Turns out that 5-14% of GeForce RTX 4090 adapters use lower grade wires than others

An investigation into the problem of melting power connectors on GeForce RTX 4090 graphics cards has revealed that not everyone gets the same adapter.
Surveys conducted by several technology media outlets showed that some users received an adapter with a video card that uses lower grade wires.For starters, recall that last week the problem of melting new 12+4-pin power connectors (12VHPWR) on GeForce RTX 4090 video cards surfaced.
After that Igor's Lab seemed to suggest that it was caused by poor quality adapters from four regular 8-pin connectors to one 12+4 pin new ones.
But the Gamers Nexus research showed that the problem is unlikely to be just the adapters - they failed to make the connectors melt even after damaging them.
Gamers Nexus also noticed that the adapters they tested used wire rated at 300V (marked 14AWG, 105C), while the wire in Igor's Lab pictures was rated at 150V (marked 16AWG, 105C).
Gamers Nexus and the Hardware Luxx website asked their audience how common wires of this or that type are.Gamers Nexus stated that out of 130 GeForce RTX 4090 owners surveyed, only 7 people or only 5.4% had adapters with lower class wires, while the rest had 300V wires.
In Germany Hardware Luxx has a smaller sample so far - 29 people, of which 86.2% have adapters with 300V wires, while 13.8% have adapters with 150V wires.
Interestingly, in Germany, adapters with lower-grade wires are more common.That said, even if you have an adapter with 150V wires, don't panic.
At this point, there is no known connection between wire cross-section and connector meltdown.
Nevertheless, with at least 15 \"documented\" cases of adapter meltdowns so far, any GeForce RTX 4090 owner should exercise caution until NVIDIA and its partners release an official statement about what's going on.