When Nvidia launched the RTX 4090, the card was almost universally praised for the performance uplift it offered while also being not very expensive compared to its predecessor, the RTX 3090. In fact, the RTX 4090 is probably the most recommended card among all the other RTX 40-series GPUs, except maybe the 4070, as most of the Ada Lovelace (RTX 4000) GPUs offer terrible value.
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One major issue that has plagued the higher-end 4000 series cards, and especially the RTX 4090, is the melting or burning of the 12VHPWR 16-pin PCIe power connector. The issue was first highlighted by users of Reddit or other online forums when they noticed their 40-series power connector melting. Obviously, this is an extremely hazardous situation for users especially considering the RTX 4090 costs $1,600 or even more.
A lot of investigation went into what was going on and it was generally determined that the connector needed to be all the way in and properly seated in order for this issue to not crop up. Still, there are reports of users affected even if they had apparently made sure that the 12VHWPR connector was appropriately secured.
So far the melting 16-pin connector issue was affecting mostly the GPU side as you can see in the image above. However, we now have the first case of a Reddit user Shiftyeyes67k who had a 16-pin melt on the SMPS side. The affected model happens to be a 1000W Dark Power 13 from Be Quiet.
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The PSU maker has issued a statement to Tom"s Hardware regarding this confirming that it is looking into the matter. The case has been labelled as unique and rightfully so as there have not been any reports online similar to this. Be Quiet"s full statement is given below:
This is a unique case and we already have reached out to the customer to learn more
As our brand is known for highest quality standards, we treat this seriously and have initiated an investigation.
MSI recently came up with a simple yet somewhat effective solution for the issue, where it showed off bright yellow colored 16-pin power connectors. The idea is that the yellow-colored pins will not be visible to the user once the connector is properly seated (via PCWorld YouTube).
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Popular PSU OEM Seasonic has also devised another way around this with an L-shaped connector that will go in at a 90-degree angle (via HXL Twitter):
While these should help, reports of properly-seated connectors still managing to burn and melt cannot be taken lightly either, and perhaps Nvidia and PSU OEMs need to further investigate these things.