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NVIDIA has responded to the RTX 4090 12-pin power cable concerns pertaining to melting / burned 12VHPWR cables. The company has provided a statement on the situation, given a failure quantity, and has commented that it will be replacing all affected units under warranty. GN was able to source new information from board partners pertaining to NVIDIA sales count and, using this new 50-unit number provided by NVIDIA, we can now get an accurate range for failure rate. We also talk about how to properly install an NVIDIA RTX 4090 or RTX 4080 and how to properly connect its power cable. The tutorial at the end shows correct 12VHPWR (12-pin, “16-pin”) cable installation for these GPUs.
Watch our NVIDIA RTX 4090 power cable & adapter cable (12VHPWR 12-pin) investigation here – part 2, conclusions:
Part 1, attempts to recreate the problem:
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 – NVIDIA Responds to 12VHPWR Melting Issues
04:17 – How NVIDIA Determined the Cause of Failure
06:30 – NVIDIA’s Warranty & Replacing All Burned Devices
08:42 – On Cable Validation Suggestions
10:09 – Foreign Object Debris
11:11 – How to Improve the 12VHPWR Cable
13:04 – How to Connect RTX 4090 & 4080 Power Cables Correctly
17:10 – Last Piece of Advice on Cable Management
17:40 – Conclusion
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Host, Writing: Steve Burke
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Big news today about the 12 pin 12 volt High power connectors like this one Nvidia just provided an official Statement on the 12 volt high power Connector concerns regarding melting Connectors we just covered those if You're curious and today we're going to Be covering that statement we're going To be going over some questions that we Had for NVIDIA relating to it some Follow-ups the topic of nvidia's Warranty that was in the news the last Couple days and the best way to connect A 12 volt high power connector to your Card so that you don't have to worry About it we're going to give you some Tricks so that you can test yourself to Make sure it's really actually fully Socketed in the card so that'll be at The end of the video as a reminder we Just published a deep dive on these Connectors and we theorized sort of Three main modes of failure two of them Were related to user error plus a hint Of design error or design oversight and Then one of them was related to foreign Object debris so let's get started and Talk about the statement before that This video is brought to you by fractal And the pop air cases the fraxel pop did Well in our recent review performing Admirably thermally while also offering Unique color variations for the chassis Body the fractal pop air is a relatively
Compact mid Tower while still offering Ease of installation features and it Even has optional five and a quarter Inch mounts for those who still use Front panel Hardware like Optical drives Learn more at the link in the Description below if you missed the Video we did on the 12 volt high power Connector testing you should absolutely Watch it here's one reason why did you Did you get the shot This is the best connector in the world Look at it and if you need another Reason it's because I had all of this Really cool data it had a lot of really Cool testing in there we had X-rays Scanning electron microscopes huge shout Out to the testing lab that helped us do That so that's separate video now for The statement we'll start with that we Asked the company several weeks ago if They had any statement for the melting Power cables that were showing up online At that time Nvidia told us no it wasn't Ready yet it said that it was still Trying to get enough cards and cables Back in that I could actually do testing On its own and investigate and inspect The cables so now the company is ready To talk about it and it has now Completed its own testing and it's Provided this comment quote we're Actively investigating the reports we Are aware of about 50 cases globally 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 to plug in the power dongle Into the graphics card first to ensure It's firmly and evenly plugged in before Plug in the graphics card into the Motherboard we are investigating Additional ways to ensure that the Connector is secure before powering on The graphics card Nvidia and our Partners are committed to supporting our Customers and ensuring an expedited RMA Process regardless of the cable or card Used now when we put together the 0.05 Percent to 0.1 percent failure number Range previously that was based on two Things one was a leak of the sales Figures from launch which had Nvidia Rumored to be at 100 000 units sold the Other was discussion with nvidia's board Partners to put together a tally of Potential failures with Nvidia now Confirming publicly one of those two Numbers 50 units we can get a more Accurate percentage just today as this Video is going up we contacted four Board Partners individually and asked if They knew how many 490s Nvidia had sold In total all four of them individually Gave us the same freshly updated number Without knowing what their peers said or That we even spoke to their peers this
