The connector melting just doesn't stop, but thankfully, the GPU is still fine. However, he can't play games on it now.
Second Case of 16-pin Connector Melting on Sapphire RX 9070 XT Nitro+ Reported; GPU Turns on Fine, But Doesn't Play Games
There haven't been a lot of 16-pin connector melting cases, but the reports of melting connectors on RX 9070 XT have started increasing as well. Fortunately, there are only two models of Radeon RX 9070 XT that ship with this connector: the ASRock RX 9070 XT Taichi and the Sapphire RX 9070 XT Nitro+. Even though the GPU doesn't consume a lot of power, it is still prone to overheating.
Another Redditor just reported a similar case, and it's the second time we are seeing the Nitro card suffering from this horrible problem. User u/ProfessionalHost3913 posted pics of his melted 16-pin connector on the adapter he used with the Sapphire RX 9070 XT Nitro+. The damage to the connector appears to be somewhat similar to the previous case, and this time, too, all the pins on the top row of the connector melted.
Before the incident, what I noticed was when I tried to load up any games, my Desktop would crash immediately on launch or a few minutes into gameplay, and the screen would go black, but I would still be able to hear the audio and gameplay and PC would still run but I would have to force shut it down and turn it back on to display anything.
There wasn't any unusual heat or other symptoms besides the black screening. I had the same issue occur earlier this month, and I checked the cable and GPU back then, and it was perfectly fine, no issue, and I just had to uninstall and reinstall the drivers. But this time the same issue occurred, but it was the result of the cable burning. I can confirm that upon my examination, the cable was fully plugged in and not loose or not plugged in all the way. And the cable had good clearance and no tension on the cable.
- ProfessionalHost3913 to WCCF Tech
The bottom row appears to be somewhat affected as well, but this is just on the adapter's connector only. The user says that he used the adapter that came with the GPU since the manual recommended it over other cables. To be on the safe side, he used the adapter, which resulted in burning, but surprisingly, the connector is still able to power the GPU. Thankfully, the connector on the GPU doesn't appear to be affected at all, but the user reports that whenever he starts a game or tries to surf the web, his monitor screen goes black randomly.
He has to reboot his PC using the power/reset button to get the display back. So, it's clear that his GPU cannot draw the power required for even mildly intensive workloads. He has now applied for the RMA, but what we can conclude here is that no matter what the GPU is, the 16-pin connector has always been a curse. As far as this Redditor's setup is concerned, he used the Cooler Master 80 Gold 850W V2 PSU, which, even though it doesn't have a native 16-pin connector, is good enough to take care of the RX 9070 XT.
There could be several reasons why the connector melted, but inherently, the flaw in the 16-pin connector's design allows such incidents to happen.
News Source: @unikoshardware
About the author: Sarfraz Khan is a hardware reporter with a focus on PC components and the builder community. With years of experience writing about PC hardware and laptops, his work has been featured on several reputable technology publications. Sarfraz's hands-on experience is demonstrated through his first-person accounts of using and comparing different hardware configurations, providing practical and relatable insights for everyday users. His technical analysis is respected by peers in the enthusiast community and has been cited by specialized hardware sites such as Germany's Igor's Lab.
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