Wednesday, January 22nd 2025
NVIDIA Claims 16-Pin Power Connector Issues are Over, No More Melting
During a recent press event in South Korea, NVIDIA addressed concerns about power connector safety for their upcoming RTX 5090 graphics card. The new GPU will consume 575 watts of power, marking a massive 225-watt increase from its predecessor, the RTX 4090. The previous generation RTX 4090 faced significant issues with melting 12VHPWR power connectors, especially with third-party adapters, where incomplete connections led to overheating and connector damage. When questioned about potential risks with the RTX 5090's higher power draw, NVIDIA representatives stated they've implemented an updated 12V-2×6 power connector across the RTX 50 series. Unlike the 12VHPWR 16-pin connector, the new 12V-2x6 has sense pins having recessed further back to ensure proper contact before the GPU can request higher power outputs.
"It is expected that such issues will not occur with the RTX 50 series," a company representative explained during the Q&A session. "After about two years, we believe these problems have been resolved." While the company maintains that user error was the leading cause of failures, the extended timeframe required for developing and shipping revised connectors raised questions about the initial design's reliability. Despite NVIDIA's assurances, the RTX 5090's exceptional power requirements could potentially amplify any unexpected technical issues. The company's previous experience showed that problems became more pronounced in cards with higher power demands, as demonstrated by the RTX 4090 having more incidents than the lower-powered RTX 4080 series. So, more power means more trouble, but the company has worked on it to ensure no future problems arise.
Sources:
QuasarZone, via VideoCardz
"It is expected that such issues will not occur with the RTX 50 series," a company representative explained during the Q&A session. "After about two years, we believe these problems have been resolved." While the company maintains that user error was the leading cause of failures, the extended timeframe required for developing and shipping revised connectors raised questions about the initial design's reliability. Despite NVIDIA's assurances, the RTX 5090's exceptional power requirements could potentially amplify any unexpected technical issues. The company's previous experience showed that problems became more pronounced in cards with higher power demands, as demonstrated by the RTX 4090 having more incidents than the lower-powered RTX 4080 series. So, more power means more trouble, but the company has worked on it to ensure no future problems arise.
65 Comments on NVIDIA Claims 16-Pin Power Connector Issues are Over, No More Melting
It wasn't that the connector was faulty and caused fires - the failure rate is still few % at most - there are plenty of cards and cables running properly without any problems. The problem is that the connector can become unsafe with a moderate ease by the user.
What nV claims now is not that they fixed the defect, but that they made it more fool proof. Whether it's true or not... we shall see.
As for GN - his jokes may not be funny and videos are sometimes on the verge of being boring, but he is pretty throughrough with his testing and 'investigations'.
I myself run thousands worth of hardware with a solid panel. The case is not even on my desk where i could look at it.
Oh and there zero RGB in it or in any of my peripherals. Just the way i like it.
If it ain't broke , don't fix it.
If they fixed it, it was broken.
Every revision costs them millions of dollars, they won't fix it for no reason.
I bought a Seasonic Prime TX-1600 Noctua Edition (ATX 3.1 / PCIe 5.1) and am waiting for the 5090 for that and DisplayPort 2.1 (UHBR20) so I can use DSR/DLDSR on my 4K@240Hz QD-OLED monitor.
As broken as the class actions system is, the statements from this press event should be exhibit A on one against nvidia for both selling this and pushing partners to do the same.
I'm not saying I don't like GN at all though, GN is one of my favorite tech youtubers, he doesn't hold back on companies and is willing to take a loss in the interest of helping the tech community.
This will never make sense to me
The 4000 series connector and cable design was just idiotic, they literally could not have made it worse, lets put it all together.
New connector and cable that requires cable to not be bent for first 3cm.
Combined with, taller GPU that sits much nearer to edge of case meaning the majority of cases dont have 3cm clearance.
Combined with, right angled connector sticking straight out, even more of a shocker, is it was angled the previous gen, someone went out their way to make it right angled for 4000 series.
Combined with a stiff cable.
Its as if they only tested it on a bench or something.
Of course we then had the original design as well that used sense pins which were allowed to make contact with partially inserted cables.
The 5000 series after the bad PR from the issues, clearly had a thought process behind the design, but there is no excuse for how bad they got it wrong on the 4000 series.
I think we can all agree that the 12VHPWR connector is a failed design. The 12V-2x6 has been used for a while now, and I haven't heard of any reports of those melting, so that indicates that they fixed the shortcomings of the connector. All that's really left is confirming that this connector can handle a 5090 in a variety of builds.
But this is still a thing..