Nvidia seems to have updated its RTX 4090 Founders Edition’s 12VHPWR power header with shortened sense pins.
The revision was spotted by Reddit user prackprackprack, whose newly bought card features a 12VHPWR power connector with sense pins that are shorter compared to older variants. The user evidently took notice of Igor’s discovery of short pins on RTX 4070 FE cards, prompting him/her to verify the newly acquired GPU.
A bunch of pictures have been shared of the card in question, clearly showing the modified pins when compared with Nvidia’s teardown of the RTX 4090 from seven months ago.
This connector is likely to be just a modified 12VHPWR instead of the recently leaked 12V-2×6, which adds extra features such as a higher total rated power capacity alongside lower (150W and 300W) draw compatibility.
The idea is that shorter pins stop the PSU from pushing full power through a partially connected cable which can and did cause the header to melt with widespread reporting of the issue at launch.
This change should be more impactful on hungry 450W GPUs such as RTX 4090, since the power connector carries more energy than, say, the 200W RTX 4070. So, hopefully, this will be the last time we hear about problems related to this standard.
Since the RTX 4090 has been shown to be updated, it would logical to expect the rest of the lineup to follow suit, which should bring some much-needed peace of mind to upcoming owners who’ve grown wary of the 12VHPWR connector.
