NVIDIA: 'continue to investigate reports' of RTX 4090 + 16-pin power issues

NVIDIA has been silent about the explosive issues on its new flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card and the use of its 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connector.

The company explained to KitGuru: "We continue to investigate the reports, however we don't have further details to share yet. NVIDIA and our partners are committed to supporting our customers and ensuring an expedited RMA process for them".

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NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card (source: me)

Numerous gamers and enthusiasts have reported issues with their 16-pin power connector melting, or brand new expensive GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card dying in a ball of flames. Not that theatrical, but it's pretty close... while the organization behind the 12VHPWR power connector -- PCI-SIG -- has considered engineering changes for the 16-pin power connector in leu of these issues.

• Read more: PCI-SIG now considering changes to problematic 12VHPWR connector
• Read more: NVIDIA working with AIBs 'around the clock' on GeForce RTX 4090s blowing up
• Read more: Multiple GeForce RTX 4090 cards DEAD, melted 16-pin power connectors!

In the meantime, NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang were partying it up in Taiwan, videobombing karaoke singers and having a blast at some industry parties. Now... days later, we're hearing a rather crappy response to issues on graphics cards that cost many thousands of dollars in most countries. This isn't some tiny issue, but still, the company has reportedly shipped over 100,000 of its new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards.

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NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card launched last month and quickly became the definitive graphics card for any enthusiast or power user, offering 4K 120FPS and beyond. It features the flagship AD102 "Ada Lovelace" GPU and a huge 24GB of super-fast GDDR6X memory.

• Read more: MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM LIQUID X Review
• Read more: MSI GeForce RTX 4090 SUPRIM X Review
• Read more: GAINWARD GeForce RTX 4090 Phantom "GS" Review
• Read more: COLORFUL iGame GeForce RTX 4090 Vulcan OC-V Review
• Read more: ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 OC Edition Review
• Read more: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition Review

PCI-SIG recently proposed changes to the 12VHPWR power connector, that would include more shroud, and a gripping feature for the additional 4 data pins (the 16-pin connector has 12 pins for power, and 4 pins for data). These proposed changes wouldn't be a solution to the issues surrounding NVIDIA's new flagship GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card seeing their 12VHPWR connector melting... because the additional 4 pins aren't carrying high amounts of electrical load.

Corsair's in-house PSU expert, Jon "Johnguru" Gerow has said that the melting power connectors on NVIDIA's current GeForce RTX 4090 could just be users installing the 12VHPWR connector correctly.