For recent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 buyers, grief His purchase on Reddit. This time his PC DIYer feels “burnt” due to the melted graphics card power connector. A lot of the power goes through the limited space of his RTX 4090 which uses a 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector. So far this is the first report of a melted “quadropass” adapter (standard he 4x 8 pin to 1x 16 pin Nvidia). The adapter cable that comes with all his 4090 cards.
Still, one has to wonder if the user was just unlucky, made a slight mistake during installation, or just the first of many stories of melted power connectors in the coming months. The RTX 4090 may be the fastest of the best graphics cards out there right now, but it’s also one of the most power hungry GPUs to grace your PC.
Checking Redditor reggie_gakil’s setup via the thread linked above, this is a strong looking RGB infused PC system with a strong mix of air and liquid cooling solutions. The reference RTX 4090 draws 450W from its compact power connector, but factory-overclocked models can push that to around 500W, and manual overclocking can boost that to over 600W.
The Redditor claims he was simply playing Red Dead Redemption 2 with a relatively modest GPU load of 400W when the cable melted, which seems to rule out extreme overclocking. Assuming it’s true, there are still some potential points of failure.
All power connectors must be properly seated and fully connected to ensure problem-free conductivity. This is especially critical for high power components where poor connections can cause overheating and electrical arcing with potentially disastrous consequences. Reggie_gakil’s image shows signs that a connection problem exists and that the connector and socket have melted.
The big question is whether the problem was caused by user error, connector failure, or some other cause. “Bend wasn’t that aggressive,” the Redditor said in a comment following the publication of a photo of the connector and questions from his users on other social media. “There was definitely a bend, but this he shouldn’t have on the 2K Euro GPU PSU Corsair RMX 1000.”
If you look closely at the image of the melted connector, it could be that the cable is bent too close to the connector or the socket on the adapter is defective or loose. The upper right and upper left pins are clearly damaged, but the central part is not so melted. And of course, it’s impossible to rule out an unstable power supply — what was working fine on the underpowered GPU may have crossed critical thresholds on the RTX 4090.
Whatever the cause, I hope the contact makers can help fix reggie_gakil’s melted connector problem. I can do it.
more than that CableMod has a guide Describes the new 16-pin connector and cable. It recommends avoiding bending the cable, stating, “…it seems that bending the wires too close to the connector can loosen some of the terminals or cause the connector itself to become misaligned.” This can lead to uneven loading across the connector.Using other wires increases the risk of damage from overheating.”
For anyone else who gets an RTX 4090, I would recommend making sure all 8-pin and 16-pin connectors are firmly seated and try to avoid bending wires near the connectors as much as possible. increase. It might be wise to leave the case off at first while you boot the game and check the temperature of the cables and connectors.
