Question Accidentally forced CPU cable into RTX 4090 Connector

[ReallyNotSmart]

Hello

I accidentally plugged in the wrong cables into my RTX 4090 and it wouldn't start obviously, I had to purchase 3 extra cables because my PSU (ThermalTake Toughpower Grand 1050w RGB Platinum) didn't have more cables, I ordered some 8-pin cables by corsair and I didn't notice that I accidentally ordered 3 CPU power cables instead of PCI-e, anyway It was late at night and my wife was going to sleep so I tried to finish up quickly which made me not notice that I'm requiring more force than usual to plug the connectors, they did go in initially till about half way through with ease, it was the last bit that was difficult.. anyway..

I tried starting the PC but it would just make a "Click" and wouldn't power on, the GPU would also not even light up, just nothing happens, the motherboard RGB was always on but nothing moved, so after tried a different 12VRPWR (Another extension, I'm stupid I know..) it also did the same thing and nothing happened, so eventually I tried just turning on the PC without any power cables to the GPU in which everything lit-up except for the GPU and the motherboard DEBUG light stopped at VGA.

My next plan of action (Started to suspect my stupidity with the cables by now) to check everything was just plugging in 2 of the known PCI-E cables that I was using for my RTX 3090 prior just to see if I can get any sort of reaction from my new GPU .. and luckily yes actually It did light up but again stopped at VGA on the motherboard with a faint yellow glow over the "Boot" LED which I assume means that there's not enough power with only two cables, I'm currently at work so I will not be able to tell if something broke but please give me some hope in that my PSU somehow protected my PC by not letting it start up with the CPU cables plugged in..

I got 2 new PCI-E (Confirmed they're PCI-E by the writing on the side) and i'll try them later when I get home.. finger's crossed.

System Specs:

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X3D
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64gb 3600mhz
MOBO: Asus Strix X570-E Gaming Wi-FI II
GPU: Asus Strix RTX 4090 White Edition
SSD: Sabrent Rocket 4TB NMVE
PSU: ThermalTake Toughpower Grand RGB Platinum 1050w

Thank you for your time..

 

[DSzymborski]

Have you verified that the Corsair modular power cables have identical pinouts on the PSU side to the Thermaltake ones? Modular power cables are *not* universal even if you chose PCIE ones. Unfortunately, there's a very good chance that you've fried the GPU, and it's not a warranty issue, though I'll cross my fingers that you lucked out.

 

[ReallyNotSmart]

Have you verified that the Corsair modular power cables have identical pinouts on the PSU side to the Thermaltake ones? Modular power cables are *not* universal even if you chose PCIE ones. Unfortunately, there's a very good chance that you've fried the GPU, and it's not a warranty issue, though I'll cross my fingers that you lucked out.

Upon checking some documents online it seems the pin layout is same so for now I'll only be able to confirm later when I get home and try my thermaltake pci-e cables to see if the gpu is still okay

 

[ReallyNotSmart]

Update:

Upon trying out the correct cables everything thankfully worked out fine, so please check before you start panicking if you run in the same issue and don't try anything until you get proper cables that are matching your power supply, luckily these days good power supplies do have good short circuit protection so there's always a possibility that your GPU survives.. the conclusion is, check first and only panic if you did really break your card, but otherwise, get the proper cables and check properly before hand.

Thank you!

 

[DSzymborski]

You were extremely fortunate! Glad to hear it worked out OK.

 

[ReallyNotSmart]

You were extremely fortunate! Glad to hear it worked out OK.

Thanks! I definitely was and I will not be making that mistake again.