Allows us to corroborate the number Against each source and trust it as Factual according to our research today Nvidia has now sold in excess of 125 000 RTX 490s that sounds right considering It was rumored as a hundred thousand Units when leaked a couple of weeks ago So now that Nvidia has officially Confirmed the number of failures that Puts the failure rate actually at at Most 0.04 percent if there are 50 out of 125 000 units the cables that have Failed pretty damn close towards 0.05 Lower range number previously but we can Now say much more confidently that the Actual failure rate is about 0.04 Percent so pretty close to it not spot On but not bad considering it was third Party information it's a little bit Below that floor that we set now uh next If you're wondering how Nvidia could Determine failures to be User error they stop just short of Saying that but they said not being Plugged in properly the way is the same That we used so it's the process where When we were testing these we Microscoped the cable ends from users Who sent them in to us and we could see A wear marker these wear markers become Exaggerated when there's burning so Because the plastic outside the Connector housing expands at a different Rate and is a different temperature than
The heated but constrained plastic that Is within the connector you can see that Marker as the plastic sort of bulges at The Mark and actually in fact in its own Statement Nvidia writes this quote Nvidia has been able to test cables that Were rmaid by affected customers in all The cases a wear line is clearly visible That indicates the cable wasn't fully Inserted into the 16-pin power connector Now just for clarity when Nvidia says 16 Pin they mean the same thing as when we Say 12 pin they're just factored in the Four sense lines in there it means the Same thing though now as for GN We Performed some additional analysis so we Would have two points of confirmation on Each cable just just in case that wear Marker wasn't always necessarily Accurate as to how it was actually Connected and our second point was to Look at the dimples that are on the Terminal or the connector basically on The inside of the housing so you can Remove the terminals and scope the three Bumps you can do this with just a normal Microscope also and we were able to Determine sometimes that only two had Ever been contacted because only two Were scratched and sometimes you'd see All three dimples were scratched but it Still had a wear marker further down the Connector this we determined for those Can happen if the cable is partially
Inserted when you start with the build Like most the way in but not fully Latched which is what I've got right now So it looks like it's all the way in There but because it's not latched you Can work it out over time if you're Tugging on the cable the cable Management or something so that's why we Think sometimes all three of those Dimples can be scratched meaning the Cable was at one point fully inserted But maybe not secure with the latch and Then work its way out and you still have A wear marker that indicates where it Was at the time of burning so that's how That happens now back to the count the Last line from Nvidia is important quote Nvidia is committed to supporting our Customers and ensuring expedited RMA Process regardless of cable or card used We asked Nvidia to clarify whether it Would cover burned or damaged cables and Cards even if the company determines That user error is the Fault Nvidia Informed us that even in cases where it Determines from this issue user error is At play is the reason they root cause They said they will still be Expediting An RMA replacement for that user and the Company stated quote anybody who has an Issue relating to this will be taken Care of will expedite the RMA there were Also recently some articles pertaining To nvidia's warranties this started from
Tom's Hardware which Ran really far with the word May in the Warranty uh the warranty said at that Time quote use only the pcie Gen 5 Compliant power connector adapter for Your GeForce RTX 40 series Founders Edition graphics card use of Non-compliant or third-party power Connector adapters may cause technical Issues and may void your manufacturer Warranty now today this issue is Basically marked as resolved because Nvidia is confirming that it will treat All cases of melting cables the same way Which is to replace them and the card That said we don't think this line was Ever intrinsically evil It's kind of reasonable because I mean to suggest that improper cables May void a warranty isn't crazy it's Kind of like Saying that use of improper gasoline in Your car May void the warranty if it causes Issues in the engine I bought my gas From Joe Bob down the street it was 10 Ethanol and 50 pig fat I don't know what The problem is why won't they warrant my Car so that one does actually it seem to Be like a reasonable use of the word May In a warranty it's very standard and Before anyone writes a comment that cars Run on pig fat just fine well I I don't Know substitute it for something they
