NVIDIA Tells AICs to Collect RTX 4090 Cards with Burnt Power Connectors, Send Them to HQ

[tanaka_007]

Heats up when certain pins become unbalanced.
It is necessary to check with a tester whether solder cracks have occurred inside.

 

[Valantar]

Heats up when certain pins become unbalanced.
It is necessary to check with a tester whether solder cracks have occurred inside.

Yeah, they really should have bridged the solder tabs on the terminals on these. Though solder cracks aren't the biggest issue here - the terminals are thin enough that the copper will fail long before any solder joint does, so the thing to look for is stress fractures in copper, not failed solder joints. The pic you posted shows this - the solder joints haven't failed, the solder tabs on the terminals are sheared off entirely.

 

[Kartoff]

This is so funny... They want to convert 3x8 = 24 total pin to 12 pin connector and expect no problems ?!?
10 years ago, a friend of mine, who was a Power Color representative and we used to buy video cards from him, opened every single card and took out all the power adapters from inside! One day I asked him why there were none in the boxes of the cards bought by him, and that's how I found out that he does it... He explained that to some extent he prevents the use of cards with power supplies that are not intended for them... At that time adapters were Molex to PCI-E and with them you was able to power whole 6 pin PCI-E connector with 2x Molex connectors which is unacceptable...

 

[Valantar]

This is so funny... They want to convert 3x8 = 24 total pin to 12 pin connector and expect no problems ?!?
10 years ago, a friend of mine, who was a Power Color representative and we used to buy video cards from him, opened every single card and took out all the power adapters from inside! One day I asked him why there were none in the boxes of the cards bought by him, and that's how I found out that he does it... He explained that to some extent he prevents the use of cards with power supplies that are not intended for them... At that time adapters were Molex to PCI-E and with them you was able to power whole 6 pin PCI-E connector with 2x Molex connectors which is unacceptable...

There's a pretty major difference here though: molex to PCIe adapters could allow you to use a GPU with a PSU that was rated far too low for the GPU, especially as they were often used with molex connectors on the same wire from the PSU. That isn't the case with these adapters - the cumulative rating of three/four 8-pin PCIe cables matches the 450W/600W modes of the 12VHPWR connector, and of course you'll need a PSU with a sufficient amount of PCIe connectors for this to work. Lower rated PSUs don't typically have that high a number of PCIe power connectors to begin with. You can still use daisy-chained connectors and have some minor issues, but these actually need to be rated for 300W power delivery when they have two 8-pin plugs on them, so the problem is much smaller.

As for the pin counts, remember that the PCIe 8-pin only uses three pairs for 12V, with the two last pins being sense pins.

On a fundamental level there isn't any real problem with doing this - but the implementation needs to be properly done, technically competent, mechanically sturdy, well executed, etc. Nvidia's adapter fails this miserably.

 

[SirB]

And what do they sell? Cables for RTX 4090? XD

For real:

I would rather believe that eVGA got to greedy, instead of charitable. Their BS doesn't add up.

 

[Nopa]

The FEs undercutting Aftermarket cards is probably what triggered enough is enough. EVGA will probably return in similar fashion as XFX.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Seems Nvidia is saying they have stupid consumers that have been purchasing their cards and that the fires from the adapters are user error. So, not only are these people stupid enough to spend $1600+ on a 4090, clearly Nvidia also feels they're extra stupid because they can't fully connect the power adapter to the GPU.

Spoiler

Okay, Nvidia didn't officially call anyone stupid, those were my words, but they did claim user error

Nvidia delivers official statement on melting RTX 4090 power cables

Nvidia issued an official statement today regarding instances of melting power cords for the GeForce RTX 4090. The company is aware of about 50 cases worldwide, claiming...

www.techspot.com

Here's the link to Nvidia's official response:

NVIDIA Support

nvidia.custhelp.com

 

[ThrashZone]

Seems Nvidia is saying they have stupid consumers that have been purchasing their cards and that the fires from the adapters are user error. So, not only are these people stupid enough to spend $1600+ on a 4090, clearly Nvidia also feels they're extra stupid because they can't fully connect the power adapter to the GPU.

Spoiler

Okay, Nvidia didn't officially call anyone stupid, those were my words, but they did claim user error

Nvidia delivers official statement on melting RTX 4090 power cables

Nvidia issued an official statement today regarding instances of melting power cords for the GeForce RTX 4090. The company is aware of about 50 cases worldwide, claiming...

www.techspot.com

Here's the link to Nvidia's official response:

NVIDIA Support

nvidia.custhelp.com

Hi,
Yeah this is an interesting response

Our findings to date suggest that a common issue is that connectors are not fully plugged into the graphics card. To help ensure the connector is secure we recommend plugging the power dongle into the graphics card first to ensure it’s firmly and evenly plugged in, before plugging the graphics card into the motherboard.

