On April 13th, it seems rare to hear about the RTX 4090 burning out due to its new 12VHPWR 16-pin power interface, but in reality, it has never stopped, and the cases keep coming in.
The GPU repair shop, NorthridgeFix, revealed that they receive repair requests for burnt-out RTX 4090s from around the world every day.
How many cases are there? There's no exact count, but on average, it's around 200 cases per month, if not more.
As proof, they released a photo showing a box filled with burnt-out connectors that have been replaced:
The good news is that the upgraded 12V-2x6 interface introduced by NVIDIA later generates significantly less heat, and there haven't been any reported incidents of burnouts so far.
However, the bad news is that the initial version of the interface used by the RTX 4090 consumes a lot of power, making them prone to potential burnouts at any time.
It's worth noting that many of the burnt-out RTX 4090 cards were equipped with CableMod's original adapter, intended to safeguard the interface and power lines. However, the results were far from ideal. The subsequent upgraded versions have seen considerable improvement, yet many users still stick to the original ones.
For mainland China and Hong Kong/Macau gamers, dealing with issues like RTX 4090 burning out or other chip-related failures can be even more troublesome, as it's already banned for sale, making replacements hard to come by.
For Taiwanese brands, typically, they're sent back to the original factory in Taiwan for handling, but with the RTX 4090, that's not an option. So, in most cases, refunds are processed instead.
For mainland China or Hong Kong brands, the repair situation depends on whether they still have RTX 4090 chips available and the timeframe is uncertain. Many end up only getting refunds or offered discounts on RTX 4090D.