Don't run on it and then the point makes Sense anyway Nvidia says any issues with Burned cables or gpus doesn't matter What the supply of the GPU or the cable Is they will replace it and process the Warranty and finally on this topic we Saw some previous coverage suggesting That Nvidia should validate third-party 12 volt high power cables for use with Cards to make it really clear what's Acceptable Uh relating to the warranty stuff we Disagree with this sentiment because It's in the best interest of an open and Competitive market and for therefore Consumers pricing Innovation as much as There can be in cables anyway to have it Not be gate capped by Nvidia if Nvidia Is a gatekeeper for cables we're going To have a really bad time and probably Nvidia doesn't really want to do it Either so remember that the 12 pin 12 Volt high power connector is an open Standard it was ratified under PCI Sig That's a Consortium of companies Including Intel IMD Nvidia power supply Manufacturers motherboard partners that Means that this connector spec can be Used by anyone and it also means that Cable manufacturers can come along and Make way cooler cables for custom builds Or just Better Built cables if they Think they have a solution to some sort Of problem so to suggest that Nvidia
Should keep this ecosystem is kind of Dangerous and honestly weird because No one did that for EPS 12 volt cables Or pcie six and eight pins this isn't Remember this isn't an Nvidia cable the 12 pin is a PCI Sigma and anyone can use It so anyway that was uh that was kind Of a weird one to see but let's move on So last part of this uh foreign object Debris we asked about for an object Debris and if Nvidia had any comments on Uh our findings there where we were Talking about there's just to clarify This too because Um I think uh there were some questions About this after our video from people In the audience so not only did we see Foreign object debris in the actual end Of the connector where there's like Metal Burrs and things like that that Can chip off and fall in but also we Observed some in the uh strain relief so That would be the rubber strain relief Around the solder joints where you could See some floating around in there near The solder joints but in the strain Relief meaning the user can't simply use Like a can of air to blow it out it's It's molded into the cable so anyway we Asked about foreign object debris and They didn't really have any comment on That at this time because it wasn't Something that I think they were Investigating they were looking at the
User side of connecting it and so we Don't have anything from them on that Now uh improvements so what can be done About this cable I guess is the question Where how do you how do you improve it To a point where user error is not even A concern and probably the answer is Going to be maybe a better latching Mechanism that's got some kind of Mechanical response feedback for the User so the user knows okay I've done That properly and I don't have to worry About it anymore another option would be To do what Igor mentioned Nvidia said They're talking to PCI Sig about which Would be changing the sense pins so you Either shorten them Uh or you maybe lengthen the other pins On the 12 pin part in either case the Goal would be so that if the sense pins Are not connected the device does not Turn on so that would be a potential Solution as well Um there's other things they could do But I think the two primary ones would Probably be improving the latching Mechanism or working on the sense Connection to prevent a boot entirely if Like no power delivery to the card if The sense isn't in and if you make part Of it Longer and part shorter then you reduce Some of the risk of generating like a Conductive bad path for power that
Causes the melting so that would be what They could do right now though that is Something I would have to go through PCI Sig Nvidia hasn't provided any real Statement on where their progress is With that other than they are talking With industry partners and ecosystem Partners and trying to figure out what They could possibly do and um it's Possible Nvidia does something unique on Their own connector But ultimately this Is something that will need to be Improved for everybody so it'll go Through pcisig eventually okay last part I'm gonna get a card and a camera Operator and we're going to show you a Few ways to really make sure you've Properly installed the cable so you Don't have to worry about it anymore to Unsocket it and check every day okay so We're going to start with showing you The correct way to connect this uh the Board partner cards have the connector On the board a little more hidden it's a Little submerged between fins and things Like that so kind of harder to see the Connector at the level Of contact between this line on the Actual cable and the connector housing So that's hard to see on the board Partner cards very easy to see on the Fe Card so we use the Fe here the board Partner cards though you can still do This without too much issue so the way
