Oct 31, 2022 12:00:00

GeForce RTX 4090 Melting Issues Could Be Cabling, Not GPU

NVIDIA's ultra-high-end GPU '

GeForce RTX 4090 ', which appeared in October 2022, has become a hot topic for its high performance enough to run heavyweight games with 4K high image quality settings at 120fps. On the other hand, users of graphics boards equipped with GeForce RTX 4090 have received multiple reports that ``the power cable has melted, '' and NVIDIA is also developing a situation to investigate. Meanwhile, a survey by hardware-related media igor'sLAB revealed that the melting problem of the graphics board with GeForce RTX 4090 was likely caused by the cable rather than the GPU.

The horror has a face - NVIDIA's hot 12VHPWR adapter for the GeForce RTX 4090 with a built-in breaking point | igor'sLAB
https://www.igorslab.de/en/adapter-of-the-gray-analyzed-nvidias-brand-hot-12vhpwr-adapter-with-built-in-breakpoint/

Testing suggests faulty cable may be to blame for melting RTX 4090 connectors | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/testing-suggests-faulty-cable-may-be-to-blame-for-melting-rtx-4090-connectors/

The GeForce RTX 4090 is a GPU that uses the Ada Lovelace architecture, and has become a hot topic for its size of a graphic board comparable to the home game console 'Xbox Series S' and its high performance that allows you to easily run 4K resolution games. However, several days after the release of the GeForce RTX 4090, several users reported that the power cable had melted, and the situation has developed to the extent that NVIDIA has announced the start of an investigation.

NVIDIA is investigating RTX 4090 power cable burning issue - GIGAZINE

by Jim's Widescreen Wallpapers

Even after the above report, reports from users that ``the cable has melted'' continue to increase, and Reddit, a major bulletin board, has created a thread that summarizes user reports and NVIDIA's reactions. Looking at the table below, which summarizes the 'report date' and 'problem model' of user reports posted on Reddit, the cable melting problem has occurred on ASUS, MSI, and GIGABYTE graphic boards, and is manufacturer-specific. Turns out it's not a problem.

According to igor's LAB and Ars Technica, the power cable attached to the graphic board with GeForce RTX 4090 is manufactured by Astron , an American company, and supplied to each manufacturer by NVIDIA. As a result of checking the power cable in question by igor'sLAB, it turned out that the soldering of the connector part of the attached cable was very fragile, and it was broken even if it was moved lightly.

Furthermore, as a result of disassembling the connector part of the power cable, it became clear that the contacts of the connector are interconnected, and that if the outer wire is disconnected, excessive current flows through the inner wire, resulting in high heat.

From the above verification results, igor'sLAB concludes that the power cable melting problem is due to Astron cables distributed by NVIDIA to each manufacturer, and requests NVIDIA to supply high quality cables. .