The 12VHPWR connector didn't spare even a budget graphics card and in this case, it was the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, which hardly needs 200-250W.
ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ATS/Megalodon GPU Shipped With a 12-pin Adapter Cable Causes Horrific Melting on the Connector
You heard it right, this time it's not the GeForce RTX 4090 or an RTX 5090 but a budget 60-class card from the Ampere family, which suffered the connector melting. The 16-pin power connector melting isn't new and is quite common to see on higher-end GeForce RTX GPUs but it rarely happens on mid-range and budget cards. Apparently, a GeForce RTX 3060 Ti was the victim of such an incident and if you are wondering, how does a 3060 Ti gets a 16-pin power connector, then let us remind you that ASUS released such GPUs back in 2023 for the Chinese market.
In this case, it was the ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti ATX/Megalodon, which boasts the 12VHPWR connector. Even though the RTX 3060 Ti has a power requirement of just 200W, ASUS went with the 16-pin connector anyway. However, the problem isn't just the connector, but the weird adapter that came inside the GPU box. This was a 12-pin to dual 8-pin PCIe connector adapter for those who own a PSU that doesn't natively come with a 16-pin power connector.
Shockingly, while usually the 12VHPWR has a total of 12+4 pin configuration, the adapter cable shipped with the GPU had a connector with 4 pins absent. These are the sense pins, which essentially ensure a proper connection. If these don't make proper contact, the GPU doesn't receive power. Since these were totally absent, there was no way to ensure if a proper contact was established.
Hence, the result was devastating with horiffc melting as you can see from the images. It is likely a user error here since 12VHPWR connector doesn't have a problem in supplying 200-300W and is likely prone to melting when the power exceeds 400W. Remember that the RTX 3060 Ti used here has a power limit of 310W and assuming that the connector was slightly loose, this was inevitable.
As far as 16-pin power cable melting is concerned, we believe that it's the first case of melting connector on an RTX 3060 Ti. While arguably the user shouldn't have used such an adapter, it's ASUS's fault as well for making such an adapter.
News Source: Baidu
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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