Weak adapter construction reportedly to blame for melting RTX 4090s

After users reported melting and burning RTX 4090 12VHPWR adapters, Nvidia launched its own investigation into the matter. We've yet to have an update from them, but the main issue at hand here may have already been discovered thanks to a dissection of Nvidia's 12VHPWR adapter. Simply put, the 12VHPWR connector itself should be safe, but the adapter Nvidia is shipping with its new graphics cards can cause some big problems. 

As previously noted, in the two reported cases of burning RTX 4090s that we have seen so far, the 12VHPWR adapter was being used, rather than a native power supply cable. The team over at Igors Lab dissected Nvidia's adapter, finding a number of quality issues. For instance, the solder points are weak and bridges are too thin and both can break easily when the cable is kinked or bent.

Bending or kinking the wires at the adapter's connector puts too much pressure on solder joints and bridges, so they break off. The inner bridge between the pins is also too thin. Weak connections and bridges pose a fire risk, and given the amount of power the RTX 4090 demands, it seems like this adapter should never have been approved in the first place.

Ultimately, the report concludes that this situation seems to come down to a case of a poorly built adapter not ready for consumer use. Nvidia is still conducting its own investigation into the matter but assuming all of this is accurate, we would expect to see these adapters replaced.

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KitGuru Says: Hopefully Nvidia will have an update on its investigation soon, but for now, the comprehensive dissection of the adapter by Igors Lab is certainly worth a read. 

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