The 12VHPWR connector, also known as Intel's ATX 3.0, was central to the launch of the RTX 4090. Due to the high amount of power it consumed, a spaghetti of connectors and adapters had to be made to feed the graphics card, or there were to use the new Intel ATX 3.0 connector. This was a huge selling point for power supplies launched to take advantage of the new connector on the RTX 4090, but shortly after reaching the market it was seen that they had serious design problems.
The problem could be seen to be the connection itself, which needed to have a practically perfect or guaranteed connection. But the users were dealing with a graphics card worth thousands of euros during a supply shortage crisis, which did not encourage them to force the connections at all to be sure, which caused the power connection problems of the devices. RTX 4090 that ended up in fused connectors.
Intel has redesigned the 12VHPWR for ATX 3.0
A recent recommendation from Intel has advised a design change of the 12VHPWR power connector. They go to a 4-spring design. This has come to light because Intel has further defined the ATX 3.0 specifications, and the cable design is part of its new generation of ATXC 3.0.
The method was also derived from discoveries made by Igor Wallosek of the Igor's Lab website. It turns out that Intel had two different vendors for the adapter, one with the three-spring design and the other with the four-spring design. NVIDIA chose to use the four-spring option as it is more accessible and can be carried with you.
An Intel spokesperson explained what its engineers revealed in their internal investigation. According to them, it is recommended to use the 4-spring design instead of the 3-spring one for the contacts inside the cable connector. This will increase the contact area for electrical current to flow within the 12VHWPR connector, thus reducing the temperature rise of each contact, which is what caused graphics cards to end up with burnt connectors. Now all that remains is to start applying it to new batches of RTX 4090 or any other graphics card or motherboard that needs it, and see if these changes give better results.
Source: Wccftech
