes it to heat up. Should be obvious, but to some people it isn't and now they have damaged power connectors

if its that obvious you would think it would come with a 90degree bend on it so you can put the cables somewhere, perks of testing all these new parts on open air benches and not real world use inside a case

 

[Kelt]

If only there wasn’t a massive 40 series thread where this has been heavily discussed.

My Sarcasm-O-Meter just flickered, ever so slightly.

 

[Kaapstad]

I find it hard to believe that these connectors are still on the market if there is any risk of fire.

 

[Purgatory]

If only there wasn’t a massive 40 series thread where this has been heavily discussed.

Not everyone goes threw hundreds of pages on a thread, so good it has its own thread as this is an important matter that owners of 4090,3090ti and even all 30 series FE models that use this terrible connector and adaptor are aware of. PC fires are a real thing and funny enough I was only advising one user on these very forums recently about PC fires and to be aware of using PSUS that may not be able to safely run the system.

 

[Kelt]

Not everyone goes threw hundreds of pages on a thread, so good it has its own thread as this is an important matter that owners of 4090,3090ti and even all 30 series FE models that use this terrible connector and adaptor are aware of. PC fires are a real thing and funny enough I was only advising one user on these very forums recently about PC fires and to be aware of using PSUS that may not be able to safely run the system.

Good point.

The more people who have these cards are aware of potential hazards, the better.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

Oh my god can you imaging a pc costing over 5k that catches alight with a bad connector.

Oh my days.

 

[Kaapstad]

Not everyone goes threw hundreds of pages on a thread, so good it has its own thread as this is an important matter that owners of 4090,3090ti and even all 30 series FE models that use this terrible connector and adaptor are aware of. PC fires are a real thing and funny enough I was only advising one user on these very forums recently about PC fires and to be aware of using PSUS that may not be able to safely run the system.

Definitely deserves a thread of its own.

If this was a Car with a possible fire hazard due to poor quality wiring there would be a huge product recall.

 

[Kelt]

Oh my god can you imaging a pc costing over 5k that catches alight with a bad connector.

Oh my days.

No worries, Nvidia will compensate users in full for their burnt out PC's, no doubt.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

No worries, Nvidia will compensate users in full for their burnt out PC's, no doubt.

You no what’s strange - I’ve never seen anyone with a pc burnt out.

You would think it might happen a lot more with the power consumption of some of these systems.

 

[Kelt]

You no what’s strange - I’ve never seen anyone with a pc burnt out.

You would think it might happen a lot more with the power consumption of some of these systems.

Not quite a burnout, but I had one of those infamous Hyper PSU's that were prone to blow up, and mine did, taking out the GPU, 2 HDD's, and a soundcard when it expired.

 

[Kaapstad]

You no what’s strange - I’ve never seen anyone with a pc burnt out.

You would think it might happen a lot more with the power consumption of some of these systems.

Google SweClockers reviewing a GTX 590

That was another NVidia card with poor power delivery.

 

[JonRGV250]

If only there wasn’t a massive 40 series thread where this has been heavily discussed.

What an utterly pointless post

Anyhoo..
My cablemods can't arrive soon enough.
I've got to admit that I did bend my cable quite a bit to get the front of the case on, but as I had to RMA the card and a new one is arriving tomorrow, I won't making that mistake again.

 

[opethian]

If only there wasn’t a massive 40 series thread where this has been heavily discussed.

It's been a while since I last saw a useful comment. I give you five internets for this.

RE: 12VHPWR connectors - Interesting to see that Intel GPUs don't use it in their Arc devices, but they were part of the consortium who developed the spec. As a consumer, building such a fiddly, sensitive, delicate, fragile connector into a GPU that's over £1300+ is such a massive failure of design.

 

[brostradamus]

it was actually amd/nvidia pushing intel for atx 3, while intel asked them to address power spikes onboard (atx trademark is owned by intel). i read that somewhere

It's because when you bend them it pulls some of the pins out slightly making a smaller contact point.
The power on such a small contact point causes it to heat up. Should be obvious, but to some people it isn't and now they have damaged power connectors

thats too small a tolerance for consumer grade equipment.. i am calling curtains on atx 3.0.. we should have a reworked atx 3.1 standard by 2024 (and in enough quantities) as both nvidia/amd believe theyd be breaching 600watts on next gen cards

 

[Slam62]

It's OK I'm going to get a fire extinguisher

 

[Andromeda1983]

This is from PCI-SIG themselves (aka the people who approve the standards)... they found themselves that there's a problem if you bend them without the 35mm clearance themselves

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1584856217335517186

Scott Herkelman, SVP of the AMD GPU group confirmed this on Twitter so the 7000 series won't have this abomination of a connector

 

[Naff8000]

I cannot understand what they were thinking. Surely they knew/people informed them bends cause problems but they released a giant card with the connector facing head first into a wall.