12VHPWR connectors are burning up and RDNA 3 is not using it
Spending over $1,600 on a new GPU shouldn't come with a fire hazard
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It’s been a couple of weeks since the RTX 4090 came out and now the problems have been arising. Now there are reports of the 12VHPWR 16-pin connector burning up in its connection with the graphics card.
Even before the RTX 4000 series came out there were reports of this potentially occurring. PCI-SIG messaging its members warning them of this potentially happening. And now it in fact is and it’s troubling.
For those that in fact even had the opportunity to buy the $1,599/£1,699 graphics card. As we’ve been running a stock tracker and seeing the familiar situation of no stock or inflated prices. So they are far and few between but even at that cost you don’t want your card burning away.
Reddit user u/reggie_gaki posted the burnt Nvidia connector and card interface showing the damage it had caused. The user had the Gigabyte Gaming OC model of the card.
Whilst more reports have come from others with the same issue. Two ASUS TUF cards have both had the issue occur as shown by wccftech’s report.
Radeon RDNA 3 skipping 12VHPWR
Now since then, Scott Herkelman from Radeon has confirmed that the upcoming RDNA 3 GPUs will not use the connector. This will help avoid any controversies in its new upcoming launch, which we will learn more about on the 3rd of November.
Sticking to the tried and tested 8-pin will ensure users don’t end up with any issues on their expensive cards. As trying to power through 600W through the new connector may be proving too much.
We can see Cablemod’s own guide to how the new connector should be used. And one major factor is to avoid bending both vertically and horizontally. With the advice being to only bend after 35mm from the connector.
This will likely avoid causing any thinner points of the wire and wearing it out. As that will give the power a weak point that may not be able to handle the full spec.
However, attempting this is difficult with the new cards. They are already massive, the 4090 size is unlike before and it’s hard to accommodate in common builds now. With a lot of users reporting how the size does not fit well has to be bent right away as would otherwise not be able to close the side panel.
Even with vertically mounting it would require routing the octopus of cables through the build. And likely still having to bend it out of the way to manage it in any sort of way. So until some ATX 3.0 PSUs allow for better R&D into the problem it might be a longer-lasting issue.
