News Nvidia Provides Update On RTX 4090 16-Pin Adapter Fiasco

NVidia will only bend to taking responsibility if there is no other option, no corporation will willingly take a huge hit like that if they can avoid it so it is no surprise that there is nothing to share from them.
To be fair, no one has been able to replicate the issue as well and a lot of experts and enthusiasts came up with completely different reasons for the incidents, which means we(they) should be looking at this into extreme depth and that it is possible that there are multiple reasons for the failures.
Hopefully the delay is because they want to make sure they tackle this at first try, if they do something but the incident keep happening it is much worse for them.
As much as they are frustrating to hear from, they hold a lot of value when it comes to HW and research so I hope it all comes clean
 
Last edited:
NVidia will only bend to taking responsibility if there is no other option, no corporation will willingly take a huge hit like that if they can avoid it so it is no surprise that there is nothing to share from them.
To be fair, no one has been able to replicate the issue as well and a lot of experts and enthusiasts came up with completely different reasons for the incidents, which means we(they) should be looking at this into extreme depth and that it is possible that there are multiple reasons for the failures.
Hopefully the delay is because they want to make sure they tackle this at first try, if they do something but the incident keep happening it is much worse for them.
As much as they are frustrating to hear from, they hold a lot of value when it comes to HW and research so I hope it all comes clean
Initially yes, but the reason is very obvious now, lots of folks have made videos already.
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219
With an operating voltage of 12 volts I don't see how a wire rating of 150v vs. 300v makes any difference in this application. Basically the voltage rating is an indication of the wire insulation's ability to prevent passage of electricity through the plastic or rubber wire coating.
 
With an operating voltage of 12 volts I don't see how a wire rating of 150v vs. 300v makes any difference in this application. Basically the voltage rating is an indication of the wire insulation's ability to prevent passage of electricity through the plastic or rubber wire coating.
Precisely what I was thinking. There is one other difference though - the crimp terminals used for 300V wire are probably different, given the different insulation thickness. The 150V vs 300V is likely a red herring.

This whole thing smells like engineering vs management : with management saying "use the cheaper option" and engineering saying "well, OK, but we're pushing the limits". I'm sure there are other engineers out there who know exactly what I'm talking about 🙄
 
I just upgraded earlier this year, and even if i came into enough money to build a top end system right now..... I would avoid Nvidia like the plague, with this connector fiasco..

A old friend years ago went out and built a top end system, all from a retail store. He left it on while he ran to the store less than a week later and when he came home it was on fire. After that I do not like leaving mine on, unless there is someone here. At this point if someone gifted me a brand new 4090, it would go straight to ebay or somewhere else to sell as i do not want a potential fire hazard on my desk.
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219 and PEnns
NVidia is in the process of looking to rectify the issue without taking a hit and without a class action lawsuit. I don't see it happening. This stupid 12-pin connector thingy should never have happened. 4 8-pins would have been fine. Right now NVidia is probably just discussing options with their lawyers and will release a statement in a week saying: "We conducted an investigation and determined the fault lies with someone who is not us because we don't want to pay for our mistakes". They will just blame someone else. It's the spiderman finger point meme again. Just take the L, get the recall over with, put the 4 8-pins on so we can put this behind us. I bet 4090 sales are quite low right now. No one wants to trade their house for a GPU. It's just not worth it
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219
Seems like they’d have been better off to use 4 standard connectors. At least psu makers especially high end modular psus could have been built with capacity for extra pci e connectors as needed I would think. Maybe they’ll think more about energy efficiency next time around. I totally get they don’t want to take a hit which is understandable. But as a consumer, if I were buying one of these, $1600 is top dollar and it would seem that one could expect not to have a house fire over a graphics card.
 
Can’t say I hate nvidia but just the last 2-3 years I don’t care for their behavior as a company. Not that amd is wonderful in the way they’ve handled graphics cards pricing either. Nvidia seems to have been very quick to raise pricing when it suits them and seems to really be trying to up the normal price floors. In other words cards like the high end that maybe were recently in the 700-800 dollar range, 1600 or above. AMD probably wishes they could do that as well. I know they are there to make profits but sometimes it feels like these companies charge whatever amount because people will pay it. And who can blame them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219 and PEnns
GN didn't say the 150V wiring was at fault. You and several other sites have misunderstood that whole thing. They pointed out that the wire ratings were different to indicate that clearly different parts were used on the two cable adapters (theirs and Igor's). The wire voltage rating has nothing to do with this. They were looking for adapters that were made with the 150V because they were trying to find the ones made like Igor's so they could investigate the solder-area on that differently-made adapter, not the wiring itself.

Also, there aren't different crimps in this style of connector for 150V or 300V (responding to twospoons comment). There are a few different types, and qualities of crimp connections though, between single split and dual split. No idea why. The contacts are all pretty cheaply made for these and being smaller than the old connectors, these are more susceptible to tolerance issues. We may just be seeing the higher fall-out rate of the smaller cheap sockets and connector tolerances. We had burnt cables before, but now we're putting more current on fewer, smaller contacts and the tolerances will matter. That's probably why most cards are fine, but some fall out.
 
According to a new up by Nvidia, the company is still investigating the source of the 16-pin power connector melting problems and still doesn't have a solution.

Nvidia Provides Up On RTX 4090 16-Pin Adapter Fiasco : Read more

The main problem as I see it is that the issue isn't easily repeatable. How do you fix a problem if you can't get the problem to happen in a lab/testing setting? There have been at least 3 independent sources that have tried and failed to get the problem to happen for them. No one likes to hear it but this leads me to believe it could be mainly an end user problem such as not properly seating the connector. Anyone that has had to provide user support knows that the majority of problems can be attributed to User Error. Not all but most
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219
Can’t say I hate nvidia but just the last 2-3 years I don’t care for their behavior as a company. Not that amd is wonderful in the way they’ve handled graphics cards pricing either. Nvidia seems to have been very quick to raise pricing when it suits them and seems to really be trying to up the normal price floors. In other words cards like the high end that maybe were recently in the 700-800 dollar range, 1600 or above. AMD probably wishes they could do that as well. I know they are there to make profits but sometimes it feels like these companies charge whatever amount because people will pay it. And who can blame them.
Not entirely Nvidia or AMD's fault when TSMC jacks up their prices by 25% on the single most expensive part of a GPU. Then in the US there is still a 25% Tariff Tax implemented by Trump and kept by Biden that isn't helping things any either
 
  • Like
Reactions: artk2219
Not entirely Nvidia or AMD's fault when TSMC jacks up their prices by 25% on the single most expensive part of a GPU. Then in the US there is still a 25% Tariff Tax implemented by Trump and kept by Biden that isn't helping things any either
We all know how the US participated with Taiwan to have them build factories outside of China but apparently those deals are exclusive for military use. It is downright criminal to slap 25% on a product and have the buyer pay for it when there is no choice in the matter but hey, slaves to freedom are still slaves