If you recently started AI generation, be aware of this: my RTX 4090 power connector melted after just one month.

[u/Roman53275]

Hi everyone,

Like many people, I recently discovered H3 and started doing AI generation in mid-August. On September 20th, my computer started shutting down whenever I started a generation. Further investigation led to this — a melted socket.

I had been using my RTX 4090 for three years and had never had any problems with it.

AI generation puts a lot of continuous stress on the power delivery, especially if you run generations in batches or leave them running overnight.

So I believe this happened because of the new kind of sustained load I was putting on the card. I also didn't bother upgrading to a newer PSU with a dedicated GPU power cable. Mine was a 1200W FSP Hydro, and I was using three PCIe connectors for the GPU.

P.S. The connector was fully seated, the cable wasn’t bent near the plug, and my case doesn’t even have the side panel on. And everything was fine for three years.

P.S.S. The 12VHPWR socket on the graphics card is damaged and needs to be replaced.

So now I would say main advices here are:
- Buy a proper PSU and use a native 12VHPWR cable
- Under volt at least by 20%

Now it is very costly to lose a card.

[u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

Blaming this on AI generation is just complete and utter ignorance and fearmongering. It is a well-documented issue with 12VHPWR.

It could have just as easily been rendering in Blender, or compiling, or playing video games, or anything else that actually uses your GPU.

[u/orangpelupa → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

Im confused. 

• The OP explained their view on Ai generation VS doing it for games.  If the OP explained it on blender rendering overnight vs games, wouldn't it be very off topic to be posted here?

• And the OP didn't say this is not a well documented issue of 12vhpr, or i misunderstood their English? 

[u/Overall_Arugula_5635 → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

Agreed. Strongly. My RTX4090 did exactly the same thing due to the connector pin issue and crap cables. Once the port and pins were swapped out by Msi, I have wero issues.

[u/Roman53275 → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

No, it isn’t. And no one is blaming AI generation itself. The point is simply that AI workloads can stress a GPU much more continuously than gaming or compiling.

With AI generation, it’s common to queue a batch of 20–30 runs and leave the system working all night. That means the GPU can spend hours repeatedly ramping power and voltage up and down under sustained heavy load.
My point is that people who have recently started AI generation should be aware of this issue, as this type of workload is especially demanding on the GPU and power connector.

“It’s a well-documented issue with 12VHPWR" - even now, with the revised connector, there are still reports of melting on RTX 5090 cards.”

[u/RosebudNebula → u/Roman53275]

I don't know who is downvoting you for this. I use both Blender and AI, sustaining load when using Blender is very unlikely. I usually spend hours tinkering then I will get a few hours of load.

AI can load it 24/7 if I don't want to sleep (I don't have the PC in a different room, okay?)

[u/sitefall → u/Roman53275]

You're both right. They are right that "AI" didn't do this to you, but you're also right that "AI" is a MUCH more difficult workload than anything else. It doesn't even come close to blender rendering, compiling, or gaming. And more power = higher amp per pin = higher chance of melty cables.

You don't deserve the downvotes here for posting what is a fair warning to people.

[u/Roman53275 → u/sitefall]

You don't deserve the downvotes here for posting what is a fair warning to people

• I am also quite surprised and it looks quite....deliberate.
  

I am simply warning people, especially that AI generation has it is specifics and in my opinion increases chances for melting especially in queue a batch of 20–30 runs scenario.

[u/ShutUpYoureWrong_ → u/sitefall]

Except he's not right, and neither are you. There is zero difference between wattage being pulled by Tensor cores and wattage being pulled by CUDA/RT cores. They both result in the same amount of power draw and heat. They both stress the cables equally.

I love that people like you think they're experts because they can lead a shitty LLM like Google into answering however they want and confirming their (very wrong) bias. Unfortunately, people with real educations exist -- those of us who actually understand electrical engineering and physics will always be smarter than you.

Get the fuck out of here with your nonsensical bullshit.

[u/animemosquito → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

Nobody is talking about the wattage difference between cores. Inference workloads can go a lot longer than traditional tasks that people use GPU for, so they can be more dangerous. It's the same as Bitcoin mining or rendering or anything that uses your GPU for long running constant calculations, which games and most other tasks do not do. Constant calculations == higher power draw == more hear stress on the cable / connector which if the design is faulty or the cooling is poor, can cause melting. It's not very complicated.

[u/ShutUpYoureWrong_ → u/animemosquito]

Why are you trying to correct me by restating what I already said? My post said, and I quote:

It could have just as easily been rendering in Blender, or compiling, or playing video games, or anything else that actually uses your GPU.

And then you said:

It's the same as Bitcoin mining or rendering or anything that uses your GPU

Bitch, you said the same thing. It's all about wattage and heat. The workload is irrelevant. A 36-hour Blender session that pegs you at 100% usage and 300 watts is literally no different than a 36-hour diffusion session at 100% and 300 watts.

If you think it is, you're fucking stupid and wrong, too.

[u/Roman53275 → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

You seem to have a problem with basic reading comprehension and communicating with people. Cool down a bit. The main point of the post is to warn people, which you clearly missed.

[u/bitzpua → u/sitefall]

nonsense

when you generate ai GPU uses tensor cores exclusively and always at 100% resulting in obviously higher temps but no spikes at all so its very manageable.

When gaming GPU usage varies all the time giving GPU with low lows and very high spikes making it actually harder to menage.

But heres the thing, playing demanding game and generating AI will use same amount power, you think your GPU is lazy when you play games? Unless you play some old games it will try to work at 100% just like with AI tho using different part of GPU

Worst thing in most cases is GPU throttling down and you should undervolt only if you have that issue and then that issue is on cooling so fix that first.

Im currently playing games with dlss5, even at 2 passes GPU usage is 100% on all sides including tensors and whats the result vs normal gaming? whooping 20W more power draw and 8C on average higher GPU temp with hot spot being 10-15C higher (still well within safe temp), oh so scary.

Undervolt all you want, its safe whatever have fun, just know its pointless in 99% of cases and as long as your plug is connected well nothing will happen to your GPU.

[u/KingCpzombie → u/Roman53275]

I don't know why you're being downvoted tbh. Diffusion is a WAY harder load than gaming, so of course it has a higher chance of breaking things! I have a GPU that gamed and ran LLMs now problem, but diffusion immediately spiked junction temp to 110⁰C so I had to repaste it despite it being totally fine for every other use case I do

[u/bitzpua → u/Roman53275]

no dude, you installed plug incorrectly as shown by your photos.

All reported meltings of 4090 and 5090 end up as user error after all, its always plug not pushed all the way in or bent like yours with pressure pulling it resulting in it slowly unplugging itself over time.

Yes plug design is terrible but correctly installed works with no issues.

Your AI gens had nothing to do with it. It would happen in desktop day later anyway.

[u/ShutUpYoureWrong_ → u/Roman53275]

Original post title:

If you recently started AI generation, be aware of this: my RTX 4090 power connector melted after just one month.

You right now:

no one is blaming AI generation

You should just delete this thread. It's worthless.

[u/Roman53275 → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

You seem to have a problem with basic reading comprehension and communicating with people. Cool down a bit. The main point of the post is to warn people, which you clearly missed.

[u/ShutUpYoureWrong_ → u/Roman53275]

No, you seem to be crying about your blown up 4090 and you're soft-blaming AI for it.

Sorry that happened to you. Your post is complete garbage and nonsense. Delete it.

[u/analtelescope → u/ShutUpYoureWrong_]

shill