A third-party NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Super graphics card furnished with a faulty 12V2x6 power adapter has been reviewed by Igor’s Lab. Though this issue might not be widespread, card owners are urged to be attentive to it – a cable or adapter should connect with an audible snap.
Igor’s Lab reporters have investigated this issue, finding that the PCI-SIG specification does not provide exact dimensions for the 12V2x6 connector. This ambiguous specification might have led to the supplied power adapter fitting without the indicative snap and easily dislodging due to inadequate fixation. To affirm this defect hypothesis, the reviewer borrowed an adapter from an NVIDIA manufactured GeForce RTX 4080 Founders Edition card, known to work correctly.
The defective component was tested with other GeForce RTX 40 series cards, achieving a snap after 15-20 attempts. Further examination revealed that the connector’s coating was at fault. Normally, a 2 µm layer of nickel is applied on pure electrolytic copper contacts, overlaid with a 1.5 µm layer of tin. However, in this instance, the nickel coating was excessively thick, preventing the connector from adequately locking in place.
This is a considerably serious problem that could have led to dire outcomes if it remained unchecked over an extended period. Any cable or adapter connected to a graphics card with a 12+4 pin connector should snap into place, indicating it’s securely fixed. If the snap is absent, it’s highly likely that the cable or adapter needs replacement.
