The 12VHPWR connector found in Nvidia’s best graphics cards had some problems. After dozens of cases of the plug melting during normal use, the most common cause may have been found, but a permanent solution to the problem has been elusive. Until now, that is.
Surprisingly, the potential fix is coming from Intel, not Nvidia. The company has issued a recommendation on the design of the connector.
intel
According to Intel’s recent recommendation, there might be a way to avoid the cable and GPU melting issue. Intel suggests that if the 12VHPWR connector uses a 4-spring design instead of a 3-dimple design, the connector should be more durable and less prone to melting.
“For crimp contacts inside the cable connector, it is recommended to use the 4-spring design instead of the 3-dimple design, which increases the contact area for electric current flow inside the 12VHWPR connector and reduces the temperature rise of each contact,” said intel .
Intel itself doesn’t have any graphics cards that use this connector yet – it really doesn’t need a 12+4 pin connector that can power the graphics card with up to 600 watts. With only Arc Alchemist cards available, it will be a long time before Intel has to think about this, but eventually it has to prepare. For now, this recommendation might prove useful for Nvidia.
It’s been a while since we last received new reports of Nvidia’s RTX 4090 power connectors melting, but the issue hasn’t been specifically addressed. The plugs were found to be melting due to user error. The cable is notoriously difficult to insert properly, and if it’s not fully seated, it seems to melt. The graphics card itself is also massive and most cases don’t have enough room to accommodate the cable. The flexing only adds to the problem.
Although the 12VHPWR connector is blamed for this, even CableMod’s custom connector suffered from the same problem. It seemed that the 12+4 pin design wasn’t doing the GPUs any favors.
As Igor’s Lab found out a while ago, Nvidia’s 12VHPWR connector comes in two different flavors, each made by a different vendor and with a different design. Igor preferred one of these designs, and it seems that Intel now agrees.
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