There have been reports of the new 16 pin connector melting on the RTX 4090 All I can say is, this is worth thinking about.
EDIT: There are better cable options.
Yes. A RTX 4090 is in my future.
PACO572
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The issue of melting 12+4 (16 pin) 12VHPWR cables is largely linked to the adapter (splitter) cables included with all RTX 4090’s.
The 4090 itself seems to be fine and is at this stage NOT the likely cause of melting.
I suspect, if there’s going to be a recall / replacement program, it will be for the splitter cables & not the 4090 itself.
Personally, I never liked the splitter cable offered by the card manufactures. As soon as CableMod released their version of the 12VHPWR cable, I ordered a set for my Corsair PSU.
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It’s not so strange!
Graphic manufactorers go higher and higher with there cards power consumption.
Where is this ending. More electrical power is more heat and more risk of fire in the house.
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12VHPWR connector is right on the edge of power limits and there’s just no need for it (parroting JayZ) and AMD moving away from it’s use is a telling move.
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From the photo I think I can safely say they won’t be scrapping cards although they might want to replace the connectors and accompaning cables … and possibly tweak voltages downwards but IMO that would be a last resort.
Igor’s Lab has a good write up on the likely cause of the cable failure:
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They just need to replace the included cable adapter by a different model. The original one is garbage. There´s nothing wrong with the card nor with the upcomming 4090Ti. Cards don’t need to adjust to cables specs. Instead of that cable manufacturers need to produce quality products according to cards specs. A 20$ item will not stop this and if Nvidia allows that to happen they are basically idiots as the impact on the company credibility would be massive.
Cheers
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This is why I almost never buy anything on first release. I will never buy the first run of Xbox’s or PlayStation’s or brand new video cards etc. Give them time to iron out any issues. But I have an RTX 3080 I am very happy with so no interest currently in the 4090 and with SU10 my frame rates have improved dramatically to the point that I basically never see jerky video or stutters anymore, very smooth and fluid all the time. But they’ll likely get this fixed ASAP.
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The inner bridge between the pins is too thin (resulting cross section) to compensate the current flow on two or three instead of four connected 12V lines.
A electronic device that pulls max. 38 Amps out of a powersupply needs thicker power lines and good quality connectors.
When overheating or short circuit occurs, the connectors becomes a welding machine with that kind of power.
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Yes, also the soldering appears to be poor quality. To be honest I can´t imagine any reason for this other than poor manufacturing quality. We are talking about cables rated for 600W, while card is just operating at 450W. Even more… The 3080Ti which I own is reaching 400W indeed and the regular PCI-E cables do not melt, even if they are set in 90º angle. That´s only a 10% power increase compared to the previous cards generation.
The sooner they get rid of this adapter and put a good one instead the better for their business. 4090s for gaming is just a portion of their market. The real money is on the H100 cards sold for commercial workstations which cost 15 times more than the 4090. Do you think they will accept any risk on the gaming branch that could have even a minor impact on the professional branch? I don´t think so. They will give 5 new adaptors for free to each 4090 customer if needed 
Cheers
I just feel it maybe a storm in a tea cup
However I know More WATTS = More Power, But i really feel rather than getting faster I mean the 3090’s are monsters, let alone the god like 4090 they need to get to the same performance as the 3090/4090 at much lower watts if possible.
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Not an electric engineer, but I’ve got a decent level of experience with electronics and industrial controls. Whoever designed that connector was high as a kite. Whoever signed off on that connector, didn’t know their ■■■ from a video card.
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Is this the Nvidia premium experience? So we’re expected to pay hundreds (more than a graphics card has ever cost) and then have the risk of our house burning down! All so we can get some extra fps. I’ll stick to my RTX3070 where I’m happily getting 50-60fps, perfectly fine to me.
They seriously need to act on this quick.
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Probably a beta… Fixed 2024 
The joys of paying over the odds to test new hardware eh 
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This is a quite self explanatory disambling of the adapter so that everyone can see the reality behind it.
In plain words 6 wires were expected to reach the pins but only 4 do it actually. I have no comments for the sensors wires going nowhere. Mmmm… Why? Just stay away from this atrocious thing till they solve it or get your own native adapter from any well known vendor 
Cheers
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I would like to warn those who might be thinking of getting a ATX 3.0 PSU PCIE 5, the same connector on card is also on the PSU with what appears to be a very dangerous connection. This is crazy. I’m right in the middle of a new system build for MSFS and this news is defiantly not good. I also herd they are recalling some cards so availability will be next to ZERO here in Canada for the next several months, would be my guess.
Edit. The PCIE 5 to PCIE 5 on a ATX 3.0 has 16 wires at both male ends. Time will tell if these are an issue, but it looks like the loads are evenly distributed directly and not mind melted on the Nvidia adapter.
PACO572
The problem is not the connector itself bus specifically the Nvidia one which is given with all the 4090 cards! The build quality is a ■■■■ and since yesterday you can find some videos showing it.
Changing the cable is the only solution: Cablemod, Corsair and in the near future Seasonic for example.
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Be quiet has released a 12VHPWR cable a few weeks ago, looks quite neat and good quality!
All - If and it’s what I have seen and read, not personally experienced. If the Card demands 600W to start and run, it’s using a bunch of amps, even in Direct Current world, amps are amps, and wire size need to be large enough to handle it. For those watts, the wire gauge should be at least 16 g, which would increase size of connector by twice what it is. Plus, my gut is telling me that the ATX 3.0 Spec should be adhered to, and you need at least 1200-watt power supply to make sure you have a little bit off overhead for power spikes possible. If it was me, building right now, would opt for 1600 watt power supply unit, and significantly large case for the correct air flow around a fluid cooler system. Since I am going to buy my next one pre-built, I am waiting for all the dust to settle before jumping on the train. They will sort this all out over time. It burned the wires, not the card as one person posted, they will fix it.
Madness? This is Sparta!
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