A Reddit user reports that their BeQuiet Dark Power 13 1000W power supply has succumbed to the same 12VHPWR melting catastrophe as some RTX 4090s. The user revealed a picture of the 16-pin supported power supply, showing a fully melted connector on the power supply side. This suggests the possibility that there are still serious reliability issues that need to be ironed out with the new connector.
Melting 16-pin connectors aren't anything new, especially on more power-hungry graphics cards like the RTX 4090. However, seeing a melted connector on the power supply is almost unheard of. This is especially true considering there were no adapters being used, since the Dark Power 13 features native support for 16-pin cables.
RTX 4090 12vhpwr cable burned on PSU side? from r/4090Burning
Images show that the bottom row of pins on the connector itself (right next to the four 'sense' pins) was completely destroyed in the melting process making them barely recognizable compared to the upper row of unscathed pins. Likewise, the 16-pin power connector housed inside the PSU showed similar damage, revealing melted plastic along the bottom row of ports.
However, this is one case of a 16-pin power connector burning up on the power supply end and should be taken with a grain of salt. Without multiple reports, it's impossible to discern how widespread the issue could be or if this is a one-off.
"“This is a unique case and we already have reached out to the customer to learn more," Be Quiet told Tom's Hardware in a statement. "As our brand is known for highest quality standards, we treat this seriously and have initiated an investigation." The company added that customers should contact the company directly if it sees any issues.
Echoes the series of RTX 4090 melting reports that have come up over the past year. Even though these reports do not surround damage on the power supply end, it's technically possible for the same damage to occur on both ends, since the GPU connector and power supply connector are the same. If this report is legitimate it could be the start of a new wave of 16-pin disasters as more people continue to adopt Gen 3 power supplies.
Tom's Hardware has reached out to Nvidia, as well. An Nvidia spokesperson said we may not hear back for a few days due to a company closure.
This issue couldn't have come at a worse time with more RTX 4090 16-pin connector melting reports still coming in. Nvidia claims that all of the 16-pin issues are related to user error, with the connector not being seated properly. But it's hard to believe that all of the errors were due to user error since some of these latest reports come from people who claim to be veteran system builders.
Hopefully, this power supply issue with the 16-pin power connector does not extend to more users. But if it does, this could become an even more serious problem for the graphics card and power supply industries.
Updated June 16, 9:13 a.m. ET with comment from Be Quiet!