Do they not know the power cable does not connect to the mother boards they connect to the psu

 

[LFaWolf]

Hi,
Yeah this is an interesting response


Do they not know the power cable does not connect to the mother boards they connect to the psu

You misread what they are saying. If you look at the picture, they demonstrated that the connector is not fully plugged in into the GPU. Therefore, they want the users to plug in the connector to the GPU first, to ensure that it is fully plugged in, before plugging in the GPU to the motherboard.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Hi,
Yeah this is an interesting response


Do they not know the power cable does not connect to the mother boards they connect to the psu

If you watch the Gamers Nexus youtube about the 4090 fire and their testing, even just watching how they're trying to plug in the power adapter into the 4090 looks sketchy. You can see them using a good amount of force, yet the adapter doesn't seem to always go down all the way. That's probably Nvidia says to connect the power before even plugging the card into the motherboard, so you can apply equal force up on the card and not have the fear of warping/damaging your MB as you pushed down hard.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Poor wording
You install a gpu you don't "plug" it in.

 

[Godrilla]

Update Derbauer just dropped a video on this connector fyi.

 

[Chrispy_]

Update Derbauer just dropped a video on this connector fyi.

Yeah, the pins in the 12V HPWR connector are just too f*ckin' small.

Using worst-case limits from that video (so maximum safety margin assuming lowest-quality parts permitted in the entire chain) you get 72W per 12V wire pair with the classic MiniFit Jr.

That means that by modern safety standards, the 12V 4+4/8-pin EPS is good for 288W, an 8-pin PCIe is good for 216W, and a 6-pin is good for 144W. In theory if the PCI SIG introduced a "proper" 12-pin that used the standard-sized MiniFit Jr connector and had 5 12V wire pairs, you'd end up with a 360W cable, allowing for safety margins.

Let that sink in. A chunkier connector based on those safety standards can only handle 360W, so what the hell are Nvidia doing trying to force 600W down a cable half the size? Even 450W cables with dedicated sense wires are exceeding what would be max safe recommendation for 6 wire pairs on the much larger traditional connector. It's no wonder they are still melting left, right, and centre...

What's wrong with two 8-pins? That's 432W which in addition to the PCIe slot is >500W and IMHO that's far more power that should ever be consumed by a regular graphics card fit for 99.9x% of the market.

 

[Double-Click]

I think they're a little late to the game in terms of burning the evidence lol.

 

[Aquinus]

Update Derbauer just dropped a video on this connector fyi.

Yeah, the pins in the 12V HPWR connector are just too f*ckin' small.

Using worst-case limits from that video (so maximum safety margin assuming lowest-quality parts permitted in the entire chain) you get 72W per 12V wire pair with the classic MiniFit Jr.

That means that by modern safety standards, the 12V 4+4/8-pin EPS is good for 288W, an 8-pin PCIe is good for 216W, and a 6-pin is good for 144W. In theory if the PCI SIG introduced a "proper" 12-pin that used the standard-sized MiniFit Jr connector and had 5 12V wire pairs, you'd end up with a 360W cable, allowing for safety margins.

Let that sink in. A chunkier connector based on those safety standards can only handle 360W, so what the hell are Nvidia doing trying to force 600W down a cable half the size?

Just another reason why I don't want to touch nVidia with a 10 foot pole.

I think they're a little late to the game in terms of burning the evidence lol.

Self-burning evidence.

 

[evernessince]

Update Derbauer just dropped a video on this connector fyi.

I've said it way back when this issue started but I don't expect this to go away, even for the new 12V2X6 connector. As people's cards age, resistances between the socket and connector will increase either through pins spreading naturally or debris / corrosion and thus increasing the chance for a meltdown. They need to solve the issue with not being able to bend the cable until after a certain length and they need to increase the safety margin.

I frequent repair videos and burned up 4090s and 4090s / 4080s with snapped PCBs from the weight are commonly seen in repair shops.

 

[Vayra86]

Good riddance, May many fools be parted with money so they learn a lesson. Good for that new generation of gamers. Quick way to build experience on not trusting marketing and jumping headfirst into new 'standards'.

Customer. Due. Diligence.

No single company is here to help you
Also yet another strike for Nvidia. Top quality? Nah. Just greed.

 

[zlobby]

Good riddance, May many fools be parted with money so they learn a lesson. Good for that new generation of gamers. Quick way to build experience on not trusting marketing and jumping headfirst into new 'standards'.

Customer. Due. Diligence.

No single company is here to help you
Also yet another strike for Nvidia. Top quality? Nah. Just greed.

They are called 'ngreedia' for a reason. Also, their color is green; you wanna guess why that is?

 

[80-watt Hamster]

They are called 'ngreedia' for a reason. Also, their color is green; you wanna guess why that is?

Grow up.

 

[chrcoluk]

Need someone to mod the proper working 8 pin connectors on to these cards.

 

[zlobby]

Grow up.

I did. That's why no more nvidia for me.

 

[Aquinus]

Grow up.

I don't know, criticizing a company for their brain dead decisions seems like a mature line of thinking to me. It's quite literally one of the reasons why I don't buy nVidia. I'd argue that it's more childish to ignore these things and blindly buying from Team Green.

 

[zlobby]

I don't know, criticizing a company for their brain dead decisions seems like a mature line of thinking to me. It's quite literally one of the reasons why I don't buy nVidia. I'd argue that it's more childish to ignore these things and blindly buying from Team Green.

Team Greed.

 

[Aquinus]

Team Greed.

Bought by nVidiots? I'll see myself out now before I earn an infraction.

 

[ARF]

The issues are still not fixed. Are there any rough consequences for nvidia or are they going to get out of this dry?

Repair shop continues to replace 200 RTX 4090 power connectors each month