Nvidia’s latest graphics cards sold out almost immediately, which means tons of people are still clamoring to get their hands on one. But with recent issues rearing their heads, you might want to hold off.
Last week, RTX 5090 cards started dying after Nvidia’s driver update. More recently, one Reddit user named /u/ivan6953 reported in the Nvidia subreddit that the power connector on his RTX 5090 had melted while playing Battlefield V.
“I am not distant from the PC-building world and know what I’m doing. The cable was securely fastened and clicked on both sides (GPU and PSU). I noticed the burning smell playing Battlefield V. The power draw was 500-520W. Instantly turned off my PC — and see for yourself…”
ivan6953 / Reddit
He noticed a “burning smell” and found that the cable was badly damaged on both sides (i.e., the slots directly on the graphics card and the power supply unit). The cable itself also showed signs of burning and melting in some places.
Some commenters blamed it on user error. Ivan had used a third-party cable, but according to him it was flawless. He had previously used the same cable with his RTX 4090. The GPU’s power consumption was between 500 and 520 watts when the cable burned out, which should’ve been fine for the high-end card and its maximum TDP of 575 watts.
What makes this development interesting is that Nvidia said just last month that these new RTX 50-series cards won’t melt power plugs this time. Nvidia uses so-called “sense pins” to prevent overheating, but it doesn’t seem like they’ve helped in this case.
A detailed investigation is needed
Hardware YouTuber Roman “der8auer” Hartung has released a video about this incident. He contacted Ivan and examined his RTX 5090 and the affected cable more closely. Under the microscope, he could see clear evidence of overheating, and the plastic around the pins had also broken off when the cable was pulled out. Apparently, two of the 12VHPWR pins (out of the total six used in the RTX 5090) were affected.
In another test, Hartung ran his own RTX 5090 Founders Edition with a test program and examined the heat development with a thermal imaging camera. After just a few minutes, two of the 12V cables also reached a temperature that was clearly too high — up to 150 degrees Celsius. Using an ammeter, he also discovered that one of the 12V cables was carrying significantly more current than the others.
To avoid damaging his card, he cancelled the test and came to the conclusion that the situation was “extremely concerning.” He was able to rule out the possibility of user error on the parts of both Ivan and himself, as the cable was indeed properly connected.
Flashbacks of the RTX 4090
You may remember that the RTX 4090 also had similar problems. Back then, users reported melted power plugs on their new graphics cards and buyers ultimately filed a class action lawsuit against Nvidia.
The company had designed new connectors for the RTX 5090 to avoid those problems this time around, but it’s clear that history is now repeating itself. According to Hartung, it would’ve been better if Nvidia had installed two power connectors on both the RTX 4090 and 5090 to better distribute the power load.
As of now, the only thing anyone can do is to send any affected graphics cards to Nvidia so that the problem can be investigated in more detail. No other cases are currently known, but that’s likely due to the general lack of availability of the RTX 5090 thus far.
Further reading: Nvidia’s RTX 5090 is a brutally fast game-changer