12VHPWR Connector Melts Again, This Time On The PSU Side

12VHPWR Connector Melts Again, This Time On The PSU Side

Looks like the issue with the new 12VHPWR connector isn’t quite over yet. NVIDIA’s RTX 40 series GPUs were initially plagued with melting connectors, and subsequent investigations has largely concluded that it is a small design flaw coupled with user error that may cause the connector to unseat, creating a path of resistance in the conductors and thus creating excessive heat, melting it as a result. However, reports of 12VHPWR connector melting on PSU’s end has surfaced.

Reddit user u/Shiftyeyes67k has posted these images on the r/4090Burning subreddit showing his be quiet! Dark Power 13 1000W PSU with the dedicated 12VHPWR (labeled here as PCIe 5.0) melted, with the connector itself suffers from serious disfigurement. While this looks like a one-off case for now, it’s hard to say if the problem could be more widespread – given that there are still RTX 40 GPUs suffering from this issue.

This video from PCWorld demonstrating MSI’s version of 12VHPWR connector in their new PSU presented in Computex recently may have explained the potential cause at play here. Editor Gordon Mah Ung has showed that the connector, with its bright yellow indicators can tell the user if the cable may be unseated. It turns out that despite the clip locked in place, he is able to wiggle out one or two millimeters away from the contact point, briefly showing the yellow part of the connector that isn’t supposed to be visible in an ideal contact.

Despite NVIDIA claiming this is user error, the slight wiggle shown in the video could still point to a design flaw. Users often do cable management on the PCs, and that sometimes may create tension on the cables leaving it slightly unseated that may end up nearly impossible to spot, as PSUs often hides deep into PC cases and gets obscured by excess cable lengths. In any case, it looks like the debacle on this notorious connector may not be done just yet.

Pokdepinion: To me that’s clearly a design flaw – a clip is supposed to lock it into place and not be wiggled out simply by pulling the cable without even holding the clip to unseat.