RTX 4090s continue to melt — GPU repair facility claims it works on 200 flagship Nvidia cards per month

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NorthridgeFix shows a box of over a hundred dead 16-pin power connectors

RTX 4090 Dead Connectors
(Image credit: YouTube - NorthridgeFix)

GPU repair shop NorthridgeFix reveals that the RTX 4090 melting catastrophe has not gone away as all have hoped. The repair shop reports that it continues receiving burned RTX 4090s from customers worldwide and repairs said GPUs "every single day." NorthridgeFix showed some daming evidence of this fact when it revealed a box full of melted 16-pin power connectors.

NorthridgeFix also revealed that many RTX 4090s it receives also come as a result of melted CableMod power adapters. These are the original adapters that CableMod officially discontinued and recalled. However, there's no guarantee that all its customers will stop using the adapter. NorthridgeFix admits that the initial design was "built on the wrong foundation."

NorthridgeFix shows off a box full of dead 16-pin connectors (Image credit: YouTube - NorthridgeFix)

It's unfortunate that RTX 4090s are still melting every single day. However, with the hundreds of thousands of RTX 4090s Nvidia has built over the past two years, at least some of these cards will inevitably melt as they get used. Specifically, we are talking about RTX 4090s that come with the original 12VHPWR power connector, not the new 12V-2x6 power connector.

As we have discovered, these melting issues can occur at any time. We've seen RTX 4090 reports of cards melting within a couple of months and one report where it took a whole year before damage occurred. This is simply the result of random chance and how much use each RTX 4090 gets. The less used RTX 4090s will take far longer to develop symptoms. Not everyone is using their RTX 4090 24/7 straight to play video games or render content.

Thankfully, Nvidia has switched to using the newer 12V-2x6 power connector on newer RTX 4090 production models, as well as the entire RTX 40 series family that uses the 16-pin power connector, as far as we are aware. Reports claim that the 12V-2x6 is far less susceptible to overheating, and we have not seen a single RTX 4090 that has died from a power connector failure sporting the 12V-2x6 connector.

Unfortunately, this does not change the fact that there are still a plethora of RTX 4090s in the wild sporting the original 12VHPWR power connector. As a result, we will probably never stop hearing about RTX 4090 deaths until the GPU gets discontinued.

Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

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20 Comments Comment from the forums
  • peachpuff
    These cards are under warranty, why are people sending him cards? Are Nvidia's partners denying warranty?
    Reply
  • Eximo
    It is actually the OEMs sending the cards to him for repair in a lot of the cases. And the random person who bought a card overseas or voided their warranty in some other way.

    Cablemod particularly if I recall correctly is honoring their guarantee and paying for card repairs for those with the recalled adapters.
    Reply
  • YouFilthyHippo
    The RTX 4090 just needs to be forgotten. I still see them for MSRP or higher. I won't buy. Everyone knows about the melting problem. My house is worth more than a top line GPU. Wait until RTX 5000 comes and hopefully the issue will be corrected with the new series
    Reply
  • Gururu
    It's Intel fault
    Reply
  • PEnns
    Gururu said:
    It's Intel fault
    Nah. Let's blame the users as usual.
    Reply
  • Alvar "Miles" Udell
    How much you want to bet the supposed "deal" RTX 4090 TH posted about earlier today is a 12VHP OEM edition?

    https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/this-rtx-4090-powered-dell-xps-desktop-is-on-sale-for-just-dollar545-more-than-the-cost-of-the-card
    Reply
  • hotaru251
    real question will be will Nvidia admit it failed or double down and act like its not issue with 50 series.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    PEnns said:
    Nah. Let's blame the users as usual.
    Probably referring to this:

    https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/nvidia-blames-intel-for-gpu-vram-errors-tells-geforce-gamers-experiencing-13th-or-14th-gen-cpu-instability-to-contact-intel-support
    But you're right, it's never NVIDIAs fault..
    Reply
  • kiniku
    I bought an MSI Suprim X 4090, 1 year ago using an ATX 3.0 cable and power supply. Zero problems.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    I am not sure if this is simply just Nvidia’s fault since the 16 pin was adopted, rather than created by Nvidia. Of course instead of trying to rectify the problem, they chose to claim users did not connect the power properly. In any case, it seems like most of the RTX 4090 won’t age well due to this potential issue that may crop up due to wear of the connector.
    Reply