Not again: RTX 5090 connectors are melting
The RTX 5090 seems to have the same problem as the RTX 4090: the connectors melt due to high temperatures. It is still unclear whether too low tolerance values or errors on the part of the user are responsible for this.
2025 is the new 2022. Back then, shortly after the launch of the RTX 40 series, there were more and more reports that connectors on the latest Nvidia graphics card were melting. Now there are new reports on Reddit showing that the problem seems to be repeating itself, at least with the Founders Edition.
Card had been installed correctly
The pictures from ivan6953 show the damaged card, the melted cable and also the defects on the power supply unit. The user admits that he did not use an official cable, as recommended by Nvidia, but one from a third-party provider. The cable is one from Moddiy, which according to the manufacturer fulfils Nvidia's requirements
Source: Reddit / ivan6953
Ivan6953's cables melted while he was playing Battlefield 5. The RTX 5090 drew up to 520 watts. When he noticed a burnt odour, he immediately switched off his PC and discovered the damage.
The cable used was fully plugged in - he had already used the same cable with his Founders Edition of the RTX 4090. For information: With the RTX 4090, Nvidia came to the conclusion that the cables on the affected graphics cards were not fully plugged in and this had led to the fire.
In contrast to the problems with the RTX 4090, the connectors on both sides of the cable and the sheathing of some wires melted on the RTX 5090. On the RTX 4090, only the connectors on the graphics card side melted.
Source: Reddit / ivan6953
Of course, it is possible that the cable still does not fulfil the requirements or that the Reddit user, contrary to his statement, had not fully plugged in the cable.
Youtuber and overclocker "der8auer" contacted ivan6953 and received his components. He took a close look at them in a video. He himself also noticed increased cable temperatures on his RTX 5090 FE.
Current distribution could be the problem
Roman Hartung - the real name of der8auer - comes to the conclusion that he believes ivan6953's statements and rules out user error. He also considers the quality of the cable to be good. It should be noted that he did not take the card or the cable apart for warranty reasons - ivan6953 still wants to send the card to Nvidia.
Roman says in his video that it is noticeable that only individual pins are melted. Also, only the sheaths of the affected wires are melted. With his own RTX 5090, he also noticed that certain wires get damn hot very quickly. This was despite the fact that he had connected the connectors correctly.
He uses a thermal imaging camera to measure the temperatures of his components. To do this, he runs the GPU benchmark Furmark. After only about three minutes of running, the connector on the power supply side is around 150 degrees Celsius, which is not normal. The connector on the GPU side also gets warmer than it should. Roman then realises that only two of the wires are getting very hot. He measures and realises that the current of the hot wires is significantly higher than the others.
It could therefore be that the current distribution of the individual wires is the problem. The Astral card from Asus, for example, has "Per Pin Sensing". Thanks to this, the current can be better distributed to the corresponding wires. These Founders Edition cards cannot do this.
Roman also has an assumption as to why the problem manifests itself differently with the RTX 5090 compared to the RTX 4090. He assumes that the increased power consumption is responsible. Although the 12V 2X6 cable design is designed for up to 600 watts, the margin for error is significantly smaller for the RTX 5090 with its maximum 575 watts than for the RTX 4090 with 450 watts.
Although Roman's statements are plausible, they are currently speculation. Only detailed analyses of the cards will show where the error lies.
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