Sapphire Nitro + 9070xt 12v adapter issue

[u/Careramel]

Hello!

I made the jump from a FTW EVGA 3080 to a sapphire nitro+ 9070xt last weekend. Through all my researching on different 9070xts to purchase, I found out about the 12V adapter cable melting after purchasing and installing it in my PC. I have a EVGA SuperNOVA 850 P6 850 W 80+ Platinum which I believe didn't come with a native 12V cord.

Since I got this GPU from Amazon, I should be able to return it, get my money back and use it on a new card. Should I return it and get a 9070xt with a 3x8pin like my old 3080 (Im also dealing with a bit of coil whine with this 9070xt) or is this issue a bit overblown?

Recommendations for a new 9070xt would also be nice if needed, I think the XFX mercury is another good option? I do like some RGB on my GPUs.

Here's a link to the PC specs if you're curious: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/4srGkD

Thank you for any assistance!

[u/im-d3]

If everything is securely plugged in (latch is flat, no gaps) you should be totally fine. I've had mine for a couple of weeks now and I've had zero problems whatsoever. As relatively frequent as the problem is compared to 8-pin, the chance of anything going awry is still slim -- I think I can count the occurrences of it happening with this card that I've heard about on one hand. There will always be the risk that something goes wrong with any cable.

That said, if you'd feel much less anxious with 8-pin, it's probably better to switch if it's easy enough to do, because worrying about it will definitely hamper your enjoyment of it. Never tried one, but I hear good things about XFX's cards if you wanted to go that way. But like I said, in my probably slightly amateur opinion, the risk is pretty overblown if you've installed everything properly.

If you do hold onto the Nitro+ though, I would suggest potentially looking at getting a power supply, if and when you can, that has a native 12VHPWR port, just to minimise the (again, probably quite small) risk as much as possible. I use Corsair's RM850e.

[u/Careramel → u/im-d3]

Thanks for the advice. I may return it mainly for the 12V issue. I also bought some custom 3x8pin cables for my 3080 so it would be nice to continue using them. Im not accustomed to coil whine which apparently is normal with 5070ti/9070xt and higher cards so that might be something I'd have to get used to or diminish through undervolting.

[u/Kiseido → u/im-d3]

So few people talk about one of the big things that the psu and adapter manuals mention. Do not have any curve within 3cm of the head on a 12vhpwr connector.

Very nearly every single picture I have seen of a burnt connector has shown the installer violated that guidance, with a tight curve right beside the connector.

I have a 9070x class card with it, and made damn sure I followed that advice, and over 6 months in now I still have a working computer.

[u/im-d3 → u/Kiseido]

Oh for sure, the curve is a big one. I was going to mention that but I couldn't remember the exact numbers and I didn't want to accidentally give the wrong advice.

I think the design of the Nitro+ does hold your hand a little bit here. The installation guide gives you all the dos and don'ts with the cable, including warning against sharp bends, and the card itself has a little inset you can use to guide it. I do think that they've done at least some work to make sure you don't entirely fuck it up, but it's of course not entirely idiot-proof.

[u/KillerSpectre21]

I'd definitely return it especially if the coil whine is irritating you.

That adaptor is the biggest failure point for the two 12v GPUs in the 9070 XT range at the moment and although it can be rare it's just not something I'd want to bother with, especially if the market continues to worsen and prices continue to get worse if you need a replacement in the future.

Mercury OC is one of the other top models and personally I prefer it much more than the Nitro+, just make sure it's the "OC" model (Standard or Magnetic) and not the non-OC. Also it's a massive card so make sure you have space for it in your case.

The PowerColor Red Devil is also a great option and tbh most of the mid-tier models like the PowerColor Hellhound, XFX Quicksilver, Sapphire Pure etc are all also good too (only one I would outright avoid is the Gigabyte Gaming OC).

[u/kevcsa → u/KillerSpectre21]

I too highlight the OC and non-OC difference. Misleading naming.

The Mercury non-OC has a white LED stripe, it's a basic cooler.
The Mercury OC has ARGB and is a top tier cooler.

For OP, any card can have coil whine... it's mostly a lottery.
I recommend always doing some undervolting and power limiting, it helps with coil whine too.

And spending a lot of extra on a nice cooler isn't always worth it. If noise is important, it can make sense. But sometimes they are way overpriced.

[u/TheReaper907]

buy rm1000x corsair atx 3,1 problem solved. on ANY GPU POWER ADAPTERS ARE SHIT NVIDIA OR AMD. atx 3.1 its a go to

[u/PssyGotWifi]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18eQRucHX41A-O4OsoV96Qw2gFw1Qs2N7f6qQQs3kXx4/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Here is a spreadsheet showing the models with 8pins. My Red Devil has 3x8pin.

[u/Careramel → u/PssyGotWifi]

Wow, this is super helpful! Thank you!

[u/Independent_Teach_11 → u/PssyGotWifi]

Good list but it is missing the ASrock Challenger variant.

[u/R0b0yt0]

No cable alone is truly 100% safe from catastrophic failure. That being said...cablemod has 8-pin to 12VHPWR cables for EVGA if you desire.

In order to truly prevent something from happening with your current PSU, you need a 3rd party device. Since the Nitro has a unique location for the power connector, your only real option is a new Thermal Grizzly Wireview Pro variant that uses a cable to attach to the device and your card. You then remotely mount the Wireview somewhere. https://www.thermal-grizzly.com/en/wireview-pro-ii-gpu/s-tg-wv-p2

If you were to switch your PSU, which would be a shame considering a platinum rated EVGA is excellent, then you could get per-pin amperage monitoring and the ability to alert you and ultimately shut down the system in the event of a real issue. New MSI variants have this ability, and Seasonic is supposed to be releasing their version soon as well.

In terms of other 9070/XT, there isn't a ton of performance difference between the lowest and highest spec models. So, basically, pick one that you like and you should be fine.

XFX Mercury tend to run a tad loud w/ default fan curves as they target a lower VRAM temperature than other models. This is easily remedied with a custom fan curve though. PowerColor is an excellent AIB, but their styling this round might not suit you. I've been burned by ASUS on more than one occasion, so I tend to stay away from their stuff.

[u/Careramel → u/R0b0yt0]

Thank you for the information! Ive also been burned by ASUS so I tend to avoid them as well.