AMD graphics card with 12VHPWR connectors are now melting

We have heard about 12VHPWR connectors melting on NVIDIA's RTX 40 series graphics cards, but never on AMD cards.

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That discrepancy was due to AMD never adopting the newer power connector standard with the company's latest generation of graphics cards, as AMD explicitly stated it was sticking with the 2x 8-pin connectors for their reliability. After the fiasco of melting connectors with NVIDIA's high-end RTX 40-series GPUs, this even became a selling point for AMD graphics cards.

However, with the RX 9000 series, some partners, such as ASRock, decided to adopt the 12VHPWR connector, and now we have the first report of a melting 12VHPWR connector on an AMD Radeon graphics card. The user reporting the melting was rocking an ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC, and judging by the details from the user, there were a few reasons as to why it melted.

According to the user, the problem presented itself around a month ago when they were swapping a motherboard. The user noticed some of the pins on the power adapter for the GPU were darker than the other pins.

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For those who don't know, typically cards that use a 12VHPWR connector come with an adapter that is used to plug 8-pin connectors from the power supply into the adapter, and then connect to the 12VHPWR GPU input. These connectors are a common cause of melting when it comes to 12VHPWR connectors. The user reported that the initially darker pins on the adapter had now melted, and that this was his 4th plug/unplug cycle.

Moreover, the Redditor mentioned that he was using a 700W PSU from Kolink, which is below the recommended minimum 850W PSU that ASRock recommends for its AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPUs. Furthermore, the user didn't provide any evidence that the connector was seated correctly, meaning there could possibly be user error at play here as well.

Despite the possibility of user error being a factor in the melting, and the under-recommended spec PSU, the story highlights the numerous checks that need to be place for the 12VHPWR specification. Lastly, the user reported that the power adapter side of the connector was what melted, and that since the melting, they have purchased a recommended spec PSU for the GPU.

In other GPU-related news, ASUS recently unveiled a NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 capable of 800W, marking a 10% jump in performance compared to the reference NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090. If you are interested in reading more about the new graphics card, check out the story below.