AMD's Reference RX 7600 Card Doesn't Fit Some 6+2-Pin Connectors

News
By Francisco Pires
published

A design oversight prevents some power connectors from being fully inserted.

AMD Radeon RX 7600 unboxing and card photos
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

AMD's RX 7600 reference design card seems to have a design fault that may affect some users, specifically preventing them from fully inserting the required 8-pin auxiliary power delivery connector. We didn't encounter issues running the card with our test systems and PSUs, but as noted by TechPowerUp, some 6+2-pin connectors may not fit due to the surrounding shroud.

If you're looking to buy a "Made By AMD" (MBA) Radeon RX 7600 reference card, you should first confirm that your PSU connectors will fit. Worst-case, you could purchase an 8-pin extension cable, but those could ruin the aesthetics of your build. Don't mess up the chi, man!

The root cause is a lack of clearance around the 8-pin connector on the card, with a small cut-out that may not accommodate some 6+2 pin connectors that come standard with most power supplies. The specific issue is the locking bump for those extra two pins, which could get blocked by the backplate, preventing full power connector insertion.

Image 1 of 2
RX 7600 cabling issues, courtesy of TechPowerUp
Users may have trouble fully inserting their 6+2-pin PCIe power connectors due to an overly long backplate design error by AMD.(Image credit: TechPowerUp!)

Lack of full insertion of the connector hasn't caused any "meltdowns" as far as we can tell, unlike NVIDIA and its RTX 4090 connectors. That's likely because AMD's RX 7600 design flaw means the power connector will either fit or it won't. Users should always ensure any power connector is fully inserted, and at least it's easy to visually confirm whether your 6+2 connector is correctly installed. In any case, a 165W GPU won't put as much strain on the power delivery subsystem, unlike the RTX 4090 with its 450W TDP.

TechPowerUp! says that only 20% of the PCIe power connectors they possess were incompatible with the RX 7600 design, but it's hard to gauge how significant that is. In covering the issue, Igor's Lab said that NVIDIA PCAT power delivery cables (a tool used to measure power) may not fit. (Ours fit... barely, or at least close enough for testing purposes.) Native cables from Seasonic power supplies may be impacted as well.

AMD plans to sell its reference MBA RX 7600 cards, though currently it's listed as coming soon. For now, these models have only been sent for reviews as far as we're aware. AMD could potentially fix the backplate's design for future manufacturing runs, but an interim fix would be to include an 8-pin extender with every purchase. If you plan to get an RX 7600 card and the issue affects you, hit up AMD's support channel — or just get a non-MBA model. At present, the company has not officially commented on the problem.

Francisco Pires
Francisco Pires
Freelance News Writer

Francisco Pires is a freelance news writer for Tom's Hardware with a soft side for quantum computing.

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20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Exploding PSU
    That power connector looks awfully like mine (a Seasonic). Unfortunate, I find the card design rather cute.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    My understanding was that there weren't going to be very many reference cards sold, OEM only? Don't seem to be any at the usual retailers, just the partner cards.
    Reply
  • Metal Messiah.
    My understanding was that there weren't going to be very many reference cards sold, OEM only? Don't seem to be any at the usual retailers, just the partner cards.

    AMD were actually planning to sell its MBA (Made by AMD) reference cards later on, AFTER the custom cards. But they sent the press/tech reviewers some select samples. This was actually contrary to what was originally planned. Not sure why there was a change in decision though.

    The MBA GPU is not yet available for sale though, but the official webstore lists it.

    Later on, I think AMD's MBA cards should be available in decent quantities as well, at it's own webstore, if not more than custom AIB cards.
    Reply
  • LabRat 891
    Not news.
    At least 2 of my last 5 cards required the 6+2pins off my Rosewill Hive be "forced in".
    Have also had an instance where I had to take a razor blade to the 6+2.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    I try to use straight 8-pin cables, never really liked 6+2 pins since the first time I used PCIe power cables they were dual six pin cards and I only had 6+2 connectors. Quite a mess. Though my A380 is currently using stock EVGA cables, still need to do a chassis swap on that thing at some point. Also want to try and see about a better cooler for the A380. The fan comes on once every few minutes while doing Youtube or browsing, just need to drop it like 2 degrees to get that to stop.
    Reply
  • Colif
    i guess an advisory is news of sorts. More an FYI. Could be fixed before the public actually gets cards.

    since only choice in my rm1000x is 6+2 cables, I used those. Last few cards used them in different combinations, no problems.
    Reply
  • JarredWaltonGPU
    Eximo said:
    My understanding was that there weren't going to be very many reference cards sold, OEM only? Don't seem to be any at the usual retailers, just the partner cards.
    We asked AMD and were specifically told that it plans to sell the reference cards, both via its own store as well as via branded AIB cards. I don't know how many will get made/sold, though. I think the design looks nice enough, but the actual cooling performance was pretty lackluster.
    Reply
  • Devoteicon
    AMD and NVIDIA are both batting a 1000 with this generation. smh.
    Reply
  • Eximo
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    We asked AMD and were specifically told that it plans to sell the reference cards, both via its own store as well as via branded AIB cards. I don't know how many will get made/sold, though. I think the design looks nice enough, but the actual cooling performance was pretty lackluster.

    I don't think the RX6600 reference cards were available very long either. Just seems like they like to make a batch for marketing purposes.
    Reply
  • Metal Messiah.
    This is more of a PSA-type thread/News Topic, which is necessary to raise awareness amongst gamers, even though the issue might not be widespread. It helps others.

    OT.

    A Spanish retailer, CoolMod, is actually offering a custom AIB Radeon RX 7600 graphics card for just €259.94 (VAT included), which is lower than the official MSRP of €299. The card was discounted by €40 only one day after its release. ;)

    This doesn't appear to be an error with the store listing, or a placeholder price. But I hope more stores worldwide follow suit. But I digress. :rolleyes:

    https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/COOLMOD-RX7600-1200x564-1.jpg
    Reply