Nvidia Confirms It Uses Two Different 16-Pin Adaptor Manufacturers: Report

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One manufacturer reportedly uses double-slot spring contacts, while another sticks to a long single-slot spring contact that has lower resistance and it is easier to detach.

12VHPWR Connector
(Image credit: Ricky TO/Facebook)

When the information about the melting and overheating issues with the 12VHPWR power adapters supplied with Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards emerged, the company remained surprisingly silent and only said that it had begun conducting an investigation. In the last few days, the company became more open about the issue and revealed that it sources the adapters from two makers. 

Gabriele Gorla, Director of Engineering at Nvidia, told Igor's Lab that Nvidia buys its 4-to-1 12VHPWR (four eight pins to one 12-pin) power adapters from two companies: Astron and NTK. While both adapters are designed up to the specifications defined by the PCI-SIG standards body, they are still quite a bit different 'inside' as they use slightly different contacts. Astron apparently uses double-slot spring contacts, whereas NTK sticks to a long single-slot spring contact that has lower resistance and it is easier to detach.  

According to Igor's Lab, Zotac and Gigabyte have said the adapter from NTK is less prone to failure even after multiple mating cycles. Astron argues, according to Nvidia, that its adapter performs in accordance with specifications (i.e., its resistance is below 1.5 mOhm). Meanwhile, as Igor's Lab points out, Astron's 12VHPWR adapter has its thick 14AWG wires rigidly soldered to 2mm^2 soldered pads, which is a point of failure, especially for contacts on the edges of the adapter. 

While Igor's Lab details how to distinguish between adapters from Astron and NTK, it is impossible to tell which of them will ship in a particular box with a GeForce RTX 4090 inside. Meanwhile, the report says that Nvidia will keep using 3-to-1 12VHPWR adapters from Astron and NTK supplied with GeForce RTX 4080, but will only use 2-to-1 12VHPWR adapters from NTK with GeForce RTX 4070 Ti boards. 

To sum up, there could be multiple possible reasons why the 12VHPWR adapters from Nvidia can melt and overheat. According to Igor's Lab's sources, Nvidia-branded adapters made by NTK are considerably less prone to failure. However, no company has gone on the record with this information, so take it with a shovelful of salt.

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Freelance News Writer

Anton Shilov is a Freelance News Writer at Tom’s Hardware US. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

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10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • nimbulan
    Yeah those double-slot contacts have been suggested as a point of failure, though it may not actually be why people are experiencing failures currently since that's something that would happen over time with repeated use. Igor's theory about the rigid soldering also hasn't panned out, since those cables have been tested with extensive intentional damage to those contacts, even completely severing some wires, and failed to produce any excessive heat.
    Reply
  • ThatMouse
    So far it looks like the cause is NOT the cables or adapters themselves.
    Reply
  • Co BIY
    Reports are 100,000 cards have shipped and how many have reported any problems ?

    My guess is that the RMA rate on these cards is quite low.
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    nimbulan said:
    Yeah those double-slot contacts have been suggested as a point of failure, though it may not actually be why people are experiencing failures currently since that's something that would happen over time with repeated use. Igor's theory about the rigid soldering also hasn't panned out, since those cables have been tested with extensive intentional damage to those contacts, even completely severing some wires, and failed to produce any excessive heat.
    If that's the case, why is nVIDIA not continuing the contract for 12VHPWR Adapters for "Astron" on the RTX 4080 adapters, since they're the ones making Double-Slit 'Tulip' connectors with contact on 2-sides while NTK is using Single-Slit 'Tulip' connectors with contact on 4-sides.

    Actions speaks louder than words, and "Astron" just lost a major contract to their rival "NTK".
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    Co BIY said:
    Reports are 100,000 cards have shipped and how many have reported any problems ?

    My guess is that the RMA rate on these cards is quite low.
    The amount of computer parts almost catching on fire is basically 0, the 4090 is more than 0, that's unacceptable.
    Reply
  • truerock
    My guess is that power supply units caused the problem.

    I don't think the adapter card plugs are causing the problems.

    I'm thinking that if you plug an 8-pin cable into a PSU and plug the other end back into the PSU the PSU should automatically shut down - but, there are PSUs that do not have sufficient automatic shutdown circuitry that detect such things.

    I don't think you can sufficiently analyze the issue without having the PSUs that were involved with the problem.

    I'd like to hear Aris Mpitziopoulos' take on this issue from the perspective of his extensive knowledge of PSUs.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    peachpuff said:
    The amount of computer parts almost catching on fire is basically 0, the 4090 is more than 0, that's unacceptable.
    You haven't been around computers much if you haven't seen at least a hand full of fried and melted parts. You only need to go back to last year to find the exploding Gigabyte power supplies and the NZXT H1 cases that were recalled due to being a fire hazard and had to be fixed twice because the first fix wasn't sufficient.
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    spongiemaster said:
    You haven't been around computers much if you haven't seen at least a hand full of fried and melted parts. You only need to go back to last year to find the exploding Gigabyte power supplies and the NZXT H1 cases that were recalled due to being a fire hazard and had to be fixed twice because the first fix wasn't sufficient.
    Yes i remember those, but they were all recalled, whats nvidia waiting for? Shareholders approval first? This will be a costly recall.
    Reply
  • spongiemaster
    peachpuff said:
    Yes i remember those, but they were all recalled, whats nvidia waiting for? Shareholders approval first? This will be a costly recall.
    No one seems to know what exactly is the source of the problem yet. Every couple days there is a new theory, but no one has been able to get a connector to melt on purpose yet. I don't think anyone has pointed the finger at the 4090 itself, so there's no reason to recall it. The focus is on the cable and adapters that connect to the card but again, no one has been able to nail down exactly what is causing the issue. Shipping out new adapters isn't going to break Nvidia, but they can't do it until they are sure they have a design that is resistant to the current issue. Any power supply cables are not Nvidia's responsibility to replace.
    Reply
  • Skias
    Co BIY said:
    Reports are 100,000 cards have shipped and how many have reported any problems ?

    My guess is that the RMA rate on these cards is quite low.
    Compare to Samsung note 7 to many!
    Reply