GeForce RTX 5090 Caught Heating Power Cables to 150°C in Minutes

The news about a melted power connector of a GeForce RTX 5090 graphics card has been spreading across the Internet the other day. Today, the famous computer enthusiast Roman “Der8auer” Hartung released a video in which he shared the details of the incident and was able to determine the cause of the accident.

Image source: der8auer

The user who encountered the melted power connector is absolutely sure that he did not make any mistakes when connecting the cable. In previous episodes of melted power connectors on RTX 4090 video cards, it was the incorrect connection that was the most common cause of problems. Many also suggested that the use of a custom cable from MODDIY instead of official Nvidia adapters could have led to the breakdown of the RTX 5090.

Hartung contacted the affected user and managed to get the damaged graphics card, power cable, and power supply for examination. One of the cables immediately catches the eye, the condition of which is noticeably worse than the others. Der8auer believes that the accusations of the custom cable are unfounded, noting his successful experience with the company’s products and its reputation in the DIY community.

Either way, the damage has been done, and now we need to figure out the exact cause of the incident. Hartung took high-quality microscopic images of both ends of the melted cable, the GPU connector, and the connector on the power supply. While the damage looks scary, it’s not surprising, as it’s very similar to what happened to the RTX 4090.

Damaged video card power connector

The enthusiast then ran tests on his own GeForce RTX 5090 FE, connecting it to a Corsair AX1600i power supply and double-checking that the connectors were connected correctly. The FurMark benchmark was used to create the load, with the video card consuming about 570 watts of power.

Damaged connector on the power supply

Just 45 seconds into the test, two of the six 12-volt wires had reached nearly 60°C. The connector connected to the power supply had a hot spot of nearly 130°C, which rose to over 150°C just four minutes later.

Using a current clamp, it was found that one of the 12-volt wires was carrying over 22 amps, equivalent to 264 watts of power. The 12VHPWR and 12V-2×6 standards allow up to 9.5 amps to be carried through a single contact. The other five 12-volt wires were carrying approximately 2 amps (24 watts), 5 amps (60 watts), 11 amps (132 watts), 8 amps (96 watts), and 3 amps (36 watts).

Uneven current distribution leads to dangerously high temperatures that can cause the cable to catch fire or melt, or damage connected components. If this were an isolated incident, it could be chalked up to a rare malfunction, but the fact that Der8auer reproduced the problem almost exactly suggests that other factors are at play.