Perhaps the over-sized, power-hungry, and highly-priced 4000-series graphics cards from Nvidia are a spot excessively blistery of a merchandise close now. After 1 idiosyncratic posted photos of their charred 12-volt, precocious powerfulness (12VHPWR) connector connected Reddit, Nvidia responded with an probe into astatine slightest 2 cases.

Yesterday, Reddit idiosyncratic reggie_gakil shared photos of a freshly seared cablegram and powerfulness connector connected their RTX 4090 graphics card, titled “RTX 4090 Adapter burned” with a caption that reads “IDK [how] it happened but it smelled severely and I saw smoke.” Though the paper reportedly inactive works, reggie_gakil was not alone. Another Reddit idiosyncratic began their reply with, “You aren’t the lone one. This happened to maine contiguous arsenic well.” This follows reports that PCI-SIG, the consortium that sets standards for PCI, PCI-X, and PCI-Express connections (the ones utilized successful said graphics cards), was alert of imaginable “safety issues nether definite conditions.” According to The Verge, Nvidia is present investigating these cases.

In a connection to Kotaku, Nvidia said it is “in interaction with the archetypal proprietor and volition beryllium reaching retired to the different for further information.”

With the accrued powerfulness gully of these caller graphics cards and caller ATX powerfulness standards that person raised eyebrows, this mightiness not beryllium truthful overmuch of a surprise. Indeed, YouTube channels similar JayzTwoCents are doing a spot of an “I told you so” triumph lap.

As mentioned successful JayzTwoCents’ video, Brandon Bell, elder method selling manager for Geforce astatine Nvidia dismissed aboriginal fears implicit unsafe powerfulness cables arsenic “issues that don’t exist” and that “it each conscionable works, man.” While the results of Nvidia’s probe person yet to find if the archetypal Reddit station that sparked alarm is an outlier, there’s surely origin for concern.

Nvidia’s competitor, AMD, besides responded to reggie_gakill’s melted-cable story. AMD Radeon’s elder vice president replied to a Tweet staying that “the Radeon RX 6000 bid and upcoming RDNA 3 GPUs volition not usage [the 12VHPWR] connector.”