NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has allegedly gotten involved in the 12VHPWR investigation. The 16-pin adapter required to power the GeForce RTX 4090 has (literally) been under fire, often damaging the connector and PCB. (treerush.com) In addition, users have reported their 3x 8-pin to 16-pin power connectors catching fire and melting the card’s adapter and socket. As part of the PCIe Gen 5/ATX 3.0 suite, the 12VHPWR connector has been designed to supply GPUs with up to 600W of power using a single cable.
After speaking with several AIB and PSU Manufacturers, I unfortunately have to confirm that #Nvidia's 12VHPWR issue is a MAJOR one that ALL potential #rtx4090 buyers should be wary of.
According to Moore’s Law is Dead, these incidents stem from a manufacturing defect on behalf of NVIDIA’s partners. Apparently, all the 16-pin connectors paired with the AIB RTX 4090s have been manufactured by the same OEM. The YouTuber claims that NVIDIA had mandated board partners to use components from a specific vendor, including the plug. One possible fix to this widespread flaw is using next-gen PCIe Gen 5 power supplies with a single cable connector rather than three 8-pin cables via the 12VHPWR adapter.
The most logical action would be to recall all shipped units and replace them with an updated design. Unfortunately, considering how massive the Ada Lovelace launch has been, this oopsie will cost NVIDIA and its partners a lot of money, not to mention put a dampener on the supply chain.
Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have written about computer hardware for over seven years with over 5000 published articles. I started during engineering college and haven't stopped since. On the side, I play RPGs like Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Divinity, and Fallout. Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
