RTX 4090 FE Graphics Card Cooling Part Detaches

A user has reported a component detaching from the cooling assembly of an NVIDIA RTX 4090 Founders Edition graphics card, marking what appears to be the first publicly documented incident of its kind. The issue was shared on Reddit by user u/Maker_753 on October 2nd, who stated that a triangular piece of the heatsink came loose after moving his computer, exposing the heatpipes.

The graphics card, purchased in August 2023, is the flagship model utilizing the Ada Lovelace architecture. The user contacted NVIDIA for assistance, but the company reportedly denied repair or replacement services, citing the expiration of its three-year warranty.

Technical publication Wccftech has referred to this as the first publicly reported case of a cooling component failure on an RTX 4090 Founders Edition card. The detached part was located in a triangular section of the heatsink near the PCI-e connector. The failure is speculated to be due to thermal fatigue in the solder joints from repeated heating and cooling cycles. Damage to the card's PCB or GPU core has not been indicated.

Repair options are currently limited and potentially costly. One quote from a repair specialist for the fix was nearly $400 USD. Community members have suggested potential solutions, including lowering voltage, adding thermal paste and pads, and re-adhering the detached part using thermally conductive epoxy.