Gigabyte RTX 4090 Update Recesses 16-Pin Power Connector

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New approach should help reduce 16-pin power cable bending and shearing issues.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 WindForce V2
(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Gigabyte has refined its GeForce RTX 4090 WindForce design by rethinking the positioning of the controversial 16-pin 12VHPWR power connector. Twitter's @Harukaze5719 noticed that the firm quietly introduced a V2 iteration of the RTX 4090 WindForce design, and you can see the change we are highlighting in images above and below.

It is interesting that Gigabyte quietly introduced this change in a non-flagship family of graphics cards. There is no press release about this new WindForce V2 design. The product page, which shows the change from multiple angles, doesn't even mention the highly evident physical change.

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Looking closer at the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 WindForce V2 design, we can see the power cable recess extends for about a third of the length of the triple fan air cooler. In one section of the product page, it says that the design uses an "extended heatsink." This seems to be in reference to the PCB, rather than compared to other RTX 4090 designs, which are invariably triple fan (or liquid cooled) designs.

Within the signature recess of this design the 12VHPWR power connector is clearly visible, with the socket oriented towards the front of the PC (in a standard tower build). There are clearly some cable management benefits to this positioning - the connector from the PSU won't be so proud. Also with about 100mm or more, installers should be able to avoid any bends, twists or shears of the cable near to the PCB connector. Finally, the third fan blows through some slots which could help cool the connector.

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

Comparing these two RTX 4090 WindForce graphics cards using Gigabyte's online tool, we can see they are both very similar, and both run at the Nvidia reference GPU and memory clocks. However, it is interesting to see the V2 WindForce is quite a lot smaller and buyers benefit from the provision of an anti-sag bracket in the box. Also, the v2 graphics card features an HDMI 2.1a connector, which is a slight improvement on HDMI 2.1 due to its source-based tone mapping (SBTM) support.

(Image credit: Gigabyte)

The Twitter sourced product image is evidence that there new Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 WindForce V2 designs are already in circulation. Harukaze5719's picture (below) appears to have been found on a Chinese tech chat site.

(Image credit: Harukaze5719)

Gigabyte graphics cards were in our headlines for the wrong reason this weekend. There were reports of the PCB cracking near the PCIe locking tab in some designs. Could this emerging issue be behind Gigabyte's new model(s) coming with a bundled anti-sag bracket?

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Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • The new model appears to be thinner and narrower, and the 16-pin 12VHPWR power input is pointed toward the tail-end, rather than toward the top of the card.

    As compared to original Windforce Model, 13.6 cm vs. 15.0 cm narrower, and thinner as well (5.5 cm vs. 7.0 cm).

    So if we judge the new design, it no longer needs to bend nearly 180° as it emerges from the back of your motherboard tray, might help with some cable management (less mechanical strain), no bending up to a roughly 8 cm length, before making a 90° turn to the back of the motherboard tray.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    Metal Messiah. said:
    The new model appears to be thinner and narrower, and the 16-pin 12VHPWR power input is pointed toward the tail-end, rather than toward the top of the card.

    As compared to original Windforce Model, 13.6 cm vs. 15.0 cm narrower, and thinner as well (5.5 cm vs. 7.0 cm).

    So if we judge the new design, it no longer needs to bend nearly 180° as it emerges from the back of your motherboard tray, might help with some cable management (less mechanical strain), no bending up to a roughly 8 cm length, before making a 90° turn to the back of the motherboard tray.
    And that's not even going into the, arguably, "less cooling" area. Probably a nothing-burguer, but still funny they're sacrificing that over accommodating the cable XD

    Regards.
    Reply
  • hasten
    -Fran- said:
    And that's not even going into the, arguably, "less cooling" area. Probably a nothing-burguer, but still funny they're sacrificing that over accommodating the cable XD

