The 16-pin (12VHPWR) power connector has experienced meltdowns on some of the best graphics cards. Nevertheless, these unfortunate incidents have predominantly been reported on Nvidia's graphics cards — until now. Reddit user Savings_Opportunity3 has reportedly documented what appears to be the first case of a 16-pin meltdown involving an AMD graphics card.
Not many mainstream AMD graphics cards use the 16-pin power connector. The Radeon RX 9070 XT, leading the AMD Radeon RX 9000-series, is a 304W card that comfortably relies on two standard 8-pin power connectors. Nonetheless, some AMD partners, such as ASRock and Sapphire, have adopted the 16-pin connector for some RDNA 4 models, possibly as a design choice or to differentiate themselves from the competition.
In the case of Savings_Opportunity3, the affected graphics card was a Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi OC, originating from ASRock's line-up. The same Redditor had posted on Reddit a month ago, asking for advice after noticing discoloration on a few pins inside the 16-pin power connector during a motherboard swap. Fortunately, only one pin from the 16-pin power cable appears to have melted, and the graphics card may have remained functional, as only one pin on the power connector appears darker than the others.
While ASRock doesn't disclose the TDP for the Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi 16GB OC, the company does recommend users use a power supply with a minimum capacity of 850W. The official recommendation for a reference Radeon RX 9070 XT is a 750W unit; therefore, ASRock's version should pull somewhere between 340W and 360W under regular operation.
Savings_Opportunity3 didn't specify which power supply he was using, but admitted it was "cheap" and a Kolink 700W model, which is inferior to ASRock's and even AMD's recommended capacity. The user believed a 700W unit was sufficient for his build, which is centered around the Ryzen 7 5700X3D. The Redditor also reported experiencing an OCP event once while playing the open beta for Battlefield 6 before the meltdown.
The Kolink 700W power supply isn't an ATX 3.1 unit, so it does not have a native 16-pin power cable. The Redditor was utilizing the 16-pin to three 8-pin adapter included with the Radeon RX 9070 XT Taichi 16GB OC. Given the extent of the damage, which appears to be limited to a single pin, it's plausible that the connector wasn't plugged in correctly, considering the delicacy of the 16-pin power connector. However, it's hard to know for sure. In any event, Savings_Opportunity3 has ordered a Corsair RM850x power supply as a replacement, and we wish the user all the best.
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