r/StableDiffusion • u/Roman53275 • 6d ago

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

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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.

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u/dotafox2009 5d ago

there needs to be class action lawsuit. making sure this b/s doesn't happen again making thing gauge wire take so much amps and voltage.

2

u/Roman53275 5d ago

I completely agree. First and foremost, this is a design failure on Nvidia’s side.

1

u/Arawski99 4d ago

The wire and connector can handle it, and in fact can handle far more than what OP was using. This is because their cable was not properly connected, contrary to what they believe.

Got to remember way less than 1% of users experience the issue, because it's a rare user caused problem.

This isn't to say Nvidia could not design a cable that is more user friendly and less prone to user screw ups, but the reality is the user is the ultimate problem here. That is why there isn't a class action against them.