    Regards.
    I would argue they went a "bit" overboard on the cooling solutions for the 4090. No reason to OC mine, and at stock it hardly spins up the fans. I would have gladly given up some cooling potential for a 3090 sized cooler I can plop in many ITX cases one day when I repurpose it (3090FE or FTW3 fits lovely in the tiny lian li dan collaboration). A part of me feels like these monstrosities are to help justify the pricetag.
    Reply
  • hannibal
    You still have to push the connector fully, so user errors still possible.
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    hasten said:
    I would argue they went a "bit" overboard on the cooling solutions for the 4090. No reason to OC mine, and at stock it hardly spins up the fans. I would have gladly given up some cooling potential for a 3090 sized cooler I can plop in many ITX cases one day when I repurpose it (3090FE or FTW3 fits lovely in the tiny lian li dan collaboration). A part of me feels like these monstrosities are to help justify the pricetag.
    I would dare saying that's more because no games right now actually push the card really hard (CPU bottleneck)... Or the computational type tasks you're throwing at it are not lighting it up?

    Cooling is usually meant for something closer to the worst case usage type and the medium abuse IIRC.

    In any case, I don't disagree that for some of the 4090 models, the cooling may be overkill; just maybe.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • tamalero
    hannibal said:
    You still have to push the connector fully, so user errors still possible.
    Agree!

    Some takes from the past months:

    You get recommended to push it hard until it seats. And then..there has been cases where the entire power connector breaks from the video card.


    I wonder if the new connector will be color coded to tell the user when its "plugged correctly".
    Reply
  • newtechldtech
    GPU makers should use their own designed powerplug and include the adapter in the box IMO.
    Reply
  • hasten said:
    I would argue they went a "bit" overboard on the cooling solutions for the 4090. No reason to OC mine, and at stock it hardly spins up the fans. I would have gladly given up some cooling potential for a 3090 sized cooler I can plop in many ITX cases one day when I repurpose it (3090FE or FTW3 fits lovely in the tiny lian li dan collaboration). A part of me feels like these monstrosities are to help justify the pricetag.

    I can agree. Even at peak gaming mine hovers around 60C.


    Totally happy with the card... no issues to report. Didn't like the aesthetics of the anti-sag bracket they included so I improvised.

    -Fran- said:
    I would dare saying that's more because no games right now actually push the card really hard (CPU bottleneck)...

    I can load a random AAA title and hit 60 fps in 4K Ultra and the 4090 is in the 60C range anywhere from 40-60% utilization... meanwhile the 7950x3D is in the 50-70C range showing utilization in the single digits.

    That indicates to me the GPU isn't waiting on the CPU and the CPU isn't waiting on the GPU. :ROFLMAO:
    Reply
  • -Fran-
    TravisPNW said:
    I can agree. Even at peak gaming mine hovers around 60C.


    Totally happy with the card... no issues to report. Didn't like the aesthetics of the anti-sag bracket they included so I improvised.



    I can load a random AAA title and hit 60 fps in 4K Ultra and the 4090 is in the 60C range anywhere from 40-60% utilization... meanwhile the 7950x3D is in the 50-70C range showing utilization in the single digits.

    That indicates to me the GPU isn't waiting on the CPU and the CPU isn't waiting on the GPU. :ROFLMAO:
    Not necessarily. It'll depend on how the CPU util % is being reported.

    If the game engine is not utilizing all the cores, then it means it won't be using 100% of the CPU, but I'm pretty sure 1 or 2 cores will be over 90% and that still classifies as a "CPU bottleneck", except it's an engine limitation more than hardware I guess? You can check that somewhat easily as well.

    Regards.
    Reply
  • SeaTech
    There are a couple big differences to keep in mind, (that are visible) the V2 version does NOT have a vapor chamber as the V1 version had, only a copper plate for GPU/MEM contact (reduced cooling efficiency may result), Interestingly, the fans have also been changed to sleeve fans with "graphene nano lubricant", from double ball bearing fans. It remains to be seen how this will affect performance/lifetime use/fan noise without some form of testing...may or may not matter in the grand scheme of things though.
    Reply