5 sourced reports, with what to check before you buy. Each one links to the page it was reported on.
Costly or dangerous
12V-2x6/12VHPWR connector melts on RTX 4090 cards from multiple brands
A repair technician (Brother Zhang) received two RTX 4090s among eight cards in two days, all with melted power connectors, damaged contacts, and blackened PCBs. The article notes any brand and any model carries the risk, and that a voltage drop to ~11.3V under load is an early warning sign.
What to check. This confirms the melting is not limited to one AIB partner — any RTX 4090 can be affected. A buyer should monitor 12V rail voltage (a drop to ~11.3V under load is a warning) and check connector temperature by hand. Repair cost is high because the connector sits on the PCB.
The 16-pin 12VHPWR connector is the documented failure point on the RTX 4090; repair shops report receiving multiple 4090s with melted connectors in a matter of days, across brands (MSI, ASUS, Gainward, NVIDIA FE). NVIDIA's revised 12V-2×6 connector is designed to reduce it, but reports continue.
What to check. Before buying, treat the 12VHPWR connection as the main risk: seat the plug fully, avoid sharp bends, and monitor the 12V rail (a drop toward ~11.3 V under load is a warning sign). A melted connector can damage the card's PCB and voids warranty if the wrong cable/adapter is blamed.
GeForce Game Ready Driver 621.01 causes black screens and video freezes on RTX 4090
A driver regression in GeForce 621.01 causes video playback freezes, brief black screens, and driver resets, with one RTX 4090 user reporting a second 4K display stuttering whenever a game runs on the primary monitor. The issue disappeared after reverting to driver 617.42, pointing to a driver regression rather than a hardware defect.
What to check. This is a software issue, not a hardware fault — NVIDIA is investigating and a rollback to 617.42 is the workaround. A buyer should not treat this as a reason to avoid the card, but should know that a specific recent driver build can cause black screens until fixed.
GeForce driver regression causes video freezes and black screens on RTX 4090
NVIDIA officially acknowledged a regression in driver 621.01 causing video freezes/black screens, with RTX 4090 owners among those affected; the issue disappears after rolling back to driver 617.42. A separate R570-branch thread on guru3d also reports BSODs on RTX 4090 after driver updates.
What to check. If you buy a 4090, be ready to pin or roll back the driver — a bad driver branch can cause freezes/black screens that look like a hardware fault. Check NVIDIA's known-issues list before updating.
Independent measurements put the 4090's idle draw around 33-34 W (igorslab KFA2 review; ServeTheHome FE review ~33 W idle). Not a failure, but a real and recurring cost for a card that sits at idle much of the day.
What to check. If the PC runs idle for long hours, the ~33 W idle draw adds up on the electricity bill; it is not a defect, just a documented efficiency characteristic of the 4090.
These reports come from the pages linked under each item: owner forums, repair guides and workshops. They are not a diagnosis of any one unit, and a careful check of the one you are buying still applies.
Text from the Kriko Graphics cards catalog, version 0.1.2, under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
