NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Owner Shows Off Burnt CableMod Custom 12VHPWR Cable

[Tsing]

Photos of burnt 16-pin 12VHPWR cables continue to appear online despite NVIDIA's suggestion that the problem is simply down to user error, with enthusiasts failing to plug in their hardware correctly. The latest alleged case comes courtesy of Humble-Brilliant-654, a redditor who took to the r/NVIDIA subreddit yesterday to share two photos that suggest even CableMod custom 12VHPWR cable owners may end up with a burnt product. CableMod has already demonstrated what appears to be excellent customer service, while many seem convinced that Humble-Brilliant-654 failed to connect the cable properly.

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[Burticus]

"User error"? Come on, how hard is it to plug in a cable? It's a bad design. There was nothing wrong with PCI-E connectors... but Nvidia be like "hold my beer, lets force 1000w down into this tiny cable connector, what could possibly go wrong"?

Hopefully AMD is not having unpure thoughts like these...

 

[Brian_B]

Hopefully AMD is not having unpure thoughts like these...

At least they aren't blaming vapor chambers on the buyer.

 

[Niner51]

I have one of those cables for my EVGA 1200 P2, and I didn't care for how stiff it was compared to the cable on my FSP power supply. I could easily see someone with a cramped case using the Cablemod cable forcing the side panel closed and then something like this happening (or just not plugging it in all the way). I'm more excited for their right angle cable adapter solution coming out next month.

 

[Uvilla]

At least they aren't blaming vapor chambers on the buyer.

You are vapor chambering wrong. Its just if you install it and its a little crooked, thats the issue. You need a laser level, yeah thats it.

 

[LazyGamer]

"User error"? Come on, how hard is it to plug in a cable? It's a bad design. There was nothing wrong with PCI-E connectors... but Nvidia be like "hold my beer, lets force 1000w down into this tiny cable connector, what could possibly go wrong"?

No one really expected users to have trouble plugging the cable in all the way. No one except users that have made this mistake have had this failure mode occur either.

Note that the cable itself can absolutely handle the power draw in question. It's extremely overbuilt, just like the standard 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe cables are.

I could easily see someone with a cramped case using the Cablemod cable forcing the side panel closed and then something like this happening (or just not plugging it in all the way)

The advice I keep seeing is to plug the cable in before installing the card. I've found that a bit weird since I've never done such a thing myself, but in this situation it does make some sense IMO.

 

[Uvilla]

No one really expected users to have trouble plugging the cable in all the way. No one except users that have made this mistake have had this failure mode occur either.

Note that the cable itself can absolutely handle the power draw in question. It's extremely overbuilt, just like the standard 6-pin and 8-pin PCIe cables are.


The advice I keep seeing is to plug the cable in before installing the card. I've found that a bit weird since I've never done such a thing myself, but in this situation it does make some sense IMO.

Are they really overbuilt?. I don't know, i think every connector I see in a car is bigger than 12Vhpwr. At 600w I think in a car each wire would be 12 gauge, even 10 gauge. Sure, longer runs and all that, but still. 600w is a lot of watts of dc current.

 

[LazyGamer]

Are they really overbuilt?

Gamer's Nexus did the authoritative testing, and part of that was destructive testing where they ran the cable with several pins sheered off.

They still couldn't get it to overheat / smoke until they backed it out of the plug significantly.

 

[Brian_B]

Gamer's Nexus did the authoritative testing, and part of that was destructive testing where they ran the cable with several pins sheered off.

They still couldn't get it to overheat / smoke until they backed it out of the plug significantly.

Would have been interesting if they did that testing with a thermal camera.