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First time build

nerdshack888

nerdshack888

nerdshack888

Associate
Joined
16 Aug 2025
Posts
9
Location
uk
Hi trying to sort out my first pc build, originally decided on a 5070 ti but since i have heard about the problems with the connectors with the melting and possibility of fire it has completely put me off these card so i moved on to the 9070 xt but on another place on the internet i mentioned this and someone said the 8 pin on the 9070 xt is just as likely to melt or catch fire as the 2x6 so that destroyed my thoughts for my gpu, can anyone suggest a safe good gpu even if its a lower class card because the thought of fire is stopping me from building my first pc.

current possible build :
9800x3d
msi b850 edge ti
2tb samsung 990 pro
corsair or nxzt 850w or 100 w psu
64 gb ram
 
nerdshack888 said:
but on another place on the internet i mentioned this and someone said the 8 pin on the 9070 xt is just as likely to melt or catch fire
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That is not true, this has been covered by buildzoid and der8auer. The old PCIE 8-pin has a higher safety margin and a 9070 XT uses more than one.

What resolution are you planning to play games at?
 
hi thanks for the reply, hoping to play at 1440p at a good level, originally intended to play using ray tracing using the 5070ti but now looking at the 9070 xt it may not be able to do that. just want a safe card that doesn't explode.
 
nerdshack888 said:
but now looking at the 9070 xt it may not be able to do that. just want a safe card that doesn't explode.
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I'm confident that a 9070 XT using PCI-E 8-pins will not explode, these connectors have a long history and problems are rare, which is more than you can say for the 12VHPWR/12v-2x6.

But, if you want a higher margin, you could switch to a 9070 which uses around ~230 watts with 2x PCI-E 8 pins. This is nearly within the tolerance of just 1 (75 from the board, 150 from an 8-pin).
 
nerdshack888 said:
if i did go for the 9700 xt some of the cards use 2 x 8 pin and some use 3 x 8 pin which would be safer. thanks for the answers so far
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In theory, you'd assume 3 is better than 2, but just because it has 3 doesn't necessarily mean they're doing anything fancy with sharing the load.
 
Been looking at the 9070 xt ones and the powercolor Red Devil AMD Radeon™ RX 9070 XT 16GB GDDR6 Limited Edition looks good with the 3 x 8 pins but got no idea why its the limited edition and one thing i noticed that according to the official powercolor website they recommend minimum 900 watts, not sure if its a mistake or they are just being careful
 
There haven't been reports of melting connectors on any cards below 400W, I thought? So a 9070 XT or 5070 Ti should be fine. There was one case of an explodey 5070 Ti, but that was a different fault.
 
nerdshack888 said:
and one thing i noticed that according to the official powercolor website they recommend minimum 900 watts, not sure if its a mistake or they are just being careful
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I think it has a higher board power than they normally do and possibly a factory OC, though I'd expect a good 850 to be fine.
 
9070 XT draws more power than the 5070 TI and there have been no instances of the connector melting on a 5070 TI
Seems an odd reason to go for a 9070 XT when one of the main things you want to do is use ray tracing
 
The issues with the 12VH power connector mostly happen at above 450W draw, meaning a 5090 or 4090 sort of power draw unless you're really unlucky.

There's a reason a lot of people power limit those cards to 450w, and what's more hilarious is that there's no real performance loss for doing so in 99% of cases. It's mind boggling that Nvidia don't just hard limit the cards in the bios to be honest, hell there's even power supplies out there that limit the connector to 450W to limit the risk.
 
thanks for the replies, ever since i saw some videos on the melting on the NVIDIA card i think it was the 5090 but there was mention by some people that it could happen on the 5070 ti because it being the same connector its put me off the NVIDIA's so focusing on cards that use the 8 pin distributing the power between 2 or 3 separate cables so that being the 9070 xt, i suppose i just prefer the thought of safety over performance or i would just be wondering if today will be the day it catches fire and the thought might pass after a while but the worry would be there, does anyone have any preference of experience of which 9070 xt card is best. thanks
 
I am generally a very stressful person so anything that can lessen this is good, also looking at the psu options as the powercolor version of the 9080 xt says minimum recommended 900 w psu, my options are :

Corsair RM850x £ 130 - £140​

NZXT C850 (2024) 850 W £105​

Corsair RM1000x (2024) £150​

NZXT C1000 (2024) £150 - £160​


My first choice was one the corsair's but i just recently remembered my last pc had a corsair rm650x and it failed with some popping and noise and bangs after 5 years so i bit reluctant to buy another one but have no experience with a nzxt psu but looked at reviews and both the corsair and the nzxt both review very highly and quite similarly. this will be my first proper pc build as i tried one a number of years back and it failed, so this is always in the back of my mind and keep thinking i should just buy a custom pc already built for me but keep trying to push myself to build one.
 
nerdshack888 said:
I am generally a very stressful person so anything that can lessen this is good, also looking at the psu options as the powercolor version of the 9080 xt says minimum recommended 900 w psu, my options are :

Corsair RM850x £ 130 - £140​

NZXT C850 (2024) 850 W £105​

Corsair RM1000x (2024) £150​

NZXT C1000 (2024) £150 - £160​


My first choice was one the corsair's but i just recently remembered my last pc had a corsair rm650x and it failed with some popping and noise and bangs after 5 years so i bit reluctant to buy another one but have no experience with a nzxt psu but looked at reviews and both the corsair and the nzxt both review very highly and quite similarly. this will be my first proper pc build as i tried one a number of years back and it failed, so this is always in the back of my mind and keep thinking i should just buy a custom pc already built for me but keep trying to push myself to build one.
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Companies tend to overspec PSU requirements because there's a lot of poor quality units out there, the 9070XT will run just fine on a good 750W PSU.

The supplies you're looking at are damned expensive for what they are too, I'd be looking at the following:

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £221.93 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Either would be fine, but for a 1000W Platinum of that quality £128 is a damned good price on the current market, but as mentioned the £85 750W option would be ample.

See here: https://www.guru3d.com/review/sapphire-nitro-radeon-rx-9070-xt-review/page-5/

Average gaming load of 349W with peaks of 382w, Guru3D and most reputable tech sites recommend a 750W in order to give some overhead, honestly you could get away with a good 650W PSU but it's not worth taking the chance unless you already own such a PSU.
 
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thanks for the reply, will have a look at them prefer the 1000w one but have you any links to any reviews or how they compare to the corsair or nzxt psu's.
 
Had a good look at the montech psu's which seemed good and good prices but they have 4 x 8 pin connectors but on 2 cables so share the wattage so not good if i get a 9070 xt with 3 x 8 pin connectors.
 
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