Question about +12v reading for video cards

[rabithole1234]

I've been seeing a lot of posts on reddit about using HWINFO's +12v Input Voltage reading to monitor a potential melt on RTX 4090 cards. Many people are claiming anything below 11.8v is susceptible to melting. Is this actually a valid way to track issues or is it a bunch of nonsense? My understanding was that the +12v rail can have a variance of 5% and this is normally due to droop on the power supply's side, not the video card. It's gotten me curious (and a little worried) because the +12v on my 4090 drops as low as 11.758v when pulling 450w. Should I be concerned by this or is this completely normal?

 

[LeDoyen]

It's a bit true and a bit bollocks.
They have no idea of what the length and gauge of your cable is, nor what is the starting voltage at your PSU, so it's a bit "how you doin" telling if you go below 11.8V you may have melting.
Of course, if the connector heats up, you will see Vdrop though, it's just impossible to predict a threshold value with so many unknowns. So it's a good thing to keep an eye on.
A 100 - 200mv drop isn't much when you're pulling close to 580W.
Your PSU seems to output bang on 12V. Mine for example outputs close to 12.2V at idle (~12V under heavy load). So i'd be mildly worried seeing 11.8V. In your case, it seems pretty acceptable.