To connect this first of all uh there's Four sense pins they're located on Either side depending on which card you Have it depends on the connector so We're just going to line those up that Is the 12 volt side and the cable itself You can see it's got a small clip on it Like any other cable And We're going to line it up This takes a lot more Force than you Think it will it's not going to hurt the Card so don't be afraid but it does take More Force than you would expect so we Just push down this is not socketed it Looks pretty in there But that's actually not all the way Socketed so a little more I'm actually Going to pull my mic here so you can Hear the clip So obviously very minor click there you Can barely hear it depending on uh you Know how he loose the connector the clip Is on your cable you might not hear it At all if you're pushing the clip down You're definitely not going to hear Anything you will feel a lot of Resistance here it's not clipped in yet I'm not pushing that hard but it feels All the way seated to get it clipped in One more time we're going to do Uh more of a push here so right now It's clipped in but there was actually No noise so the way I know it's good is
I first of all if we do a slight tug on This cable you're not trying to rip it Out of the socket you do a tug like this That's not going anywhere I mean there's A little bit of play side to side but It's clearly not working its way out This is a fully socketed connector Um and if you're going to pull on it Like this to check it just make sure you Push back down when you're done in case You've unseated it at all but you know If this is clearly in there versus Let's do a demo here if I've got it 99 Of the way in but not clipped it looks Good it feels like there was a lot of Resistance you think you're done but Very easily comes out so I think that's Where people are going wrong they're Getting it here and actually they're They're going through they're managing Their cables and everything after the Fact and as they're doing that let's Just do a demo uh if it's say 90 in They're back you're managing cables and They're behind the case not really Looking at the front and this is Happening it's walking its way out they Close the panel not knowing that they've Got two millimeters of slack in the pins There sticking up where there's actually Not any contact at all so I think that's What's happening so final bit of advice I would strongly suggest actually on Video said this in their statement very
Strongly suggest socketing it Foley before you put it in the case or The motherboard because you have full Access to everything so if it's a board Partner card where you've got a lift Raised around this like the Asus cards You have enough uh clearance and access To C Um once it's in a case it's really hard To see down there so you know you can Move it around you can inspect it and if You're able to see the base of the Connector and the cable and you just Look and make sure they're fully Together but I mean I don't know I think There's much more to it than that it is A an uncomfortably high amount of force You just need to get over that you're Not going to hurt it it's thick plastic And metal it's fine I mean worse case You push it too hard like it's not going Anywhere so the only way you could Really damage this is if you like Hulk Pushed it and snapped the connector off The PCB chance of that is so incredibly Low I promise you no one in this Audience has that level of strength and Then I would say this two last piece of Advice when you're done cable managing It and you get all the cables pulled and Tucked behind the board or or whatever You're doing with it if it's like you Know like that in the case you might be Pulling them around just go back through
One last time before you close the panel Push on it and uh and you should be got I mean if you do all that stuff there's Really just basically Uh no no shot as the kids say that You've left it unseated so so that's it For the updates and for the statement From Nvidia they posted that on their Forums today you can go check out the Forum post if you want to learn more About it it's on their GeForce Forum but I mean I think that pretty much covers It at this point we're not going to be Revisiting this topic unless there's Major news or if Nvidia has more to say Because I think we've tested it about as Much as we can we are going to do some Testing on third party 12 volt high Power cables it's not for the reasons That were just covered in all of this But instead it's just to see if the ones That are using say poor gauge wire are a Risk for different reasons so that's for This one thanks for watching as always Subscribe for more you can go to Store.gamersaccess.net where we still Have the code this is fine active for 10 Off until I think the 23rd to next week And subscribe for more we'll see you all Next time
