• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

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

LtMatt said:
Internet famous. :p
Click to expand...
From the article

[Gordon Fitzsimmons, based in Glasgow, told BBC News he had thought the photos he had seen saw online were a result of user error - until he had received his card.
"You think these people must be abusing the cable," he said. "They must be bending it really badly, or not plugging it in fully, so I was definitely blaming it on on the user - until, obviously, I opened mine up and [have] seen that one of the pins has just started to melt.
"It does make you very nervous, some of the posts I've seen, people are suffering real anxiety over this."]
 
Twinz said:
From the article

[Gordon Fitzsimmons, based in Glasgow, told BBC News he had thought the photos he had seen saw online were a result of user error - until he had received his card.
"You think these people must be abusing the cable," he said. "They must be bending it really badly, or not plugging it in fully, so I was definitely blaming it on on the user - until, obviously, I opened mine up and [have] seen that one of the pins has just started to melt.
"It does make you very nervous, some of the posts I've seen, people are suffering real anxiety over this."]
Click to expand...

Yea every one is an idiot until it happens to you.
 
I ran Folding at Home on 3 PC's during Covid lockdowns for a while.

There is no way I would go to sleep at night and leave even a single 4090 running full-tilt in my house right now.
 
Last edited:
Gamers Nexus did detailed testing including sending damaged cables for failure analysis. TLDR- Failure rate is low at 0.05-1% and the majority of the cases melting is due to user error. People are not plugging in the cables properly and the design encourages that.
 
There is 3 ways these cables melt and Steve has verified them all and it applies to all 12hwpr cables, not just Nvidia adaptors, as Steve says even Cablemod can melt.

1) Poor manufacturing- the metal pins may scrap against the inside of the connector housing which breaks pieces of debris off - this debris when in use can heat up and melt

2) User error - User not inserting the cable even close to correctly

3) Combination of user error AND bent cable: This is where the user has partially not inserted the cable correctly and the cable is bent enough to cause parallel high current on one or more pins from poor contact

Steve says AIB data shows that currently the failure rate is 0.05% to 0.1%. This means for example that this issue affects far less people than the 2080ti dying vram issue from a couple years ago but due to the nature of this issue, it's getting a lot of attention which makes people believe it's very common when it's not - 1 in 5000 RTX4090 owners are experiencing this issue
 
Last edited:
A couple of things I noted from the GN video which was very helpful.

1) Carefully and closely inspect your adapter to make sure it's clean.

2) Insert the connector as straight-on as possible.

3) Don't wiggle a connector that doesn't want to seat as you attempt to make go. This is something I normally do when faced with a poor-fitting connection, but wiggling this connector could open the tiny split sockets in the connector and increase the likelihood of failure.

4) Avoid laterally loading the connector.

5) The shortened sense pins in the change I have seen posted online should make for a much better mode of failure for connectors that aren't fully seated. (Failure to power up vs melt-down)

Also, the two-pin testing GN did makes me feel a lot better about the surface area vs current concern I had.
 
Last edited:
^^ good stuff

I agree, when your get your 4090 adaptor or cables (even if it's Cablemod) - inspect the connector for debris, perhaps blow some air if there is any loose debris to remove it. Then insert the cable straight, do not wiggle it and make sure it's fully in and then follow the normal rules on not bending the cable too sharply. That should prevent any issue other than if the cable has a manufacturing failure that you cannot prevent.

Here is an example of a burnt 4090 Nvidia adaptor

Look at the white lines, that's where the user inserted the adaptor into the card - he failed to fully insert the cable, it's 5mm too short!

 
Last edited:
There's a video where jay2centz tells people to be careful inserting the connectors because they could rip right off the PCB if you use too much force
 
I've managed to get Corsair 600W PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR Type-4 PSU Power Cable for my RTX 4090 FE to replace the Nvidia adapter, however after the inspection as you can see on the pictures the wires are in horrible condition. I'm not going to take any chances on that. I've already ask for a replacement, but just be aware, when you buying them to properly check these cables. Manufacturing process is shocking these days...

ibb.co

IMG-6089 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6089 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6090 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6090 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6091 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6091 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6092 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6092 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
 
Narfi said:
I've managed to get Corsair 600W PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR Type-4 PSU Power Cable for my RTX 4090 FE to replace the Nvidia adapter, however after the inspection as you can see on the pictures the wires are in horrible condition. I'm not going to take any chances on that. I've already ask for a replacement, but just be aware, when you buying them to properly check these cables. Manufacturing process is shocking these days...

ibb.co

IMG-6089 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6089 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6090 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6090 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6091 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6091 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
ibb.co

IMG-6092 hosted at ImgBB

Image IMG-6092 hosted in ImgBB
ibb.co ibb.co
Click to expand...


I wouldn't use that cable, send it back, it's not safe to have exposed wires - it's likely being damaged during or after manufacturing from being pressed against something ; if the box is not damaged then likely happened before packaging
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom