First Reported Case of Melted Power Connector on AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU

The web is buzzing with the first reported incident of a melted power cable on the flagship RX 9070 XT. This issue, which previously seemed to plague only NVIDIA GPU owners, has now officially reached Team Red. However, there's a good chance this first case could also be the last.

A Reddit user under the handle Savings_Opportunity3 shared their experience, which occurred during a PC upgrade. While replacing their motherboard, they discovered that the pins on the 16-pin adapter for their ASRock Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC had noticeably darkened. Shortly after, the connector on the adapter melted completely.

As it turns out, a combination of factors led to the failure. The owner was using a 700W Kolink power supply. This unit not only falls short of the card's recommended 850W rating but also lacks modern ATX 3.1 certification, which likely contributed to the melting. Furthermore, the connection was made via a "three 8-pin to one 16-pin" adapter rather than a dedicated cable from the PSU. The user also noted they had reseated the cable approximately four times.

Crucially, the connector on the actual video card was undamaged; the issue was isolated entirely to the adapter cable. Following the incident, the gamer invested in a new, more suitable PSU that meets current standards.

This case demonstrates that even the updated 12V-2x6 power standard isn't foolproof against user error. The high power draw of modern GPUs demands a careful approach from users: selecting a capable PSU and high-quality cables, and ensuring connectors are fully and properly seated.

Melted power connectors have been a recurring topic with NVIDIA graphics cards, primarily affecting last-generation models. Although the company claimed to have fixed the problem, their new generation of GPUs hasn't been immune to it either.